Bonjour Paris!!!

We arrived safely this morning around 10AM after our overnight flight on Air Canada from Toronto.
Our driver was waiting for us when we exited with our bags. The four of us were then driven to our hotel, the Waldorf Trocadero.
As we were being driven, we caught our first view of the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and Sacre Coeur.

Established in 2003, Alain Marcot, French interior decorator, has refurbished this former 1920 private house. It  is situated around the Arc de Triomphe, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Trocadéro and the Eiffel Tower. it is a small, boutique hotel with only 44 rooms. It is a non-smoking hotel, which is a pleasure when in Paris!

We reached the hotel around 11 but our rooms were not available until 3PM.


We were all very excited and didn't care about our jetlag. We set out to simply wander and soak up the atmosphere. It was a little overcast and cool but after the humidity it felt great!

First things first! We all took a deep breath, looked around and said to each other "are we really here???"
We soaked in the feeling of the ancient streets, listened to the babble of foreign languages and didn't worry about camera batteries for a moment.

First destination - the Eiffel Tower as it was a quick five minute walk from our hotel. The cameras went into action very quickly as one of us always snapping something.
Our first shot of the Eiffel Tower!!

Located on the Champ de Mars in Paris, it was built in 1889 as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair. It has become both a global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The tower is the tallest building in Paris and the most-visited paid monument in the world; millions of people ascend it every year. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower.

You can view Hôtel des Invalides/Napoleon's Tomb right through the bottom of the Tower.
In 1670, the Sun King Louis XIV decided to build this "hotel" to house soldiers with disabilities. It wasn't an entirely benevolent gesture, considering that the men had been injured, crippled, or blinded while fighting his battles.

The Eiffel Tower remained the highest monument in the world until the construction of New York's Chrysler Building in 1930.

Once we soaked up our first views it was time to have lunch in Le Malakoff with a view of the Tower.
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Feeling refreshed we head back to take more photos of the tower. Dark clouds kept swirling around making us take our jackets on and off!

 Below the Tower are The Gardens of the Trocadero which were created for the Universal Exhibition of 1878. Napoleon the Third’s aim was to make these parks a symbol of social harmony.


Located at the centre of the park is the fountain of Warsaw which offers a spectacle of lights and jets of water at sunset.

The gardens are ornamented with sculptures, amongst them “the Man” by Traverse or “The Woman” by Bacqué which overhang the basins.

We continued our walking across the bridge and onto the grounds of the Tower. The lines to get into the tower were immense. We strolled and took more photos. Just as there were armed guards with AK47s at the airport so too do they patrol the grounds of the Tower.
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By now we had been up 26 hours and it was 3PM so we decided to walk back to the hotel and have a nap and then head out to dinner at 7:30.

The hotel is gorgeous. Tiny and beautifully decorated.

After a nap we met up and wandered out to a local cafe for dinner. We found the Corner Cafe located at 68 avenue Kléber and took a seat outside.


The service was delightful, everyone could speak some English. Between us we had duck ( was incroyable!!), baby back ribs also declared delicious, steak frites again delicious and a pasta dish that was rated that greatly. And the prices were very reasonable compared to our lunch which was located closer to the Tower.
Dessert!!!

We decide to take a walk to the Eiffel Tower and I am so glad we did. There she was all dressed up in her gold gown.

 And then!! Every hour on the hour the sequins are lit and sparkle on her dress, the crowd lets out an appreciable whistle!!

After that light show it was time to say good night!!