Other events on Friday

Some other activities for Friday. We began our day going to the Catacombes (see first photo here). The Catacombes are a series of underground tunnels that served as a burial ground for 6 million bones. These bones were taken from other burial sights due to overcrowding. The tunnels were also the headquarters of the French Resistance in WWII. We were so excited when the metro stop left us off directly across the street from the Catacombes, but as we got closer we realized it was closed! The man said it won't be open again until next week. Another American couple (from LA & Phoenix) was next to us and also disappointed.

We got back on the subway and went to the Picasso museum. The museum was interesting, but if you are not a Picasso fan (bean is not) then it might not be worth the trip. One interesting fact is that the reason there is a Picasso museum in Paris is because France acquired the art works in lieu of the Picasso family paying $50 million in inheritance taxes. The one thing that we liked about the museum was that for some of the art works, photos of the work as it was being created were also displayed. We also enjoyed seeing a series of photos of Picasso himself.

After Picasso, we headed back on the subway (the 3-day metro pass was worth it) to the Montmarte area. The highlight of this area is the Moulin Rouge (which is now next to a Quick Burger) and a walk to the top of a hill to see another view of the city. The neighborhood was really seedy (like the old Times Square) and we were feeling tired so we skipped the walk to the view and got back on the subway.

We ended this part of the day with lunch at a tourist trap (Georg V) on the Champs that I insisted on going to for the atmosphere, but Joe said would be a mistake. Joe was right.

After lunch, the day improved with our tours of the Eiffel Tower and Arc. We ended the day with dinner at the hotel restaurant because we were too tired to go elsewhere. We ended up having one of our best dinners yet though....just a burger and frittes, but it was delicious and the atmosphere in the restaurant is so cozy. We really love the hotel and would definitely stay here again. I'll end this blog with more photos of the view of the Arc and Eiffel Tower from our hotel room window. Just beautiful!