Paris, Day Two: Arch de Triomph, Eiffel Tower, and the Lourve

The next morning Tyler and I woke up around 12 pm when he got a phone call from Samantha, who was going to be meeting us and staying with us at the hotel. I booked the hotel for two people and there were only two tiny beds, but to save money we decided all three us could rough it for two nights. Samantha said she was taking the metro and would be at the hotel in 30 minutes. Tyler and I got dressed and decided to go get breakfast/lunch while we waited for her to get here. There was a bread place/bakery across the street that I had read about in all the reviews of the hotel as being really good so we went there. I got this baguette, which was the size of my forearm, for only 4.50 euros. Pretty good for Paris. 

First French baugette, so good. there are breads and baugettes all over Paris.

 By the time we got our food and started eating it it had already been over and hour and Samantha told us she was only 30 minutes away an hour ago. Tyler tried to call Samantha again but his phone wasn't working and mine unfortunately wasn't working either so we were a little bit worried. We knew finding the hotel would be difficult but we had hoped it was going to be easier for her because she was finding it during the day. After we both ate we walked back to the hotel and much to our relief she had just got there. She was flustered and trying to check in but she forgot my last name. I was a little worried she might do that because I knew we were over-booking our room with people and that was kind of illegal so I thought we might get in trouble or be forced to buy another room.
When Samantha was checking in the receptionist said "there are already two people in this room so you can't sleep here" and in my mind I'm like "oh shit. were in trouble." but then Samantha was like "well can I just sleep on the floor? I don't mind." and the receptionist just laughed at her. Then luckily for us again, the receptionist was very nice and said to us in a whisper "I dont care if you all three sleep in the room, just go up there quickly and don't tell anyone". That was such a relief for me because I already felt bad booking the hotel in a really hard to find area and then making Samantha travel the metro to get here and then walk for over an hour to find the place; I would have felt so awful if she couldn't stay with us.
    After she got settled and ate we decided to finally go out and explore Paris. We had a map from the hotel and I suggested we went to the Arch de Triomph first just because it is one of the those uniquely Parisian things in every Paris movie and kind of cool.

Here is a pic of us by the Arch de Triomph

Ceiling at the Arch de Triomph

French Independence

 Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

After that we decided to walk to the Eiffel Tower. That was a mistake. Samantha and I were both struggling. She was tired from the long morning walk to the hotel and I was tired from yesterday, walking back and forth from school twice, walking to and thru the airport, and walking around all night trying to find a non-existent McDonald's. When we finally did see it, it was amazing. It was so huge and lovely. Not quite the color I expected, it was more coppery but I thought it would be goldish.

First sighting of the Eiffel Tower

 Gorgeous Panoramic of Paris, we got so lucky being in Paris on a perfect fall day

Samantha and I both had our hearts set on going to the top of the Eiffel Tower, Tyler didn't really care to, but when we saw the line we decided it would be better to go the next day. After that we got some drinks somewhere just to rest our feet and then took a metro to the Louvre which was stunning from the inside and out. It is in its own little Plaza which itself is a lovely building and then the glass pyramid that you always see with the Lourve is also really pretty. All the architecture on the inside is amazing too. Of course our first stop when we got in there was the Mona Lisa, the main attraction of the Louvre, though it is filled with countless masterpieces.

The Lourve

Me outside the Lourve

Mona, as you can see below, was surprisingly tiny and covered with what I'm sure is bulletproof glass. It had a huge crowd around it. It was cool to see but not my favorite thing in the Lourve. Apparently it is only so famous because it has been stolen so many times.

 Saw the Mona Lisa, it was suprisingly tiny

Loved this painting. Lady Liberty Leading the People, probably the most famous painting about the French Revolution, a symbol of patriotism for France

The Lourve had amazing artwork and it was soo HUGE! We had asked a guy earlier that day about it and he told us we needed a whole day there and I can see why. We got there around 8pm but probably left at 9:30ish because the Lourve is free for students from 6 to 10 pm on fridays, which was amazing because it has to be one of the, if not THE best art museum in the world. I feel like I will have to go back there again at somepoint in my life and re-explore it all.
After the Lourve we were all tired so we decided to go back to the hotel. We ordered dinner from the front desk and it wasn't that great but we only paid about 5 euros a piece for it so we couldn't expect much.
We tried to go out that night and find a bar by where we were but we failed. There were no bars in the area that we could find and no bars that any of the parisians we asked knew of. There were bars in Central Paris, but our bus station closed at 10:30 and it was already after 12 so we didn't know how we got back. All of us were also really tired and Samantha and I could barely walk because our feet hurt so bad. Tyler was unaffected by all of the day's walking. We decided we would plan ahead and definitely go out the next night.