It wasn't easy to get to Paris (:
I had a connection in Frankfurt. I know the airport pretty well (I was quite a number of times in Germany via FRA airport), thus just 50 minutes for a connection seemed fine. It just slipped from my attention that it was a high traffic hours at Saturday morning.
Plane from Moscow arrived 20 minutes earlier than scheduled (!), even this didn't save me: I lost my connection. After all struggles with passport and security controls I got to the gate 20 minutes after take off. So I had to spend two more hours in a line to get a new ticket (fortunately the airline did it for free). However a new flight wasn't lucky either: I volunteered for overbooking and spend a couple more hours waiting for next flight. Fortunately this one finally got me to Paris. Normally I spend less time to travel to New York (:

However CDG airport wasn't my final destination. I also had somehow get to my apartments. It turned out train operators went on strike and there was no way to get out on railroad. Fortunately there was free shuttle service as a train replacement during strike time. It wasn't easy to find it though. I spent almost 20 minutes and was lucky to finally find it. Phew.

Inner garden in house I stayed. It was amazing place just 5 minutes away from metro station.

Paris is huge. I could easily spend a few weeks walking around. Unfortunately I was limited in time, thus I started with most popular tourist highlights.

Ta-da! Louvre!
There was a huge line for a ticket. However the museum has a free wi-fi connection around entrance area and I was able to buy a ticket through it. Why people can't do the same to avoid hours in lines?

There are still huge lines inside. Especially the one around the entrance. It turns out it's not the only entrance, but most people come through this one. To see Mona Lisa.

All signs tell visitors about Mona Lisa. There were almost no other things displayed along the path to the picture. I could easily get an impression there's nothing else in Louvre but Mona Lisa.

Finally I got to the hall with it. People allowed to get close in small groups. Once someone gets to the picture, he usually makes a few selfies and... leaves. Almost nobody, NOBODY, makes a pause just to look at the picture. Even for a few moments.
Those who spends too much time with taking picture of Mona Lisa are pushed away by museum workers. There are new visitors who's willing to take a few more selfies with famous Da Vinci work.

The first thing you see after the hall with Mona Lisa — direction to exit. However there is so much to see in Louvre!

I don't really like to post photos from museums. It's much more better to visit it yourself. This time I can't hesitate but post a couple.

There were way too many school groups. I saw about 5 of them. To my surprise one was Russian speaking.

All the time while I was in Louvre, it was raining cars and dogs. Fortunately the rain was over just a minute after I went to the street. Just a few puddles left as the evidence.

Here it was first time I saw Eiffel tower in real life (:

Some bridge.

There are cathedrals everywhere. I could pick any and it'd still be great.

There was a police car passing by (even a few of them). Somehow the police label on it was mirrored. Looks like something went wrong during labeling.

Here I saw the tower the second time. It's still pretty far to it.

This time I decided it's enough to watch the tower from distance and went to finally go on top of it (well, it was just as planned) :)

Charity marathon was almost finished nearby. A small pick-nick to celebrate the event.

The closer I got to the Eiffel Tower, the more souvenirs sellers there were. Everybody wants to get their bite from tourist money. Some of them are almost aggressive, or at very least extremely annoying. Fortunately just a few of them.

It's time to get on top. Unexpectedly that was almost the only place with almost no line. Moreover, there already were no tickets available online.

A bit cloudy, but still very cool.

I got on top around sunset. So I got day and night views by the price of single ticket.

The tower itself is illuminated very beautiful.

I got on top by elevator. Last part of my way back I went via stairs. It was interesting experience.

Souvenir sale is still going on.

Tourist attraction: for 89 euro you can drive Ferrari. About 10-15 minutes. In the city with all the speed limits.

On the way to dinner I absolutely by accident ran into princess Diana memorial. Right under this place the car crash happened many years ago.

Even for dinner I had to spend in line around 20 minutes. Mono-restaurant is quite popular type of place: all the visitors get the same main dish. You can choose dessert only. Everything else will be the same. I enjoyed it.

I went to Arc de Triomphe via Champs-Élysées and learned there is no night lights for the Arc. It was a disappointment of my evening. Nevertheless I enjoyed my first day a lot.