Paris: Day 4

Day 4, Wednesday, was one of our free days where everyone had the chance to break off and do things as couples rather than the larger group. We started off the day doing a test run to the main train station in Paris for our train ride the next day to Normandy. On our way to the train station we found a fun shopping area with lots of clothing stores and street vendors so we hit that up after we were done.

Our first activity was the National Aquarium, a little older than we were expecting, but still some very beautiful fish. Greg grew up watching Discovery Channel as much as possible (he still loves Shark week when we get the chance to see it) and even dreamed of being a marine biologist and swimming with the sharks. His career path took a different turn, but he still loves watching fish; and I do, too!

After the aquarium we were able to see the Arc de Triomphe and then the Eiffel Tower, which were both really amazing to see! Of course I had seen hundreds of pictures of the Eiffel Tower before we left, but I wasn't prepared for how TALL it was. We ended up not going to the top of the Eiffel tower because the waiting line was too long. Even the wait to WALK up the 400 and some odd stairs to the second level was 2 hours . . . so we passed that up and took a little get lost in Paris tour that was quite fun. The highlight was finding the first pastry shop we were able to purchase something! They were the best pastries we had all week!

The little family of swans that lived just outside our little townhouse

My home away from home . . .

Yes, this was the color palate throughout the whole store . . . no greens, pinks or purples . . . the French aren't quite into bright colors for their wardrobe

When I saw this, I thought of Jeanie . . . not one of my numerous friends or relatives that work for the company . . . but the person who keeps Starbucks stock up =)

Piranhas at the aquarium

You'll want to turn the volume down for this one, the water filters in the background are quite loud. This was Greg's favorite part of the aquarium visit . . . this guy kept running into the glass . . . and his teeth are just too awesome

Unicorn fish

Arc de Triomph

I believe that Greg counted 290 steps to get to the top!

View from the top

Approaching the Eiffel Tower

Isn't the sky beautiful? Nathan described it as seeing the sky in HD . . . we pointed out the serious flaw with comparing something REAL to tv; but to give him credit the weather had been pretty gross up until that day.

My favorite picture from the week

My delicious strawberry tartlet!

Greg describes this as a Reese's cup meets a Butterfinger and takes steroids . . . layers chocolate mousse with a layer of peanut butter crunch covered in cocoa powder.