Paris Day 2

• We did a 4 hour bike ride today with Fat Tire Bike Tour.  I don't think they are affiliated with the beer company, however it's run by a Texan and many of the staff are from Texas (although today there were mostly West Coast guys). I felt good supporting a "home town" company and the tour was a lot of fun, so it was a win-win. The guide was an art, architecture, and history buff and enlightened me on some basic French history that I admittedly had never heard or never cared to remember. It was also interesting trying to navigate the streets of Paris on a bike with 20+ people. Despite lots of pissed off French drivers, we all survived and had a great time. Probably the highlight of our trip so far.
• The Eiffel Tower was next on our list. It was impressive but waiting in several lines made the whole experience less than we had hoped for. I should have expected as much, since it's a tourist destination. But it was cold and hazy outside, which meant we spent more time waiting in lines than we did enjoying the view! But don't get me wrong, it's a must see and I'm glad we did it. The structure itself is beautiful, especially when considering it was built in 1889. 
• The Eiffel Tower reminded me of my trip to Prague where there is a mini-Eiffel Tower of sorts and I WALKED all the way up. We had the choice of walking up the Eiffel Tower but decided against it (we figured we already got our exercise in with the bike tour). 
  
• Dinner tonight was great again. The wife made reservations at a quaint, family run restaurant. The meal was typical French cuisine and quite good. I had escargot for the first time and I actually could have had an entire meal of those buttery, garlicy little snails! 
  
• Our bike tour guide suggested we stopped by the Louvre at night. The lighting makes the facade spooky and beautiful all at the same time. Very neat stuff, however I was bummed that I couldn't capture that in our pictures. I need to figure out how to take photos at night. Our point and shoot digital takes good pictures but not at night. I'll need to research that when I go home ...