track our trek

we took the train from hamburg to cologne for a brief stop, then flew to paris...we were hoping to meet for coffee with katja, whom we met on the nomad tour, but we were mixed up about which train station to meet at. :O( so sorry for sending you on a wild goose chase, katja! we really should've planned to be in cologne for more than a couple of hours...but we will be back in germany someday, i'm sure...once in paris, we checked into our hostel...5 floors up with no elevator...and headed out for a quick kebab w/ very tasty fries. we hit the streets early the next day to explore. we'd declined breakfast at our hostel so we could be free to find our own pastries for breakfast along the way...ahhh...pain aux chocolat and fresh strawberries...can't be beat. daryll has been anticipating this luxury for quite a while! we've been trying to get good pastries in lots of places, but alas we've been disappointed every time (except for one brilliant stroke of luck in tokyo of all places!)
after eating our breakfast in a park, we set out walking towards the arc de triomph. we met natalie along the way, a very friendly french woman who helped us navigate a ways through the busy streets. we reached the arc de triomphe...only to discover the streets were blocked and it was closed for a huge official ceremony...here we go with the holidays again...this time it was inauguration day for the new french president! aye aye aye! jokes...from there we walked to the eiffel tower, then the louvre, then notre dame...we covered a lot of ground that day & felt great about our 6 hours of walking...art historians forgive us, but we opted not to stand in line at the louvre & instead stayed outside appreciating the architecture! lol! we went back and did some quick laundry at the lavarie down the street (3 or 4 more times up and down the 5 flights of steps...) then out for sushi for dinner. day two was rainy, so we took the train to see moulin rouge and montmart, the church of the sacred heart...it's a great cathedral that sits on top of a hill that overlooks the city...we went to see the pompidou center, where we skipped the exhibits in favor of the architecture again, and we went back to see notre dame and the louvre at night. ahhh...paris is truly beautiful by night with all the lights sparkling on the water of the seine.