You Know the Economy is Bad When There's a Sale in Paris

Last night Matt, Becca, and I walked around the 11th arrondissement and checked out the monument that stands where the Bastille used to. It is a grand monument within a traffic circle but I wish the Bastille was still in its place. I went into a cafe and ordered my first cafe le creme and it was terrifying. The monsieur behind the counter was extremely welcoming and made me feel better about sounding and looking like an American tourist. We then walked to Place des Vosges which is the oldest planned square in Paris, according to Wikipedia. It was built by Henry IV and King Louis XIII lived there. Pretty jazzy. Plus, Victor Hugo who wrote Les Miserables and the Hunchback of Notre Dame lived in a section of the square building. There is now a museum there in his memory. We continued our walk east-ish and found another monument. It was interesting to see members of France's military (insert laughter) standing on street corners carrying automatic weapons. Good thing they're busy.

Today the whole group, totaling seven people, visited Jim Morrison's grave and took the Metro to the heart of Paris. We walked the Champs Elysees and found Starbucks! It was like a warm hug seeing that classy green mermaid from Seattle. We reached the Arc de Triomphe and we were absolutely trilled. It was so majestic and I couldn't believe I was standing where Hitler once marched his troops. It was remarkable so gaze upon so much history.

We then made our way to the Tour de Eiffel and that was even better. I finally felt like I was in Paris. We sat down in a garden and took a breather before walking to the Hotel des Invalides. Napoleon is buried there and it is currently home to a veterans hospital. We walked more and I could not believe all the sales! So many shops had "Soldes" written on the windows indicating that their store items were on sale. A very trustworthy source, Samantha Brown, told me that Paris only has sales twice a year and July is not one of those times. The economy must really be down. We eventually made it back to the hotel and I was finally able to upload pictures.

It was a day full of all things Paris and all I want to do is eat something delicious and fall asleep. Tomorrow is another full day in Paris.

A bientot!