Paris Finale, pt. 2

(a back-side shot of Notre Dame from a bridge crossing the Seine. I couldn’t leave this out! My little bride is a huge fan of the flying buttresses!)

We left Notre Dame at about 7pm or 8pm and I was finally starting to feel it, so we walked back to our hotel and crashed for about 2 hours. It was just enough to keep us going the rest of the night until 3:30 am. I’ll get there.

So, our goal now is the Eiffel Tower. We boarded the Metro and off we went.

We arrived just in time to catch the tower at the top of the hour. Why does that detail matter? Well, because for ten minutes at the top of every hour after dark an Eiffel tower light show begins. I’m not talking lasers and pyro, but there are thousands of bulbs all over the tower and they light up like crazy. Definitely not a place for anyone who has problems with epilepsy, but it is amazing. Here are some photos, and check back soon for a 4-piece video segment of the “Awful Tower.”

What an amazing structure. It’s crazy when you think that all of the artists and writers and such of the day actually petitioned against the building of the tower. It was really an overwhelming experience. It was so much much to take in: the view of the tower and all of it’s surroundings, the sounds of the Frenchmen cheering their tower every hour as it lit the night sky with it’s own stars, the view from the tower itself, not to mention the Arab peddlers pushing their little flashing towers and roses and even bottles of champagne on foolish tourists. Mainly people like my wife who can’t pass up a flashing Eiffel Tower. We did talk him down form 15 euro to 4.50 euro. Anyway, it’s very easy to get caught up in uber-tourist mode and miss the whole thing. Jill and I stayed on the second deck just trying to take it all in for about an hour and a half. Then when we got back down, we made a conscience effort to stop every few steps and take in the fact that we were standing in Paris in front of the Eiffel Tower. Not that it was the greatest moment of our lives, but it was all so surreal. You’ve seen pictures and movies and whatever, but when your there it kind of messes with you. I’m all the way across the ocean in Paris. How cool is that?

Anyway, we took our time leaving the tower and headed to what was apparently the last restaurant in Paris that was open and had a very nice, very late dinner. Of course, with a view of the Eiffel Tower. We just took our time and simply enjoyed being together in Paris. So much time that we learned a little known secret. The Eiffel Tower doesn’t stay on all night. Apparently, at 3am the golden lights are shut off and there are 10 minutes of sparkling Eiffel, then darkness. Proud of our little discovery and full from a nice meal topped off with authentic Creme’ Brulee’ (however you spell that), we headed back to the hotel. To our surprise, it’s not only the Eiffel Tower that has a closing time. Apparently, the metro closes as well. We started to walk, saw some bike rental place, but couldn’t figure out how to get the bikes off of the thing. So, 30 euro later and a much longer cab ride than we expected, we arrived at our hotel. We would’ve never made it on foot or bike. So, off to bed for a few hours. In the morning, we make way for Switzerland. What a long day.

The Paris Finale, Pt.1

Wow, this has taken much longer to get out than I anticipated. Sorry!

OK, so we visited the Arc de Triumph. From there we headed down the famous:

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There we ate a lite lunch once we found a relatively inexpensive place to eat outside with the Arc in front of us. The food wasn’t the best, but it gave us the energy we needed to push on. Remember, I got on the plane at 12 noon on Monday in the states and landed Tuesday at 7:15am in Paris and have hit the ground running. So far, no signs of jet lag.

 

So, as we continue our journey through Paris, we get on the Metro and head to Notre Dame. Not the home of that whiny bunch of Losing Irish, but the church where Napoleon was crowned and Quasimodo used to ring the bell.

This is where Napoleon Bonaparte’s coronation as Emperor was held. How cool is that?

This is a little dwelling place up by the bell tower. I’m certain this is where Quasimodo lived. That door is definitely designed for a shirt hunchback. It’s so exciting isn’t it.

Check back later for a panoramic view of Paris from the top of the Tower. For now, here is one of my favorite shots of the Eiffel Tower from Notre’ Dame and a shot of the miserable spiral staircase we had to walk to get up there.

Euro Trip: Part Deux!

So, I land in Paris around 7:15 am, grab my luggage and head to the sortie (exit in French). To my surprise my beautiful bride awaited me just outside the baggage pickup area. Not that I didn’t expect her to meet me there, I just assumed she would be late. Did I say that? Good thing she never reads my blog. Anyway, so off we go to drop the luggage off and straight way into the heart of Paris.

Stop #1, the Basilique du Sacre Coeur

Never heard of it? Me neither until I began to plan trip, but it is a beautiful church in Montmartre. Well worth the visit. The view of Paris from the “kissing steps ” there was amazing. It doesn’t translate on photo, so I will spare the space and move on.

Next stop, the Arc de Triumphe:

What an incredible structure. It’s so huge especially when walk right up under it. We didn’t go on top, but I here the view down the Champs Elysees is amazing. I have some many more photos just of the detail work here, but again I will spare you all the excruciatingly long posts of pictures. After I am done blogging about each part of my trip I will post the extra photos in my photos section.

Tune in next time to see the Notre Dame Cathedral, Eiffel Tower and maybe even the Louvre.

Europe Trip: The Intro

OK, so on Monday, July 30th i headed out on a journey to the other side of the ocean. My wife and her family were already there and had just witnessed the Tour de’ France finale.

Seen here:

 

My trip started when the good Doctor, Tweeze, came over to the house to pick me up and bring me to the New Orleans airport. I made it there fine and didn’t have much of a line to wait in, so off I went NO to DC to Paris. Nothing unusual, right? Well, I get on the plane, head to my seat and look up to see this bowed up guy sitting in my seat. So, naturally I walked up and said excuse me I think that’s my seat. I ain’t skerd ya’ll! What? So, dude says my bad and moves over to his seat. As I sit down, I take a better look at the guy. Sure enough the guy looks a bit familiar so I look again and it’s none other than S #30 LaRon Landry:

It’s not the highest quality photo, but my wife had the real camera with her. Turns out he was heading to DC to sign his multi-year, multi-million dollar contract with the Washington Redskins. I guarantee that will be his last trip in coach. We talked LSU and football in general. If you want to know the details of the conversation come see me and I’ll give you the scoop. I just don’t wnat to post it as LaRon is a much bigger man than I.

If you know me, you know few things are more important in life than LSU football. God, family, my church and that’s about it. I love me some LSU football, which by the way starts up two weeks from tomorrow. Anyway, so needless to say the trip started off very great and I made it safely to Paris with little to no jetlag at all. I’ll save the next step for tomorrow.

I’ll close with this, as I left the plane in DC I told LaRon, “Hey man, just make sure they remember your name when you hit ‘em.” He laughed and said he would. Well, so far he has held up to his word. This is one of the first ESPN highlights I saw when I got home:

Mi Scuzi!

I apologize for the delay in posting. I have tried once before, but my attempt failed miserably. Right now I am in Rome and I finally have access to the internet. The bummer is that I do not havethe ability to upload photos here. I foolishly left my laptop at home. So, I am sorry, but I do promise to have so much to post about when I get back home. I leave here tomorrow and will arrive home around 1 or 1:30am. I will post sometime Tuesday, either from the office after work or later that night. You will be hearing about this for some time, so sit back and relax knowing that there is plenty o’ European Griffis to come in the next few days and weeks.

In the meantime, my father-in-law has been posting about his part of the journey with teh family at Our European Vacation 2007. Check it out and send a shout out. God bless and we’ll see you all very soon! Ciao!