Continuing my previous past about our first day in Paris, here is what Marco and I saw on day 2 of our lightning trip to Paris:

The Fountain of Innocents

Near the beginning of our walk we unexpectedly came across the Fountain of Innocents (or, at least, it was unexpected for me – perhaps it was part of Marco’s master plan all along!).

My favourite picture – taken from the Tuileries Garden

And then my favourite picture, as we walked through the Tuileries Garden.

And here is a view of the Place de la Concorde. I had to get a photo of the duck! (the piece of wood is to help birds get back out of the water)

In the distance you can see the Luxor Obelisk.

One of the fountains at Place de la Concorde

Place de la Concorde has two fountains dedicated to the maritime industry in France.

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

We also walked past Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (not the Arc de Triomphe everyone thinks of, though).

And my last photo is from the shopping mall near the Louvre, as we were walking back to the train station:

The Inverted Pyramid

The Inverted Pyramid. Made even more famous by the Da Vinci Code… 😉 Although it was already famous!

Marco and I visited Paris last week for about 36 hours — 11:00 Wednesday until 19:30 Thursday. A lightning trip! The reason was to meet up with my brother and sister-in-law who were vacationing in the city. Since they live on the west coast of America, it seemed to be an opportunity one does not pass up. The trip was under three hours by high-speed train (Thalys)…

Marco and I splurged a bit for this trip and traveled first class. One unexpected benefit was the use of the first class lounge at Rotterdam Centraal:

Perks of the lounge: fairly quiet, a free drink, and climate controlled.

Our hotel wasn’t far from the train station in Paris (Gare du Nord) – only about a 15 minute walk. After meeting up with my brother and sister-in-law, we retreated to our hotel room to apply vigorous amounts of sunscreen. And why might we do that, you ask?

Because the temperature for both days while we were there was around 36C (97F). Ughhhh! And in those two days Marco and I managed to walk 38km, or about 23 and a half miles. Don’t worry, the next three days we were extremely lazy and rested our poor aching feet.

First we visited the Louvre museum:

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