Paris in the Moonlight

Paris was much more welcoming our second day. While the morning began as overcast, the sun came later on. We took the Metro down to Les Invalides where we walked through gorgeous architecture and Napoleon's Tomb.   

Our entire day was spent walking. We did have Metro passes, but we would walk to one site and agree to maybe just walk one place more. Ultimately, we walked the entire area from Napoleon's Tomb to the Latin Quarter and back to the Eiffel Tower. 

Saint Germain-des-Pres is a well known shopping area which also happened to be a fantastic connecting route to all of the locations we wanted to visit. While the streets were still crowded, it was slightly less touristy than the Champs Elysees. 

To break up our walking, we went into a restaurant with a fantastic sidewalk cafe that not only had heat lamps, but blankets.

Most may associate the French with their fine wines, but Tom has a favorite French beer, Desperado. I played it safe with a pino noir. The "salads" which accompanied our meals weren't much of anything to look at, however my duck and mashed potatoes were delicious. From the restaurant we walked to the Pantheon. 

As you can tell, it was under construction on one side. This area is much more near to a university neighborhood and many people in the area were students relaxing and reading books. 

From the Pantheon we walked through the famous Jardin du Luxembourg. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and many Parisians were out taking advantage of the sun. A fountain located in the middle of the gardens had many people huddled around it as they were racing sail boats decorated with flags from various countries.

Eventually, we made our way back to the Eiffel Tower and to our cafe from the previous afternoon to enjoy a chocolate chaud before our evening boat tour. We walked for literally hours and deserved a bit of rest. I have been told things in Paris are horribly far apart and you shouldn't plan to walk from many tourist sites to another. This certainly may be true if you're older or are traveling with a large group of people, I found it nice to walk all over the city. Besides, you get to see so much more and how landmarks relate to one another.

The Eiffel Tower is obviously an icon of French culture and it can be seen from most every focal point in the city. As long as you know were you should be in relation to the Eiffel Tower you can really use it to navigate many city points. My favorite was when we were approaching the tomb earlier in the day and just over my shoulder and behind me, I was able to see the tower through the trees.

Now, just because the weather was better than the day before by no means meant the day was warm. When the time came for our boat tour along the River Seine, Tom wanted to go "as late as possible". No. I agree, seeing the sites at night is absolutely amazing, especially as they reflect off the water, but once night fell we really didn't need to push our luck by going even later.

I braved it in the exposed portion of the boat for the trip down the river. Once we turned and began to head back however, I went inside! We were fortunate enough to get a boat with an interior portion, not typical of an hour sightseeing cruise. I do have to give credit where it is due and agree that Tom had the better idea of the Seine cruise at night, where I would have gone during the day. Freezing wind and all, the illuminated structures were absolutely worthwhile.