Every trip has to have some sort of hiccup - lost luggage, stolen wallet, missed flights. Something. So all things considered, to say that our one hiccup was just a cancelled flight, and then a flight rebooked in another city that was then delayed and caused us to miss half a day in Paris ... while infinitely frustrating, it wasn't the end of the world. So that's what happened: our flight out of Florence on Friday, June 17, was cancelled due to a *planned* air traffic strike. We were then scheduled on a flight out of Bologna (1.5 hours away from Florence) so my uncle graciously drove us there. Upon arriving in Bologna, we soon discovered our flight was delayed along with most other flights in that airport. It was rough - too many people in too small an airport. But we made it out and landed in Paris at 9 p.m. (instead of 2:30 p.m.). By the time we made it to our hotel and back out to find food, it was about 11 and McDonald's proved to be the only thing open. Long live McDonald's in Europe!
Ok, the real day 1 in Paris started on the right foot - pastries and coffee at a corner cafe before grabbing the metro for Place de la Concorde. That's where my first trip to Paris began and my aunt swears by starting every trip to Paris in that spot.
We then strolled down Champs-Elysees, stopping at some stores, grabbing lunch at a streetside bistro and eventually making it to Arc de Triomphe. We picked up our 2-Day Museum Pass nearby and realized we could go up to the top of the arc with the pass - an unplanned destination but one of my favorites from the trip!
After the Arc de Triomphe we ventured back to the Jardin des Tuileries to visit the Louvre. Despite the rain picking up during this stretch, the Jardin was still dreamy. We enjoyed bypassing the long entry line thanks to our Museum Pass (like the Firenze Card, it costs you extra, but the money was worth the time to us.) Since I had already visited the Louvre, we didn't have much of a plan of attack, but wandered throughout to see the highlights (hey there, Mona Lisa!).
Our energy was pretty spent at the end of our visit. Still, we mustered the energy to walk nearby to Angelina, a restaurant and pastry shop. Oh, and a crepe on the way to tie us over. At Angelina, we indulged with cups of super rich hot chocolate and two pastries.
We took a pit stop back at the hotel to rest before dinner at Bouillon Chartier, one of the last restaurants of its kind that aims to serve good, traditional French food at a reasonable price. There was a line, a sure sign we weren't the only tourists that checked our guidebooks and Yelp ;-) The food lived up to its promise and the atmosphere was definitely unique.
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