Waking up from our naps, we started to feel hungry. My problem with napping is that I never want to get up. My husband asked if I was just changing a place to sleep??. I winked at him and said, ?Yeah, sure?. As I got out of bed, he went right back to sleep. Hmm.
It was raining that afternoon. Luckily, I took along my windbreaker even though I totally forgot my umbrella. We went down to the concierge desk to get some information on ?What to do?, & most importantly, ?Where to eat?.
Most restaurants in Paris close during the afternoon hours and re-open around 7 p.m. However, you still can find small delis all over the city.
We stopped at a small sandwich shop across from the hotel. The shop was clean & cute. Although it looked more like a saloon than a restaurant, it really gave us the feeling of being in Europe.
The waiter came came to our table to give us the menu. We looked at it and quickly looked at each other. Ahhhh?.we couldn't read French! I was so afraid that we might end up ordering some frogs or snails! Yuk!
Anyway, after using some English & sign language, we managed to order 2 very delicious sandwiches, a coke and some water!
Our waiter spoke SOME English. That's right -- "SOME". He could say "Ham & Cheese". The rest of his sentences were in French (that we didn't understand).
The bill came to 20 Euros. Pretty darn expensive for just sandwiches & drinks, don't you think?
Note: Tipping is not necessary in France.
After the meal, we walked to the river Seine which was only 2 blocks away. The rain started to come down harder. We ended up having to buy an umbrella which cost 6 Euros.
Once we reached the river bank, the famous Eiffel Tower wasn't that faraway. We decided to visit first The Notre Dame Cathedral since it was the closest place within our walking distance.
In 1163, Pope Alexander III laid the first brick of the Cathedral. The construction was completed in 1330 (some 170 yrs later). The cathedral is 130 meters in length and is built using Roman-Gothic architecture.
When we got to the Cathedral we discovered it was closed for the evening. So we strolled around the outside trying to spot the infamous "Rose Windows" and "the legendary Gargoyles".
From Notre Dame, we made our way back to the Right Bank. (Paris is divided into Left & Right banks by the River Seine.) We spotted an old man playing a violin. We stopped & listened. The serenity of the rain, the river, the violin, and the atmosphere of a truely great European city made Paris an even more romantic place to be than usual. We felt very relaxed.
Once we reached the right bank, we were entering the Marais area. This area was established back in the 14th century, and was well known for fashion.
Nowadays, the Marais is still one of Paris' most famous fashion districts. In the Marais area, there were tons of coffee shops & bakeries. I almost died just looking at those pretty little pastries & chocolates. And just to think about them makes my mouth water.
Marais streets are very narrow. You kind of have to keep an eye on dog?s poo poo. It reminded me of streets in Chinatown in Bangkok !
The Parisians seem to really love their dogs. We saw a lot of people walking their dogs (or the dogs walking the owners?). Some dogs even went inside restaurants. Wish America would throw that stupid health issue away and let dogs go places.
Wrapping up our first day in Paris, we stopped at a small coffee shop before heading back to the hotel.
Well, we went back to the hotel, but did we go to bed? Nope, we did not. Even though I already was in my nightgown, my dear husband still wanted to go out again - - of course to look for food !
We ended up at a restaurant near to the hotel. Most restaurants were packed! I guess the Parisian love to come out late at night. My husband ordered a pan of pizza but we ended up with 2 pans. Can you guess why? And of course, we had to pay for both pans. On top of that, we drained 2 bottles of wine into our systems. Ha Ha.