Notre Dame!!

Crappy 5 euro umbrella... :-\

Top of Le Tour Eiffel!

In true 101st Airborne style, we had our own landings into Normandy, much like the Screamin' Eagles and the other first parachutists did on D-Day, 6 June 1944. Michael's vertical is much more impressive than mine, but we both landed safely, nonetheless.

















Under a German gun battery; caught ya'!!

101st at Omaha Beach!! "Rendezvous with Destiny!"

Well, we've been a bit soggy the last day or two here in Paris as it's been raining on and off and generally cloudy. To add to that, I (Meredith) have come down with some kind of a summer cold: congestion, sore throat, body aches, slight fever, etc. Yippee. But, could be worse, and I'm just glad we are no longer on the up-at-6-a.m.-kick-your-butt-walking-all-day tour anymore; that WOULD be terrible. Not feeling well then putting up with Paul, Maddi, and the rest. Sheesh. We are fortunate enough to now be on our own time and sleep in, eat whenever, wherever, see whatever, etc.

Sunday we ended up going back to the Eiffel Tower, sucking it up, and waiting in line. It actually went pretty quickly and before we knew it we were at the second landing, and then the top! Aggghhh!!! It wasn't so much looking down that was the issue, but rather looking up. We both had to literally brace ourselves on something secure nearby before being able to look up and even typing about it now gives me chills. You look up and boom, there is the antenna, spitting distance away. We could have easily spit or thrown something at the antenna, no problem. Oh. My. God. Looking down is fun because of all the cars, and people, and the great view of Paris, but UP is a different story. Realizing how high you are, and then how high the sky is above you, ohhhhhhh, non merci. So, we took some pictures, then hightailed it out of there asap.

Ended up on a quest for a supermarket to pick up food for Monday's tour, but they were closed. We then happened upon a cute little pizzeria and ended up ordering quite the dinner, for the heck of it: aperitifs, a bottle of champagne, two small pizzas (one each), creme brulee, and panacotta. We then got a pizza to go since that seemed much more convenient, and packed it up to take on Monday (since no stores were open and there wouldn't be ANY opportunity for food while en route or in Normandy [which they weren't kidding about, there wasn't any place or any time]).

Woke up early Monday, caught the Metro, then the suburban train, and we were headed to Normandy. Took about two hours; we arrived at the Bayeux station (super small) which is out in the middle of nowhere. Walked about 15 min. and made it to the meeting spot where the driver in the minibus picked us up.

We and three others (SO nice to be on such a small tour!!!!) saw Point du Hoc, Omaha Beach, German gun batteries, and one of the two American cemeteries. It was a great tour: very informative, lots of time, great sights. All in all it took about six hours, which absolutely flew by.

Back to the train station, onto the train, then the Metro, and we were in front of our hotel (the Metro is super close). Ate burgers, etc. at the hotel restaurant, then upstairs to sleep like logs - what a LONG day.

I (Meredith) woke up even more congested to the maid/cleaning service people knocking loudly twice, both times I said "No thank you!". Grrrr! (to both, being congested and being woken up twice) This happened a couple of days ago; we had just gotten there the previous day and the maid service knocked ("Non merci!"), knocked again (Michael answers the door and tells them in person "Non merci!"), then the front desk called confirming that we didn't want/need any cleaning service today. COME ON, people, we'd been here less than 12 hours, WHY would we possibly need fresh linens, trash emptied, etc.????? If you post all these signs about being environmentally conscious and to leave towels here or here depending if you want to re-use, etc., then respect our choice to do so. We'll be here a week -- cleaning and changing things every day is a bit excessive. So again today with "No, thank you!" since they were JUST here yesterday. Man.

So, since I have felt even worse this morning (and it's raining again) we've just been tying up loose ends w/ pictures, booking a hotel for Friday night (@ the airport so we don't have so far to go so early), and deciding on the rest of the week's activities.

Happy and excited to be in Paris and still 'on holiday', but ready to get home, hang our souvenir artwork, frame pics, and get back to our routines...

Tonight is our champagne cruise on the Seine river, private boat and all. Oo la la! There are three different kinds of champagne, and I'm sure some will flow beforehand at dinner, too. :)