Paris: Eiffel Tower

This past week has been nice and busy. I got home after a looong flight on Thursday, spent some time with my family and came to Houston for some job interviews. Now it's back to DFW to prepare for my (very pregnant) sister's baby shower!

But I do still have some more photos to show you, so here's probably the last bit of Paris. On the Saturday night I was there, Henry and I went to the Eiffel Tower and decided I couldn't go to Paris without going up to the top. That meant waiting in line for about an hour while pushy salesmen tried to sell us tchotchkes. And then another 45 minutes waiting to go up in the elevators.

But I'd say the view was worth it. 

Arc de Triomphe from above

And as we left (about 2 hours after getting in line), we were just in time to see the sparkles one last time.

Afterward we headed to the Moulin Rouge area for a late dinner and crepes. And I got a disgusting blister on the bottom of my foot from my worn-out Converse.

Paris: Inception

I've just got a couple days left in my Europe adventure. We said bye to one of the other interns this afternoon and it started to sink in that I'm really leaving. I wasn't planning on being sad about it, but now I'm thinking I might have to be. I guess it's about time to start planning my next trip to Europe.

Now back to Paris...

Throughout the weekend, Henry kept pointing out things to me that were apparently important in the DaVinci Code, which I never read or watched. So when we came upon a movie reference that I actually understood, I had to take a picture. 

This scene from Inception...

...happened here.

This is the Pont de Bir-Hakeim, not too far from the Eiffel Tower. Or the first of many dreams Ellen Page builds.

And behind these doors is where they kept all their sleeping equipment, I guess. But honestly I was too busy trying to grasp the plot to remember the doors to the warehouse.

Paris: Notre Dame

Henry took me to several different churches on Sunday, but Saturday we stuck with the classic: Notre Dame. It was beautiful, but crowded. Everyone in Paris heard I was in town and showed up.

Henry took this photo (have I mentioned he's a photographer?). That's one of the best things about having him around: he gets the pictures I'm not skilled enough to take (and he has no problem getting up in people's business). 

Unrelated question (that probably no one will respond to): Have you ever heard the word "nunya," short for nunya business (or bidness, if you roll that way)? Like: 

Person 1: Who are you talking to?

Person 2: Nunya.

I'm not crazy, right? This is a totally legitimate word?

Paris: Arc and Louvre

Since I have less than a week left here and will obviously not be doing that many cool things once I get home, I'm planning to milk at least a few posts out of my Paris trip.

I took a fast train from Rotterdam to Paris after work on Friday and got there in under 3 hours, in time to meet my friend Henry for a bit before going to bed. On Saturday, Henry showed me all of Paris. Well, maybe not all, but it really felt like it.

We started at the Arc de Triomphe and Henry told me all about the history of it. Then I made him repeat it all in French to make it more amusing. All I could tell you now is that the Arc is pretty and you're not supposed to run across traffic to get to it.

Under the Arc.

We walked down the Champs-Elysees to Place de la Concorde, the largest square in Paris. Behind Henry is the obelisk and way back in the distance, you can make out the Eiffel Tower.

It was an amazing day. It was actually so warm I had to take off the light jacket I had worn. We went to the Jardin de Tuileries and it was clear everyone else noticed how nice the weather was, too. There were tons of people out enjoying the weather and the blooming trees and flowers. Ah, springtime in Paris. (Jealous yet? I can try harder if you're not)

Once we reached the Louvre, we saw the huge line to go inside, so we opted instead to stand around and laugh at the tourists taking photos with the pyramid. I think that was a good decision.

And now I'm cutting you off for the day. Sorry, I've got to ration the photos. More to come tomorrow. 

Paris preview

I have about a million (or 250. I'm not so good with numbers) photos to go through from my weekend in Paris. Since I'm obviously not going to do that now since I've got an episode of The Biggest Loser to watch, I'll leave you with just this one for now.