Travel and the First Day in the City of Lights

Saturday adventure began, and extremely early at that.  By a quarter to five in the morning, the Eble family was packed up and ready to head to the airport. I was easily the most awake and pumped that early in the morning, especially considering that I don’t think I slept at all the night previous. We arrived at the airport and made it through security with the only issue being an extremely inexperienced traveller slowing the line (Seriously. Shoes and jacket off, dude). After everyone had a chance to eat (praise the Lord for bagel sandwiches), we were on our way! 15 hours, a plane change, a 9 hour time change, and about three naps later, we were wheels down in Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport ,7AM Sunday morning.

We took a cab to our quaint hotel on the Rue de Berrie, got checked in to our rooms, and quickly made our way down to get some breakfast. Seriously, there’s something that everyone needs to know about France…they love their carbs. Croissants, baguettes, toast, etc…with every meal! Upon getting some food in us, the family decided to take a “1 hour nap,” which I planned to read and watch tv through. 8 hours later, everyone woke up from napping (even though mine only lasted about 3 hours) well rested and ready to do some exploring before dinner.

One of the really cool things  about our hotel is the location; we are only about a ten or fifteen minute walk from the Arc de Triomphe which was built to honor the soldiers that died during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. It also houses the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for WWI. It is truly magnificent, and gave us a little taste of how much history Paris houses.

After visiting the Arc, we took a stroll northeast of our hotel to have dinner at Boef sur Le Toit, a bistro that has Jazz Club roots. After some great food from the restaurant, and painfully terrible French speaking from us we felt the need to try to see some of the city at night. We made our way back down southwest of our hotel to the river, where we were faced with seeing this baby:

Boom. Eiffel Tower.

Lord have mercy. Being in Paris became real at this moment. The Eiffel Tower is just as beautiful and majestic as everyone says, and absolutely not overrated at all.

All I can really say is this: I cannot be more excited or more blessed to be spending the next three weeks exploring these historically-rich cities with my family. We are in for quite a ride!

-Justin

Apparently, the thing lights up and sparkles like a Christmas tree sometimes.