Traveling to Paris with Friends

Some of our friends in England decided it was high time to visit Paris again. We visited Paris less than a year ago, but what the heck! It's only several hours away by train! Plus, someone else was planning the trip and it was fairly inexpensive, so we tagged along. 

We've travelled quite a bit by train and it really is quickly becoming our favorite mode of transportation. Even through the chunnel, you're just in a tunnel for about 15 minutes (you don't even know you're under water - I swear!) and you pop out of the tunnel and voila! You're in France! I guess I had always assumed that going through the chunnel would entail your train following its tracks onto a beach, diving down with waves crashing all around you. Yeah, that doesn't happen. Thankfully.  

Once we pop out of the tunnel in France, the champagne bottle pops open and the bubbly is poured...

Champagne on a train!

After arriving, our friends who are seasoned travelers figured out the Metro and within a half an hour we were checking into our hotel, ditching our baggage, and walking down the Champs-Élysées, heading towards the Arc de Triomphe. Bill and I had seen the Arc on the last visit, but we didn't cross over to the traffic island where it stands, and we sure as heck didn't go up to the viewing platform. We remedied that this time around. 

Arc de Triomphe

Le Arc

I knew I wouldn't be able to climb the 300+ spiral staircase to the top without stopping and I was thankfully granted permission to use the elevator for special people :-) I made it to the top before everyone else and just soaked in the view. 

The views from the top are amazing! I especially like the photo below, with the Eiffel Tower in the background and the Arc casting a long shadow down one of the many streets spoking out from the Arc de Triomphe traffic circle.  

Eiffel Tower and Arc shadow

Once Bill made it up to the top we took the requisite selfie. 

Parisian selfie

And our friend, Regine, captured one of the selfie attempts with her camera! 

Selfie taking fun 

After we hiked our way back down all of the stairs, we made our way to the Seine, and took a boat tour before walking another half hour to find the restaurant where we booked in for dinner. Dinner was delicious, and by the end of the dessert course we were all fading fast. We had gotten up in time to be at our local train station by 6:00 AM that morning and were pooped, so and called it a night.