Day One
Arc de Triomphe, Hôtel des Invalides, Sacré-Cœur, Centre Pompidou, Eiffel Tower
Our first full day in Paris, Anand and I woke up early and left the hotel at 8am. It was his birthday so we started the day with a long walk down the Champs-Élysées to get breakfast at Ladurée.
Arc de Triomphe
After breakfast we walked to the Arc de Triomphe, which was unfortunately under construction. We took an underground walkway to get to it and headed to the top for some pictures. There are a lot of nice spiraling stairs to get to the top.
Twitter France
We then walked a few blocks to swing by the Twitter France office to say hi to some coworkers.
Hôtel des Invalides
We then walked back down Champs-Élysées, took a right on Av. Montaigne and crossed La Seine. I wanted to visit Musée Rodin but they were closed on this day so we headed to the Hôtel des Invalides, passing by the lovely Pont Alexandre III bridge on the way.
Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur
A few metro rides later we ended up in Montmartre, the "artist's" neighborhood in the 18th. After walking up several hills and through alleyways, we found ourselves at the famous hilltop La Basilique du Sacré Cœur de Montmartre.
Before heading home for a quick nap, I walked to the famous Moulin Rouge then took a train to Les Halles in the 4th and walked to the must-see Centre Georges Pompidou.
Le Jules Verne
For Anand's birthday dinner, he had booked a reservation weeks in advance for the famous Jules Verne restaurant inside the Eiffel Tower. It was quite the culinary experience.
After dinner we went down a floor to the second of three observation levels in the Eiffel Tower, roughly 380 feet up.
Right as I was getting ready to leave, the clock struck 11 and the light show began. For the first 5 minutes of every hour past sunset, the Eiffel Tower sparkles with hundreds of flashing white lights.
