Paris: Got a tad lost in the back country roads to Paris, but finally made it onto the Rue Peripherique and circled around to our hotel in rush hour traffic. The place I booked us in was near Porte de Clichy near Montmartre - gentrified? - but absolutely dreadful for parking! Pete circled around and around and finally ended up squating on a illegal spot (marked with an X) as I hopped out and wheeled the luggage to the hotel to store while we returned the car. The sidewalks were so narrow and crowded with cafe tables that I ended up wheeling both our luggages down the street while Pete stayed with the car. Ghetto and funny-looking? Yes, most definitely, but at that point, I didn't care. It was almost time for Avis to close and we *had* to return that car. We didn't even bother re-filling the tank b/c we were out of time and it just wasn't worth it to look for one in Paris' busy streets. We figured that the money we saved on getting a diesel car more than made up for the slightly higher rate that Avis would use to charge us for gas. We walked back to the hotel and breathed a sigh of relief from the long and tiring drive.
After re-grouping a little, it was 8:15 and we headed down to the Eiffel Tower to try and catch a Seine river cruise with Bateux Parisiennes. We made it down just in time to catch the 9 pm tour and headed off to get a general overview of Paris' left and right banks. After this, we walked through the Eiffel Tower to get some night pictures of it and made our way up to Trocadero. Mind you, it was 11 pm, we were super exhausted, and we hadn't eaten yet. So we forked out € at the Trocadero food stand and got a couple of Crepe Complet (egg, ham and cheese) and munched on the metro ride back home. Pete wasn't quite full from the crepe, so we stopped by the McDonalds at Fourche (closest metro stop to the hotel), and ordered a royal-o-fish to take back with us. It was supposed to come with lettuce and tomatoes, but it was just a regular filet-o-fish. I guess Pete's earlier prediction (when we cane into Paris) of having dinner at McDonalds came true. Sigh. At least they had salad.