Today was our big monument day. We got up early, had breakfast in the hostel, and then walked along the river Seine to the Eiffel Tower. The receptionist guessed that it would take about an hour to walk there but it was probably closer to an hour and a half. We could have taken the metro, but I like walking through places I'm visiting because then we got to see so much more and get more of a feel for the city. We could see it at one point off in the distance and then it slowly got larger and larger as we got glimpses of it through the buildings. It is an amazing structure just so big and grand and an icon in the world.
I really wanted to do a four hour bike tour of Paris that was recommended to me by old tour guides in my hostel in Cadiz, but it goes until some point in November and with the cold and rainy weather forecast for today they weren't there so I didn't get to do it. We did however take the stairs up to the second level of the Eiffel tower and walk around there and see the views. They are actually better from the second level than the top because we are closer to the monuments and it was really cool to look out onto the city in all different directions. As you can see it was rainy and overcast the whole time we were there without any sun, but Paris was still a great city despite that.
From there we walked up the road some more and onto a different one to head to the Arc de Triumph. This I remembered seeing too but it was still very impressive to me. So large with lots of different sculptures and decorations. We didn't go up it but took the tunnel under to road to get to the base of it and the inside was really interesting too but I really like the large flag blowing in the wind under the arch.
The we walked down the Avenue des Champs-Elysées which is a very famous and large street with expensive shops and car dealerships on each side. We went in a few stores along there, way out of my price range, and went in Ladurée the place famous for macarons in Paris. We didn't get anything there because of the long line and likely very high prices, but I did get a macaroon later in the day at a fancy chocolate store. I had never had one before and didn't really know what to expect but it was delicious! Three of four different layers and a fudgy frosting type center and an egg-shell like crust.
The road took us back into more of the heart of the city and into the really expensive stores that we didn't even try to go in and just did more window shopping. After that we split up with Laura doing some more shopping and going back to the hostel to work on a paper. I was going to go to the Orsay Museum that we passed earlier in the day but then felt like walking around and exploring more. It was raining lightly and almost everyone was using umbrellas, but being from the northwest with my raincoat and already being a little bit wet it didn't bother me at all.
I put away my map and just wandered wherever I wanted to go and wherever seemed interesting. There were some building with light decorations flashing on and off on the sides and it was just really calm, relaxing and fun to go around exploring the city on my own.
I wandered upon the Opera House by chance all lit up during the night and that was a really cool surprise. I saw it as I looked down a street and then realized how grand and elegant it was so doubled back to get a better look. 
Later I started heading back to the hotel to meet up with Laura again. I decided to take a road parallel to the main one so I could see a part of the city I hadn't seen before. This however did not work because the roads aren't in a regular pattern or system so I ended up quite a bit off. The people I asked who worked in the stores couldn't really point to where they were on my map but I eventually found my way back. One of the streets I ended up on was pedestrian only and lined with little stores, restaurants, and some places that I'm pretty sure were strip clubs.
I did some work when I got back to the hostel and then went to bed early at 11 pm. Yesterday we went to bed at 10. It is kind of funny to me that we go to bed on weekend trips so much earlier than we do in Madrid, but it's good because then we can get up and start our days earlier.
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