October 18, 2012

Day 2 in Paris...

Yesterday was our second day in Paris. We started it out with pastries from the patisserie down the street from the apartment (that has been the morning breakfast and evening meal place, can't complain. Then it was off to the Cluny museum, which was phenomenal. If you want to go to any museum in Paris, go there. We navigated just fine on the metro (it's easy to pick up after your 2nd time on it) and arrived at the door of the Cluny. We messed up on not getting audio guides and had to rely on Rick Steve's and my 3 quarters of French to translate and tell us what was what, but other than that it was great. The Cluny houses a lot of the original heads or sculptures of figures that once used to be apart of major monuments now, like Notre Dame. It was an awesome building for a museum too because it was in an old cathedral that monks used to live, now it's just ruins but it is amazing to see.
After the Cluny, we began to wander around the streets of Paris (wandering has been my favorite part of this trip) we knew we were going to the louvre museum in the evening. Annie wanted to head toward a cool looking building (all we could see were the spires) we made our way over to it and it turns out it was Notre Dame. By that point the rain had started to fall and we had not originally planned on going into the cathedral but being that it was pouring we decided why not. So in we went, when we decided to leave we headed back outside to find it pouring even more...so back inside we went. No worries. We just sat and waited and then we just thought enough was enough, we're from Seattle this should not be a big deal. Went outside and bam it stopped raining. We headed to saint chapelle which had a massive line. Then we wandered some more, found an amazing little district that was quiet and unassuming by tourists, then headed to Shakespeare & Company for a little book smelling or reading. We decided it was time to head home so off we want. Tired and ready for a break.
We had a quick FaceTime session with our mom and sister before our mom headed off to work, changed our clothes and then went off to the lourve for a little more history.
Got to the Louvre about 6 pm and went to the major sites first, the Mona Lisa, the winged victory, the kissing angels, and the massive war paintings which are a favorite of mine. We then decided to try out a different gallery in the louvre, we chose the Sully. It was really cool, Full of Egyptian artifacts and also down stairs a renaissance building. Really fun, except I was still jet lagged and found everything hilarious, which I'm sure people thought I had had too much of something. My sister pushed me along making sure we barely ever stopped to sit down and rest. It was horrible. But after a while I couldn't feel my feet so I was able to move....
We met back up with our friend (she gives tours at the louvre) and headed out to find somewhere to eat. It was 9pm and one hour later we finally found a spot to eat. A cute little cafe by her apartment that she's frequents. She ordered for us and boy oh boy was it delicious! I had 2 pieces of bread with ham and then an egg (sunny side up) on top of the ham and bread. A little spring mix salad with vinegrette dressing and a little container or bowl just for my French fries. Everything was DELCIOUS! The waiter was concerned that my meal wouldn't taste as good without cheese, but she assured him I am allergic to cheese so it's a no go. He understood and left (slightly disappointed I'm sure). Annie had the same except hers came with melted cheese and she had a glass of white wine. It was a fun night full of food and conversation over the sweet sound of Parisienne music in the background.

Today was loaded with travel here there and everywhere. Tomorrow we are up before the sun to catch the Chunnel to London!! So excited!!! I'll post more later. Bonne nuit!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Next time I'm in Paris, I'll go see The Cluny. It sounds great.