Sunday morning Mom, Matthew, and I awoke early to catch a train from Clermont to Paris. We arrived in Paris about 11:30 and set out to follow signs to the correct metro that would take us to our hotel. I found our hotel online, and booked it mostly based on price. It is a very stressful thing knowing that a decision you make will affect everyone traveling with you. NOT that a bad hotel is the end of the world, but staying in a rat hole can drastically affect the mood of a trip! Luckily, the hotel was very charming and the staff was extremely friendly. I was also happy to see that Mom was given a real bed (I was worried she would be given a rusty, roll-away cot). We dropped our suitcases in the room and headed out in the general direction of the Champs-Elysees. I had figured out on the map that our hotel was "walking distance" from the Champs-Elysees. I think I should have paid more attention to the scale on the map, because it turned into quite a long walk. Around 2pm we finally found a restaurant that had something everyone wanted to order and the price was reasonable. Then we headed across La Seine into the Jardin Des Tileries. At the west end of the garden there was a large Ferris Wheel. We continued down the Champs Elysees, passing a seemingly endless row of stands set up for the Christmas Market. Once we got past the Christmas Market, we strolled past stores like Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Dolce & Gabbana. Stopping only long enough to gasp at the prices of the items in the windows! We did make a stop at a Starbucks, the first Starbucks we have had since September! There were also several car showrooms displaying incredible concept cars...and yes, the cars were sporting Michelin tires! Our final stop was the Arc de Triomphe where we paused for a photo opp. By this point we were all a little tired, so we started our long walk back to the hotel (I mapquested the route we walked, and we walked a total of 5.4 miles!). We rested at the hotel for about an hour and half and then headed out to find a place to eat dinner. Even though it was 8:00, most restaurants were not open for dinner yet (there were also a lot of places closed because it was Sunday). We finally settled on a restaurant called Le Nemrod. The food was very good, there was a great atmosphere, and we had a very friendly waiter.
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