A Hop, Skip, and a Jump

Well, we managed to stay up until 11:00 p.m. Paris time in an effort to sleep throughout the night and get a jump start on our jet lag. Unfortunately, we were wide awake at 4:00 a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep. We managed to fill the next two hours with BBC News, reading, and napping until sunrise and then went for a walk around the city. We forgot, again, that going for a walk first thing in the morning (especially before a holiday in a foreign country) means running into drunken homophobes. Not pleasant but whatever… it’s happened before and it will happen again.

We came back to the hotel and went down for the breakfast buffet only to find out nothing was ready. We’re pretty sure no one has ever been for breakfast right at 7:00 a.m. EVER at this hotel, and the lady in charge was not impressed. We went back to the room and then returned for breakfast a half hour later to ‘feast’ on horrible cold eggs and boiled sausages. We were so wrecked and tired by this point, we didn’t care. We ate, spent the ridiculous amount of money per person, and went back to our room to go back to sleep.

Two hours later, we woke (well, Ryan did) to the sound of military planes flying over our hotel and the Seine River as part of the Bastille Day celebrations. After watching the news today, we wished we would have been out and about but the nap was definitely needed. After a quick bath/shower, we got ready and headed to Market by Jean Georges for lunch. We didn’t realize that part of the festivities was the parade we missed on the Champs-Élysées. It took us an hour to get across the street to the restaurant because of the barricades. That said it was well worth the effort… Thai/coconut soup and tuna tartare with a crisp Sancerre was just what we needed to perk up.

After lunch, we strolled down the Champs-Élysées and went to the Louis Vuitton flagship store. Every time we’re here, I am amazed how big it is. It’s like a Wal-Mart of high quality merchandise… and like Wal-Mart, it’s impossible to find anyone to help you. The only difference is that here, you need to be wearing a burka and Minolo Blahniks to get help.

After that, we went to Rue Cler to pick up some tomatoes, basil, a baguette, chevre, a bottle of wine to have a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower to watch the fireworks. If we don’t leave now, we won’t get a spot. Bye for now. XO.