Paris Day 1 - Day 3: Art, ice cream, and rain

After a loooooooong trip into Paris, we barely had energy enough that first night to get some dinner at a cafe and appreciate our gorgeous view.

But the next day we woke up ready to explore!

Day One

Notre Dame was closed due to the fire damage, but was still impressive. They also had a bunch of cool pictures & info on the fence surrounding the site explaining what happened and how they are going about the reconstruction.

We walked along the Seine and appreciated the Pont Alexandre and the Gran Palais and Petite Palais on the other side.

And, of course, no first day in Paris would be complete without delicious Berthillon ice cream! Rain or shine...Thank goodness for awesome AirBnB hosts who provide beautiful rainbow umbrellas!

And we went to the L'Arc de Triomphe to see the cool Christo wrapping. They had young docents around explaining some of the context & answering questions...

...and a whole lot of soldiers with big guns. What was going on? President Macron was starting his campaign to thwart our site seeing. But we would not be stopped!

Because the next day we had a HOT DATE with a mysterious lady...

Day Two

We were all so impressed with the Louvre and our AMAZING guide, Cecilia! She brought art to life and kept all of us - even those not used to walking quite that much - completely enthralled.

Next, a date with the Le Dame de Fer, our next door neighbor. Both girls loved seeing the Eiffel Tower from afar all over Paris. But they were enthralled by visiting the Tower itself, and were a little disappointed that our tickets were only for the second level rather than the very top. Mara, on the other hand, was a little anxious on the elevator ride and was very VERY grateful not to be going any higher.

Day Three

To Ryan's great chagrin, day three began with - MORE ART! Hello, Musee D'Orsay, and more time with lovely Cecilia. It was so interesting to continue our historical tour through art. Mara LOVED it and could have spent the whole day there. However, some members of our crew were a little less excited about more walking and made Cecilia's job a little more challenging. But we all managed a smile by the end.

Last big event for the day... Special birthday ear piercing (second hole in both ears) for Kenning! This is the one thing she really wanted in Paris and we were NOT going to miss it. We got a great recommendation (thank you Tanya!) and we went to a *real* piercing place. It was an eye-opening experience for all of us! Then a little crepe celebration :-)