Exploring what Paris had to offer

Thursday, May 21, 2009

We began our morning hunting for a boulangerie for the breakfast pastries to which we'd already become accustomed. Ironically, the place we decided on was the same bakery (in a sea of Parisian bakeries) that A&D had found and fallen in love with on their last trip to Paris. After our breakfast and sizable cafe au laits, we trooped into the metro bound for the Louvre.

Upon arrival we made our way to the Ancient Mesopotamian area which turned out to be a good decision. Although this exhibit has the Code of Hammurabi, a very famous archeological find, the throngs of tourists just didn't seem to share our interest, which was great! After meandering through that exhibit we moved on the Egyptian antiquities exhibit where we were greeted with all the humans we'd managed to avoid all morning. Rather than wasting our time in exhibits we could neither see nor appreciate due to the heavy volume, we decided to go find lunch and then come back to see a couple of famous pieces we felt we couldn't come to the Louvre and ignore, the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. But en route to the exit we got turned around and found ourselves face to face with armless Venus. Checking that off our list we managed to find our way out and to a small bakery for the French sandwiches A&D had also managed to hook us on.

(The upright famous Louvre pyramid)

(The Code of Hammurabi in the Ancient Mesopotamia exhibit)

We enjoyed our lunch in the gardens nestled next to the Louvre before re-entering the building in pursuit of the Mona Lisa. Weaving our way into another wing of the building, we found Da Vinci's masterpiece surrounded on all sides by more photo snapping tourists. We got close enough to take a look but not to take a photo. If you'd like to see the Mona Lisa, I'm sure you can google her ;-).

As an aside, my disdain for tourists is probably showing. I realize that Ben and I were also playing tourist, but the tourists I am clearly judging are those who walk slower than a hip replacement patient, gaping all the while and paying no attention to the people they a) run into, b) stop fast in front of and force crazy course corrections or collision or c) blind with their flashes because they clearly can't heed signs that say "no flash photography." I do not like these people and I wish they would go away. That said, we still made the best of our surroudings, just trying to be patient with the lines, something that is particularly hard for me as I lack a "patient" setting.

After our Louvre visit we headed for Notre Dame. The cathedral is located on one of the Seine's islands. When we arrived the lines to enter the church was too long that we decided rather than waiting we'd try back in the morning and instead walked around behind the cathedral to see the flying buttresses and to sit in the gardens and decide where to go next.

(The rear of Notre Dame and its flying buttresses)

After Notre Dame it was time to see some of the lovely green space Paris had to offer, so we walked to the Jardin du Luxembourg. It was a huge garden filled with Parisian and tourists alike sitting in little green chairs enjoying the lovely weather. By the time we finished our walk through the gardens our feet were achy and we were ready for an early evening rest before heading out for dinner so we meandered back to our hotel.

After a quick rest we set out for dinner. But we couldn't decide on which place to eat so we wandered around for a couple hours, getting very hungry, but still exploring the city. We finally decided we couldn't leave France without at least one more crepe so we settled on the Creperie Bretton for our evening meal. Delicious and, because of its Brittany roots, serving salty caramel crepes. After dinner we turned in, knowing we'd need to be up early the next day to be ready for Alyce's 830 arrival.