Our second day in Paris – I had to shower in a bath the size of a telephone booth. Also, I blew out my hair dryer because I didn’t realize there is a difference in voltage allowance. Yes, I had the proper outlet converters, but no, the voltage is too high. Both my dryer and CHI iron broke! Note: next time, don't even bother with appliances. Thank goodness my chargers and iPod still worked. We had a nice, continental breakfast at the hotel: good European (packaged) cheese, jams, butter, sugar and my favorite, NUTELLA — food of the Gods.
The sun came out but it was still cool, low 50 degrees. By late morning, we took the Metro to Musée du Louvre. I noticed the Remember Me posters all over the Metro and RER. Now referred to as Rob-spotting (a total of 18x today!) …it brought positive, good Karma.
Arrived at the Louvre directly from the Metro. It was very crowded and chaotic. We waited in a long line for entry tickets (9 € Euros per adult). Then we entered the sea of chaos — tourists of all nationalities. It dawned on us that it’s not the French people that are rude, it’s the tourists! I’m a tourist too but I did my best to NOT be an ugly American, adapt and be polite. Others, did not. We beelined to the painting of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, after viewing the sun-filled inverted pyramid, Renaissance art (all the Madonna and Child paintings I studied in college) and sculptures.
Mona Lisa is a freaking rock star (far left). The most important pieces are encased inside protective glass. They discourage flash but that didn’t stop anyone from taking photos with it. I did not.
We saw the Winged Victory of Samothrace and Vénus de Milo. Other favorites were the three Graces and the Hermaphrodite. Beau enjoyed the baby strangling the duck.
It was hot inside with the bustling crowd so we went outside by the glass pyramid, for some cool air. Mini Rob was distracted by the guards.
Notre-Dame. It poured the minute we were in front of Notre-Dame. We hurried inside and toured the dark, quiet cathedral. By the time we walked around and out, the sun was shining again.
We walked around St-Michel and found an interesting eatery with Old Italy decor — Specialites Francaises.
The specialty grill was empty, quiet and inviting. We ordered the traditional 3-course meal for 10 € Euros. I had Soup a l’oignon (French onion soup), Steak sauce au poivre (steak with pepper sauce), and Mousse au chocolat (chocolate mousse). It was ambrosia.
I was waiting to use the restroom. Beau informed me earlier that it was a unisex room and when the door wouldn’t open, I waited. After some time, the waiter noticed me and babbled something in French. He pointed to the sign on the door: Poussez, and repeated, “Pus—say, pussay!” I laughed until I realized it meant PUSH and he opened it for me. I was so embarrassed but at least I didn’t have to pay to use the bathroom.
Afterwards, we (as Beau puts it) explored. Translate: more shopping. We got lost trying to find the Jardin du Luxembourg. With 5 minutes to spare before closing, we found Jardin! It was beautiful, something out of a period film, but a short-stay.
7 p.m. It was getting dark so we took the Metro to the Arc de Triomphe. We waited a bit for it to light up before heading back. There is so much to see in Paris but the language barrier makes it difficult to explore and enjoy the city.
Photos: Beau and Ren Reiske © All Rights Reserved
I'm enjoying reading about your trip. And my dream is to one day go to the Louvre. When I went to Italy I was completely freaked about the unisex bathrooms. I felt totally weird using one!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Amy. I want to write it all down before I forget. We would get back in the evening and I would ask Beau what happened. It’s a blur when you do so much in one day, but I didn't want to miss anything! Ironically, I’ve always dreamed of Paris but I fell in love with London. :)
ReplyDeleteI took a journal with me and would write down every night what we did all day and even then I know I was missing stuff, too. On my way home from Italy I had an 16 hour layover in London (part of that time I was sleeping at a hotel). I took the tube to Buckingham Palace and just walked around aimlessly for awhile and then made it back to the hotel before it was too dark. I can't wait to go back and really explore.
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