World Tour 2009 - Day 4
More on my journeys through Europe...
Today's Highlights:
awl insisted on bread and cheese for dinner. I'm so glad he did... We had happened upon a lovely bread shop the other day when trying to find an ATM. So, we went back to that side street. As it turns out, the whole side street is filled with traditional French shops. We went into a true Artisan Boulangerie to buy a "demi baguette". To give you an idea of this side street there was: a true butcher shop, a French deli for sausages, a hot deli for premade dinner, a flower shop, and a cheese shop. Well, after stopping for a demi baguette at the bread shop, we stopped at the cheese shop. I was able to get us by with my very broken French, and commented to the woman at the bread shop that my French was very bad. She said, in French, "that's ok, my English isn't much better". We headed back to our hotel room, and stopped at the super market for some more Limonade to wash down our wares. Dinner consisted of: half baguette with goat cheese, a butter croissant also with the goat cheese, a chocolate tarte (le 3 choco), and a lemon tart (tartelette citron). Really, the best food we've had.
Today's Highlights:
- Headed over to the Louvre. So, did you know that the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays? Yeah, me neither. I even looked at the site last night online, and didn't see mention of it. We went to get off the on/off bus the guide wouldn't let us because, well, the Louvre was closed.
- Decided on going to Notre Dame in place of the Louvre for today. Almost started to cry when we went inside. Years of art history, literature, and theater all came flooding back to me; it was like greeting an old friend. The cathedral was all I hoped for and more. As I crept around taking tons of photos, my Christian upbringing kept nagging me that somehow this was all sacrilegious. I kept waiting for an elder of the Church to come by and tell me that taking photos was wrong especially during morning mass (which it was).
- I got some chocolat chaud over by the cathedral, and it was dark, rich, and oddly sour.
- To quench my need for art, we went over to the Musee d'Orsay. I SAW GAUGIN!!!!! Oh, and some Monet, Manet, Renior, Degas, Sisley, Munch, and... oh yeah.. that VanGogh guy. Did I mention that I saw Gaugin???? While I did not see his Tahitian women work, I did see some of his works from Tahiti. awl claimed that this was the best part of his day because he saw how excited I was to be there.
- We walked until our feet hurt. We left the d'Orsay, walked across the metal pedestrian bridge over to Le Jardin des Tuileres, and wandered all throughout the gardens. We found our way to the fountain, and sat for a bit watching the Parisians feed the ducks and pigeons. At the end of the gardens, we arrived at the famous Louvre entrance with the newly added pyramids.
- Paris at night cannot be compared to anything in the world; especially, Paris preparing for Christmas. There are so many lights. I'm so in love with this city. They don't allow for skyscrapers to change their skyline, and the old buildings framed in the modern lights are just breath taking.
- We spent the rest of our evening on the on/off bus; it lead us up the Champs-Elysse. There is a Christmas carnival that the Parisians are setting up, and it's really fun. It's a lot like a state fair back home, but less rides. My friend asked me "corn dogs and funnel crepes?" And yes, it's sort of like that. I hope to walk through all of that tomorrow night.
awl insisted on bread and cheese for dinner. I'm so glad he did... We had happened upon a lovely bread shop the other day when trying to find an ATM. So, we went back to that side street. As it turns out, the whole side street is filled with traditional French shops. We went into a true Artisan Boulangerie to buy a "demi baguette". To give you an idea of this side street there was: a true butcher shop, a French deli for sausages, a hot deli for premade dinner, a flower shop, and a cheese shop. Well, after stopping for a demi baguette at the bread shop, we stopped at the cheese shop. I was able to get us by with my very broken French, and commented to the woman at the bread shop that my French was very bad. She said, in French, "that's ok, my English isn't much better". We headed back to our hotel room, and stopped at the super market for some more Limonade to wash down our wares. Dinner consisted of: half baguette with goat cheese, a butter croissant also with the goat cheese, a chocolate tarte (le 3 choco), and a lemon tart (tartelette citron). Really, the best food we've had.