Paris-Days 2 and 3

On our second day we got up early-ish to go see all of the tourist sights. Maggie had never been to Paris before, so we wanted to make sure we saw everything. We walked up Saint-Michel past the Sorbonne and made our way over to rue de Rivoli since it seemed like a pretty direct route to everything.

Mom had recommended a chocolate shop on Rivoli, so we made sure to keep our eyes out for it. We went by the Louvre, but the line was pretty long. However, it must've been our lucky day because it turns out that on Wednesday and Fridays, the museum is open late. 6 euros will buy you entrance from 6 to 10 pm, which is more than enough time for me to spend at a museum in one sitting. I like my mom's and my usual approach to museums, which I've adopted for my own use in Boston. We go when there's something we want to see and see it, then if we're not tired we see something else. After that, we do lunch! So we left the Louvre and continued towards the Tuileries. We passed Angelina's and looked at the menu, deciding to come back for an afternoon snack later on in the day. Next, we walked down the Champs-Elysees. It was like a live fashion show- everyone was dressed beautifully, with the exception of some label-whores who felt the need to display their Burberry print all over. Note to self: when rich, choose pieces tastefully. Maggie stopped at the Louis Vuitton store to lust over her favorite bag, which she wants to buy herself as her big souvenir in France. I'm not sure what I want to buy as mine- I don't have a label fascination, but would like something that will remind me of France and that I'll use on a regular basis. Perhaps some nice chef would like to be employed to teach me how to cook...

Went by the Eiffel Tower to check it out, although I've been up and Maggie wants to wait for her family to visit to go to the top. The surrounding gardens are beautiful, as well. We suddenly realized that it was around 2:30 and we hadn't eaten lunch yet, so we spend a good 40 minutes winding our way around to find somewhere to eat. Eventually stopped at a little brasserie for salads and a glass of wine. We were the only table at that late hour, which we thought bothered our waiter a little bit at first. He had forgotten the walnuts and eggs on my salad, and when I asked about them he felt badly and made me a whole little side dish with hardboiled eggs and mayonnaise. I hate mayonnaise, but in the interest of science, I tried some of his. It was absolutely heavenly! I may not give the stuff in a jar another try, but I could have eaten this stuff (which was probably made there) on a whole carton of eggs! A couple of his regulars sat down at a table near us, and he got chatty, coming over to ask us where we were from (I don't think he knew we were American either), telling us that one of his regulars was from Reims as well, and saying to call him if we were in Paris again. I don't think he was hitting on us, he was just being a friendly Parisian. Yes, they do exist!

After lunch we wandered back towards the Champs and ended up on the French Rodeo Dr- aka Rue Montaigne. The Champs is ritzy, but has things like Adidas, Quiksilver, aka less expensive and American stores. Montaigne, on the other hand, had custom couturiers of whom I've never heard, and of course, all the usual: Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Gucci... Made it back to Rivoli and only had to wait for a very short while before being seated. We were looking at the pots of hot chocolate around us and decided that we'd both be sick if we got the one designed for 2 people. So we ordered a 1 person portion with two cups, a mont blanc (meringue covered in a thick custardy cream with chestnut flavored chocolate piped on top) and a tartelette eva (tart filled with thick chocolate and a creme brulee inside. The chocolate was perfectly rich and absolutely luscious with a big dish of whipped cream on the side. Most of the places we've eaten have been filled with French people, and we've tended to shy away from ones that look like tourist traps. This place seemed to have attracted both kinds. The tables on either side of us were French, but we could hear English, Italian, etc around us, too. Had a coffee served my favorite way to end our decadent dessert: a small pot of espresso with another pot of steamed milk that you combine to your liking, with more delicious whipped cream on the side. Luckily, the portions were small so we could indulge without getting sick.

It was just after 6 when we left and headed to the Louvre. Did the Mona Lisa first for Maggie's benefit, and then spent most of the time just browsing around. I'd seen most of the "important" pieces during my high school trip, so all of my pictures were of paintings that I really liked/didn't remember, or of cool textures that I found around the museum. We stayed for about 3 hours before taking a long way back towards our hostel.

Around 10 we were looking for somewhere near to the hostel to eat and were looking at a menu when the owner/maitre d' whatever (so hard to tell when most of the staff at small places doesn't wear any uniform whatsoever) offered us a kir (white wine and creme de cassis) and led us by the arm to a table. The three course menu (carte is menu in French, whereas menu is a fixed price multi-course dinner) sounded perfect, so we dined on escargot/baked roblochon, steak au poivre/duck confit with perfectly sauteed potatoes and rice, and had sorbet for dessert. The food was delicious and cheap for Paris, and we enjoyed the attention from the staff, who at one point made me get up and dance. We promised to come back next time we're in Paris and headed back to the hostel for bed.

Day 3 we didn't get up until 10:30 (early morning phone call from Peter and fatigue from the day before), so we got a late start, but bought our token pair of Parisian shoes and some postcards to send home. We went by Les Invalides, the Musee d'Orsay, the Rodin museum, etc... We were disappointed to find out that most of the 18-25 yr old discounts we've heard about are limited to residents of the EU. Ah well, it's still not horribly expensive to go, so we plan on visiting the good ones when we live in Paris for co-op.

Sat at a cafe for a light lunch and wrote our postcards over coffee before heading to the Eiffel Tower to mail them. Time flies when you're having fun, and all of the walking we'd done made it so that we had just enough time to walk leisurely back towards the hostel for a drink before our train. I was sorely disappointed for the first time since I've arrived, however. We'd been to this particular cafe for happy hour the first night we arrived and found that 5 euros for a cocktail was a good deal. We were a little early for the happy hour, but still expected something tasty. My red wine was ice cold and undrinkable, and I felt worse because I didn't feel comfortable enough with a) my French and b) the rumors I'd heard about French customer service to ask for something else. So I didn't drink it and we left shortly thereafter. Luckily, a delicious crepe place up the street filled a crepe with Nutella for me and it was just the thing to remind me that I love France.

Quick train ride back and we're back in Reims! Kate, our third roommate, arrived before us so she and some other new arrivals were at the apartment when we got back. It was fun to compare Parisian experiences with people who don't have the "All Parisians are snobs" mentality.