Nous sommes ici!

It's the end of day one here in Paris and I am truly in heaven! It started with the first glimpse of sunshine and SUMMER HEAT when we exited the plane at Charles de Gaulle. In fact, I wore a sundress and flip flops all day without getting cold once. Marvelous!
After leaving the airport on the RER, we easily connected to the metro and got to our hotel, the Hotel de L'Avre in the 15th arondissement. I was a little nervous about it not being close to anything but it's in a great little neighborhood with shops and cafes, and it's down a residential street so it's quiet too. It's a very basic hotel but quite charming and its big windows open onto a patio garden which is lovely.
We got settled in and unpacked a bit (7 years of marriage and I'm finally unpacking when I go out of town), then we hit the town. We circled the cafes in our neighborhood before deciding on one. We were struck by just how many people were spending their afternoon sitting at cafe tables, sipping coffees and watching the world go by. It was a bit funny sitting behind the table together facing the street for lunch, but we really enjoyed the experience. Our lunch was simple but good, and our server was very nice. In fact everyone who helped us today was very nice and addressed us in English so quickly that we barely had a chance to practice our extremely rusty French!
After lunch we took the metro to the Louvre which was open late and spent several hours checking out the "must sees" as well as a number of other things that caught our attention. I think my favorite is the Psyche and Cupid sculpture but there were so many amazing things to love. I also enjoyed the Napoleon III apartments which were opulent beyond belief!
I think our post-Louvre walk through the adjacent Jardin des Tuileries was my favorite part of the day. The gardens were full of beautiful landscaping, fountains, and people enjoying the gorgeous weather on benches and chairs. We got some ice cream from a cart boasting "glacier artisan", found an empty bench and just relaxed, trying to soak in everything.
After a wee rest, we headed up the street to the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. By the time we got there I was too tired to climb the 284 stairs to the top, so I waited for Rusty at the bottom and he got some great pictures.
Today really was a dream. I was telling Rusty that Paris is so incredible to me because it exceeds every idea I have of it. It just has this amazing culture to it and I think that it's my absolute favorite place in the world! So to be here with Rusty for our anniversary and my birthday is just the best thing I could ask for.