It was a long and busy day. The plane ride went well, I even managed to sleep for almost 2 hours. Dinner and breakfast selections were great, movie options were great*; only thing not great was the woman in the seat in front of me who, on more than one occasion, forcefully snapped her chair back into the fully reclined position with no notice, causing my carefully arranged tray table items to go flying.
After landing I took a train into the city, and got on one of the Hop-On, Hop-Off tour buses. If you are unfamiliar with the hop-on, hop-off concept, I would love to fill you in sometime, because I am a big fan. But I'm tired, so please ask me later. I figured this would not only be a great way to see a lot of the sights and get a feel for the layout of the city. Additionally, it would be an activity which required minimal participation or movement on my part (I didn't know how tired I'd be after the flight) and, more importantly, that I could do with my luggage on my lap.
As it turned out, it was also nice to ride around and catch at least a bit of a breeze while the bus was moving. It is 1,000 degrees in Paris. I'm not sure what the converts to in Celsius, but let me assure you, it is HOT**. As long as the bus was moving, it was bearable, but when we were stopped in traffic you could definitely feel it. It was also very sunny and, sorry to sully your wedding pictures this weekend Natalie, but I might have gotten a bit of a farmer tan from my t-shirt.
We saw a number of famous landmarks on the tour, and I got to take the first of what I'm sure will be a whole trip's worth of remarkably bad selfies***.
The Moulin Rouge
The Louvre (selfie assessment: face is not bad but I clearly struggled finding a good angle)
One of approximately 23 pictures I took of the Opera House, inspiration for "The Phantom of the Opera". Note the Hop-On, Hop-Off tour bus conveniently posing in the picture, though not, obviously, the particular bus I was riding on.
Bottom of the obelisk (?) at the Place de la Concorde, with the Champs Elysées and the Arc de Triomphe in the background. There were a bunch of barricades up in the Place de la Concorde, and workers were setting up seating all along the Champs Elysées. Though I don't know enough French to ask anyone what the set up was for, I suspect it might be spectator seating and TV equipment for the finish of the Tour de France!
Closer view of the Arc de Triomphe (selfie assessment: looking very unfamiliar with the photography process, Arc not centered behind me, picture really is not very good)
The last thing on my to-do list for the day was to visit the Musée de Orsay. As part of Paris's Féte de la Musique, the museum was holding a free orchestra concert in its main hall. It was so cool. The musicians, all professional, were extremely talented, and the setting was beautiful.
I know I'm not in Kansas anymore because there's no way the fire marshall in Kansas would allow this sort of seating free-for-all.
That's all for today. Time for some much needed sleep, laying on top of the covers and directly in front of the fan, and dreaming about cooler tomorrows.
*I watched a lovely animated film called Vaiana. It was about a Polynesian girl who must leave her island to save her island, and featured all of the actors and hit songs from this other film about a Polynesian girl who much leave her island to save her island. Moana- maybe you've heard of it? But oddly enough, in this movie they called her Vaiana the whole time. And it wasn't in French and subtitled. Not, it was in English and the Rock was saying "Vaiana". Super weird.
**I'll take the heat over the rain any day, however. My luck in getting clear skies and sunshine is not lost on me.
***I even practiced before coming here but it has become apparent that I am appallingly bad at taking selfies.
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