On Saturday morning, we said our goodbyes and rushed off to the Tube station to get to St. Pancras Station for our 2-hour train ride to Paris on Eurostar.

The train station itself was beautiful and they had free WiFi!  We bought economy seats and were pleasantly surprised at how comfy they were.  We originally got window seats but this older couple was already seated and settled into our seats.  I was a bit annoyed at first but realized that we were better off in the aisle so that we could go wander the train to find the buffet car without disturbing them.

In the buffet car, we got a bottle of wine and enjoyed the scenery whizzing by.

Once in Paris, it was a little bit of a frenzy trying to find an ATM for Euros, standing in line for Metro tickets, and finding our way to our hotel.  We arrived at our hotel in Montparnasse to find out that Expedia had a glitch at the time we booked it and by the time the hotel received our reservation, they were full.  Oh no!  I thought we’d be homeless until the nice man at the desk explained that they were sorry and made arrangements for us to stay at a more expensive hotel in the 9th arrondissement.  A taxi was called and they paid for the fare and told them exactly where to take us.  On the way, I got my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower in the distance and we drove right past the entrance to the Louvre.  It was all very exciting.

We finally arrived at Pax Opera Hotel and check-in was super easy.  They didn’t even ask for ID or anything!  The room was very clean with modern fixtures and everything we needed.  Hotel also had free WiFi for us to look up restaurants and directions.

We were hungry so we headed back out in search of lunch and some sights.  We walked up towards Montmarte and found the red light district and Moulin Rouge.

Stopped at a Cafe de Luna and had a delicious ham and cheese crepe while checking our guidebooks.  Finally made it to Sacre Coeur where the lawn between the stairs was covered with people and there was a carousel at the bottom of the hill that had a bunch of old ladies riding it.

We climbed the stairs and got a good view of Paris.  It’s just too bad that while we were up there it was overcast.

Afterward we did a little wandering and got a little lost but found our way down to the River Seine in time to catch the sun setting behind the Eiffel Tower in the distance.  Had a quick dinner that wasn’t very good but it was a nice place to hang out and watch people.

Later we walked down towards Notre Dame and walked along the Seine where there were lots of young people hanging out by the water.  Notre Dame is beautiful at night.  Too bad we didn’t make it there in time to climb the tower.  I really wanted to see the gargoyles close-up.  Oh well.

After a little wine stop at a nearby cafe, we hopped back on Metro and made two stops.  First was the Arc du Triomphe at the end of the Champs Elysses. This photo was taken at a stop light in the middle of the crosswalk.

The next was the Eiffel Tower at midnight.  The lights were on and it also had a light display of sparkle lights every hour.

Here’s a video of it:

We happened to arrive as it was starting so we got to see it in all its glory.  If you can’t see the video above, click here.  Metro stops running at 1 am on Friday and Saturdays so we had just enough time to hang out and then hop back on to get back to the hotel.

Here are photos from this day.