Paris Day 4

Sorry there wasn't an update til today. The last couple of days have been quite long. We got up late after a very fun night out with a couple of people we met, Ollie and Paul, two of the nicest people in the UK, that happened to be in Paris.

Paul is a finance expert and Ollie is an engineering consultant. They were two very smart and fun guys. We ended up hanging out talking until almost 4:30 in the morning!

After wrested our groggy selves from the sleep of drunken fools, we started our day heading to the Arc de Triumph. 274 steps to the top, in a very narrow winding staircase. It was a beautiful, though somewhat hazy view. Gregory still got some wonderful pictures.

As we returned to earth, we decided to walk down the Champs Élysées. We stopped in to have lunch at a restaurant called Unisex. It was all pink and shiny, which was why Gregory liked it, though being on the main boulevard, it was a bit overpriced, but at least the food was good.

We wandered all the way back to the Marais district, past ridiculously expensive looking shops, past the opera, the Louvre, and the Palais Élysée (which also featured some intense looking armed guards and police).

We returned to Marais in just enough time for a quick dinner, and to change for a second outing with our new friends. We opted for sushi which was good, but very tame. The menu consisted of salmon, tuna, yellowtail, and mackerel. It was good to have a break from the onslaught of wine and cheese, but I'm looking forward to a return. Basically writing home to report that it's nothing to write home about.

We had a fun evening but are quite exhausted having survived a lot of beer and crowded bars full of French boys (alas, if someone must ...).

At around 3am, we stopped at a restaurant for a final drink of the night. As we were sipping our Ricare, a lightly anise flavored drink, a fight of sorts broke out. There was the audden crash of a drink thrown and some shouting and shoving--now mind you this is at a restaurant not a bar--and a chair tipping over. The bouncer and manager were fighting with a patron about something. We were guessing he had refused to pay for something. The fight extended our direction when the punches were thrown and the empty table next to us was tipped over and chairs sent sprawling. The patron got pepper sprayed in the face and, finally subdued, was literally dragged from the restaurant by his bag strap. Clearly they don't mess around here. Unfortunately Gregory missed it all since he was indisposed, and returned just as everything had been reset by the staff. Exciting night, though.

We walked back toward our hotel and they had another twenty minute walk back to theirs. We said a quick goodbye, and hopefully we'll see them again soon.

Not sure what we are doing today, since our museum passes have expired, but chances are we'll take it slow after the last couple of days.