Ahhh... gay Pari. Whatever you want to say about the French (like they suck),
they do have a marvelous city going for them. Not that you can tell just by looking
out the window of our hotel room...
... but you certainly can from looking at this.
(And yes, we did actually stay in a hotel room. Actually, before we even left Carl had
squirreled away a bit of cash to take care his student loans and other assorted debt
for the duration of the trip and for the time it'd likely take to find a new job when we got
back. Amazingly, it remained untouched even in our desperate financial times in
Greece and Spain. But hey... nothing last forever, right? Even though we got into Paris
with our travel fund all but depleted...
let's just say we ended up having a hell of
a time anyway - as Carl's subsequent credit rating can now attest.)
Anyway, the first thing we both wanted to see was the Eiffel Tower. But once we found
out it cost like $50 to get up there, we decided it was more of click, check kind of place.
There are alot more interesting - and free - things to see in gay Pari
anyway. Like the Sacre Coeur basilica in Monmartre.
Not a bad piece of architecture, that.
The dome is enormous... so you can imagine how impressive that mosaic is.
Beautiful enough church - not a whole hell of alot of history. Let's move on.
Hey, since we're in Monmartre, why don't we try and find...
The Moulin Rouge!! No wait --- that's not it. That's some other windmill.
... it's got to be around here somewhere....
Ah, there we go! Sweet, sweet absynth, here we come!
Actually this place is really just a high-class strip joint. And dinner and
a "show" goes for like $150. A little our of our budget, as newly inflated
as it was. Anyway, on to more free stuff.
Like Napoleon's Arc D'Triomphe! We had to walk to the other side of town
to get there, but it's pretty cool. Although getting to it past that rotary of traffic
was pretty difficult.
Underneath the Arc lies France's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
(We figure there's at least a 60-40 chance he's actually American).
As we headed to the top af the Arc, we witnessed some sort of police/military
cadet graduation. Not sure - the whole thing was in French.
But the view at the top was worth it. Lookit that.
It was rainy it was dark and it was windy. Subsequently, it took about
20 tries to get this shot right.
