Day Two--We Venture Out...6/30

After yesterday's air flight diasater, we set out early on Monday morning. After a brief meeting with the tour director who lended a sympathetic ear to our plight on the airline, we located an ATM, bought a weekly Metro pass and set out!

First stop--the Arc de Triomphe! Can you see us at the very top?


Ok, we're not at the top yet---this is the view from the Metro stop. There's so much history and French pride in this monument, it was very interesting and well maintained. We decided the view from the top was too good to be missed, so we made the climb up. It's definitely a good idea not to look down the stairs as you climb, but I couldn't resist this pic.
Click-click on thumbnails to enlarge:




Once at the top, the views are fabulous---a view down the Champs Elysee:



...and a great view of the Eiffel Tower



At the base, the tomb of the French Unknown Soldier and its eternal flame:





Back on the Metro to the Pompidou Center which houses Modern Art. First, we stopped at a creperie stand nearby and ordered some delicious crepes to eat in the shade of this interesting structure.



We began walking through a special exhibit titled the Heart of Life--but it was anything but---very depressing and focusing on tortured souls---unfortunately, it took us 20 minutes to find the way out. At this point, Alana's jet lag had set in and when we sat on some couches to rest, she fell asleep! Since it was by the information desk, I let her sleep and told her I would go look at exhibits for about an hour--this was fine with her. Modern Art is definitely something you either like or don't. There were many interesting pieces, but I found these to my liking.

First, Matisse:


and Basquiat(Slave Auction)



This one just caught my eye---it's made up of wire and hundreds of scissors!



Found Alana, still sleeping, and made our way back to the hotel to rest before dinner. We ate close to the hotel at a cafe called Baillet du Suffren--pretty Americanized, but that was OK. Pretty reasonable priced-dinner, dessert, wine for 31 Euros.

To our surprise, the Eiffel Tower had now changed colors! We found out from a tour guide on Tuesday, it was in honor of the European leaders meeting in Paris. I think the color looks quite nice! In addition, every hour, sparkling white lights run on the tower for about 15 minutes.
Click-click
Front:


Back


:Light show every hour: