May 14th, 2014
On Tuesday we walked around Amsterdam some more including Vondalepark. We now probably know all the streets in central Amsterdam. For lunch, since we are in the Netherlands, we had pannekoeken. We picked up our bags at the hotel (we used a winch to lower bags from the 3rd floor rather than carry them down). A tram took us to Central Station to catch the Thalys train to Paris.
Arriving in Paris, we eventually found our way to our apartment and settled in. Don and Karen caught up with us as we were finishing our dinner.
Today we walked to the Eiffel Tower just as it was about to open. Riding to the top, we had a great 360 degree view of Paris.
Yvonne at the Eiffel Tower
Back on the ground we walked to the Place de Chaillot and the Trocadero gardens.
Another view of the Eiffel Tower
After lunch we continued walking, this time to the Arc de Triomphe. We wanted to go up to the top but a one day strike had it closed.
Arc de Triomphe from the middle of the Champs Élysées
On the Champs Élysées we found a double-decker bus and took a 2 hour tour of Paris that showed us all the highlights. Due to a road being closed we had the bus driver drop us off 1 block from our apartment. The weather was better than forecasted and we had a great day.