Walking and More Walking

Oh my goodness we walked a lot today!  We estimate we likely walked about 6 miles, and that is on the low end.  We may very well have walked more.  We walked from our hotel all the way down Champs-Élysees Avenue.  We had lunch during the walk, stopped at a few shops along the way.  I bought some sunglasses and Brad bought a coffee. 

After those stops we proceeded onto The Louvre museum.  By the time we made it to The Louvre it had already closed for the day.  It was so busy!  People all over the place.  The gardens in front of the Louvre are beautiful.   

Then we walked from there back towards the Eiffel Tower.  This time for the walk we stayed along the Seine River.  Perfectly beautiful. I've always wanted to spend time walking along the Seine, very picturesque. The reason I wanted to go back towards the Eiffel Tower was because my husband's crazy wife thought for sure we could find a romantic restaurant adjacent to the Eiffel Tower.  No such luck on that find.  But it wasn't a total waste, we got some more pics of the Tower.  I did my best to capture some unique angles.  We then went deeper into the neighborhood surrounding the Eiffel Tower finally coming across a quaint Italian restaurant.

Guess what we came back to our hotel to do this evening?  Laundry! LOL! We went to buy what we thought was laundry detergent.  But something was lost in translation because it's not laundry detergent.  Once we got it open to discover our mistake we actually could not determine what we had accidentally bought.  LOL!  We filled up the tub with water threw the clothes in and washed them the best we could with soap.  We both worked on washing them then created an assembly line as I rinsed and Brad squeezed them out then hung them up.  One of the best things about us in my opinion is we make a great team!  We noticed how easy it was for us to be a team within the first few weeks of our relationship nearly 4 years ago.

At this point we're undecided on whether or not tomorrow will be a low-key day or not.  Stay near the attractions around us or venture off to The Louvre and Notre Dame Cathedral again.  We'll see how we feel about things tomorrow.  One thing is for sure we will be taking a late dinner cruise down the Seine River to see the lights of the city.  Fun! 

I think Brad is just about done with European coffee so tomorrow morning we'll likely be in search of a McDonald's.  After we stopped at a French pastry shop for Brad to get a mid-day espresso we continued on the path soon to notice a McDonald's and a Starbuck's on a sign in a bit of a hidden area of Champs-Élysees Ave. They most likely want people to buy French brands first so the signs for the American places are a bit more hidden and not right out on the main road. Those that don't know what Champs-Élysees Ave is.  It's the most famous road in France.  It's filled with restaurants and high-end shops.  The best American comparison I can think of is Rodeo Drive in L.A. or the area surrounding Times Square in NY city.  It's definitely a fun area to go to because there's a lot to see and do.  Numerous shops to venture into and many restaurants to choose from.  There's also movie theatres but we can't understand the language well enough to venture into the theatre. We're both glad we booked a hotel so near Champs-Élysees. 


Garden Pics in front of The Louvre:

Brad eating his fave thing.  We stopped in the garden area outside The Louvre before going there just to enjoy the pretty garden and to treat ourselves to some ice cream after walking so far.

Pics of The Louvre:

I took this as we turned around to walk back towards the Eiffel Tower.  That's the Place du Concorde and the Arc de Triomphe off in the distance. 

 

 

My artistic image attempts of the Eiffel: