Me and mom took a trip to Paris the first weekend in April while the boys stayed back in London and played in the snow. Luckily it was not snowing in Paris! Of course the Eiffel Tower figured prominently in our trip (mom's first trip to Paris!) and in our pictures. At one point, we discussed whether or not we had too many pictures of the tower.... (we did, but got some good ones on the last day). Above we are standing on the second floor of the tower. We booked a tour which included tickets to the second floor - good idea, because we did not have to wait in line. The second floor is very, very high - plenty high for both of us.

We stayed in the Rue Cler (which is on the left bank near the Eiffel Tower) at a small cute hotel (Hotel de la Tulipe) . The Rue Cler is a great street which is closed to car traffic and is lined with several shops, restaurants, and markets (fruit, vegetable, fish, meat...). I had the best croissant at a patisserie on this street that I have ever had - hot, just made out of the oven - delicious. Here is our hotel....We arrived mid-morning on our first day and headed straight to pick up our museum passes. If you go to Paris, buy the museum pass - it is well worth it. With the museum pass, you don't have to pay admission to most museums and monuments, but most importantly - you don't have to wait in line. We were like celebs walking up to the special entrance passing all those standing in line (totally worth it)!!!

After picking up our passes, we jumped on our bus tour. I typically do not go for the bus tour, but we only had two and a half days and I wanted mom to get a feel for the city. The tour helped orient us and give us a better idea of what we wanted to spend time doing the next two days. After our tour and a long day of travel, we planned what we would do for the rest of our trip over an excellent meal of italian food in the Rue Cler. As is typical, I get up early. I was up at 7:00 am the next day. Mom was still sleeping. I slid on my running shoes and went to explore the city. I saw the sun rise over the Seine - excellent. I then ran to the start of the Paris Marathon to see all the excitement under the Arc de Triomphe. When I planned this trip, I had no idea this was marathon weekend. Anyhow - I considered trying to go bandit, but decided not to ... The marathon seemed well organized and fun - I might consider this one in the future if I decide to venture off the trails again. Here is a shot of the marathon in progress around mile 18.

After my run, we went to the Louvre. This was to be a whirlwind day, so we just hit the major works in the Louvre and moved on. After the Louvre, we walked to the Ile de la Cite for lunch and then on to Sainte Chapelle and Notre Dame.

The stained glass of Sainte Chapelle ...

Notre Dame....

From Notre Dame, we headed to the Musee de Orsay. On our way to the Orsay, my mom noticed that the streets were blocked off and a demonstration was taking place. The signs where referencing liberty in french and lots of people were wearing white. Mom decided to walk in the demonstration - I took her picture. We learned that the demonstration was for the release of a French woman (Ingrid Betancourt) who has been held hostage in Columbia by the FARC for six years.

We probably spent the most time in the Orsay (below) - in fact we stayed until closing. After the Orsay, we were on our way to take a boat cruise on the River Seine when a huge storm blew in (breaking my unmbrella).

We saved the boat tour for the next morning. The boat tour was a real highlight. The weather was beautiful and sunny, and it was nice to see everything from the water.

The final day of our trip the Olympic torch was to pass through Paris. We staked out a spot among the police (in full riot gear) and the protesters. It was an exciting time to be in the city. The protesters were well behaved. In fact, the most annoying protester was a man of about 80 who was blowing a piercingly loud whistle.

We waited and waited and waited. Finally at least 50 police vehicles came down the street. Then the olympic promoters came by, and then the olympic vehicles. We finally saw a group of runners - they ran right by - no torch. Everyone in the crowd was asking "did you see the torch?" Anyhow - it turns out the torch was in the van due to security concerns.

We had an awesome trip to Paris.