Paris – Arrival & Day 1

We arrived in Paris at about 8pm in the evening on what I will refer to as Day 0. There was a mix up with our shuttle transportation (apparently no one wanted to answer the phone) so we took a taxi to our hotel. The taxi line was quite long – we got into the 82nd taxi that arrived. The highlight of the drive was experiencing the traffic circle around the Arc de Triomph and then driving down the Champs-Élysées. We checked into our hotel, Hotel Muguet, in the Rue Clar neighbourhood, unpacked and then turned in for the night.

Day 1 Itinerary: Le Musée Rodin, Musée d’Orsay, Place de la Concorde, Champs-Élysées, Arc de Triomphe, Les Invalides

We started our first day in Paris at the Rodin Museum. This was a great idea since we bought our museum passes here (4 days for 45 euros) and there was no line up. We really enjoyed the Rodin Museum (in fact it was one of my favourite parts of Paris) because it turns out Mom and I like sculpture.

We then walked on to the Musée d’Orsay which is in a former train station. It was a Tuesday and the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays so we expected the Orsay to be busy. The line to get in was huge but we were able to skip it and walk right in since we had our museum passes. We spent about 2 hours here mostly following the Rick Steves highlights tour. We especially liked the Impressionists rooms.

After Orsay we walked across the Seine to the Place de la Concorde and then all the way up Champs-Élysées … in the uphill direction! We stopped for an excellent lunch of salads, Perrier and a cherry tart at a cafeteria near the Arc de Triomphe. After lunch we climbed to the 284 steps to the top of the Arc to take in the views of Paris. At the top I took a picture of each of the 12 streets that converge in the traffic circle. We also marveled at the six lanes of traffic spinning around us. It’s the only traffic circle in France in which cars entering the circle have the right of way!

Next we took the metro back towards our hotel and walked to Les Invalides to have a look at Napoleon’s tomb. We were back at the hotel just before 5pm and were both pretty tuckered out. I actually had a nap. For dinner we went to one of the Rick Steves recommended restaurants: Restaurant La Litote near our hotel. The meal was fabulous and every course was beautifully presented. Service was slow but … c’est Paris!