We arrived in Paris fairly late, around 4pm. Our hotel is thankfully, thankfully located centrally! Barry told us several times that the rooms would be small but that for Paris it is imperative to have a centrally located hotel. He kept apologizing about the size of the rooms as if it’s something people complain about frequently. Stupid Americans… The hotel was in the Montparnasse area. We only had a few hours before our evening excursion began. Marc, Joe, Sue and I set off to find some repas. I was eager to try out my French (I took three years in high school, and I remember a lot of it). We found a place just down the street and sat outside next to a huge, busy intersection, but anywhere was more than sufficient. I was so thrilled to be in Paris!

I ordered pate and a walnut, tomato and goat cheese salad. Marc ordered mussels! I got all of my French pronunciations right and the waiter looked appreciative. Dinner was good, but the pate was not what I expected. I expected it to have more of a canned cat food consistency but was much chunkier, like meatloaf. But at least I was trying different things. One of the girls on the trip told me that in Amsterdam, I had inspired her to be more adventurous in her food choices. That was a nice compliment!

At 7pm we set out for the excursion. We went on a cruise of the Seine first. The boat ride was okay. We were the last ones to get on so we were sitting in the middle, which wouldn’t have been bad except for the fact that the boat was surrounded by clear plastic. The views were awesome, but picture taking was impossible. Each seat had an audioguide, and we also had a live guide, who had to give the same spiel in six different languages!

As we cruised along, I quickly learned why Paris is called the city of love. Along the Seine there are embankments, and we passed several young couples making out. There were also people out strolling, and there was an area where several trendy young couples were swing dancing. Already I had the feeling of what a young, vibrant and romantic city Paris is. I even felt a smidgen too old for it.

After the cruise, we were driven to the Eiffel Tower. Apparently, workers had been on strike, but it was open when we got there. The lines were huge, but because we were with a group, we got right in. Or, up. The sun was setting as we ascended to the second level. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t get any decent pictures of the two of us. But we got great shots of the views. Once we got back down, we haggled with one of the vendors selling miniature Eiffel Towers. There must have been 30 different guys all trying to pawn off the same goods.

Then we boarded the bus for a night tour of Paris. Everywhere we went, there were people milling about and all the restaurants and cafes with outdoor seating looked filled to capacity. We went by the Arch de Triomphe and down the Champs Elysees and past the Opera House. As we were heading back to the hotel, the bus had to make a detour because a huge crowd of what our guide called “the rollers” mobbed one of the major thoroughfares. I have never seen so many rollerbladers at one time! It was amazing! Then when we were almost to the hotel, a crowd of bicyclists took over another street. That group wasn’t nearly as long, and we only had to wait a few minutes for them all to pass. By the time we got back to the hotel, we were exhausted and decided to rest up for our next full day in Paris! Two nights in the same city and the same hotel—what a luxury!

September 20, 2004. Paris continued…

The morning started off with another bus tour orientation to the city for those who hadn’t gone on the excursion the night before. Since this one was by daylight, it was almost as remarkable. Every street in Paris is photo-worthy! The buildings are gorgeous, even the apartment buildings! They have intricate, wrought-iron balconies with beautiful potted plants and flowers. And there are so many trees everywhere! Gorgeous! I think we should come here on our honeymoon.

After the mini-tour, we were immediately taken to the Louvre for the first part of the day’s excursion. We had the same guide as the night before, Isabelle. We only had two hours in The Louvre. Isabelle talked in-depth about several works of art: Mona Lisa, a Raphael, a Caravaggio, a Cimabue, a few other paintings and some statues: Michelangelo’s dying slaves and the Venus de Milo. I knew that Isabelle was a top-notch guide when she hinted that the Mona Lisa is a bit over-rated. I was totally unimpressed by its mediocrity. Small, dark, drab little painting!

After our mini-tour, we ate lunch in the Louvre “food court.” It was very nice though, and had several restaurants with delicious looking food. The place that looked most impressive was a Mexican restaurant. Marc and I ordered their taco salad, and it was the best taco salad that I’ve ever had. Grilled chicken, lettuce, red beans, corn, shredded carrot and red cabbage, pico de gallo, sour cream and guacamole. Or maybe I was just really hungry for some Mexican food.

After the Louvre, we went to Versailles. The hall of mirrors is undergoing a major renovation. 9/10 of the hall was closed off. Other than that, the rest of the palace was quite impressive. The thing I loved most about it were the portraits of Marie Antoinette by Marie Vigee-Lebrun. Second most-loved thing was the gardens! Just gorgeous. Marc tried taking pictures of me, but I looked so tired in all of them! It was very frustrating.

We arrived back at the hotel at 4pm. The one thing we really wanted to try and see was the Musee d’Orsay. We walked to the Gare Montparnasse station and took the metro to the museum. I thought the Paris metro station easier to figure out that London’s. We had only one hour in the d’Orsay, but as soon as we arrived we knew it would be worth it. The interior of the museum was stunning! And I had to take Marc’s picture in front of a Rodin statue because of the Minus the Bear song “Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse.”

At 6pm we were kicked out of the museum, and sat and listened to a clarinetist playing Mozart’s piano concerto. He had the orchestra part playing on a tape recorder to accompany him. He was good, and I gave him a euro.

Then we set off for Notre Dame. We got there as an evening church service was in progress. I took only a couple pictures, sans flash, and tried to be as discreet about it as possible. I wanted to smack the people using flashes. Outside of Notre Dame, some rollerbladers had set up a huge ramp with a high-bar at the end of it. They’d get a good rolling start, shoot up the ramp and over the bar. I tried taking pictures but they went much too fast.

After Notre Dame, we decided to find someplace to eat. Unfortunately, we were far away from all of the super-cool, wicked-ambient places we’d seen last night from the bus. We were both so hungry that we settled for an Italian restaurant close to Notre Dame, even though it didn’t have outdoor seating. I don’t know what it is about European waitresses/waiters, but if there’s a room with eight-ten tables, and two of the tables have people already sitting there, the waitress will seat you directly next to a table with another couple. So not only did we lack outdoor seating, we lacked privacy as well. So much for a romantic Parisian dinner.

But the food was INCREDIBLE. We studied the menu for awhile (it was in French). The waitress came back and said, “Are you ready,” in French, I knew what she said but can’t remember what she said, “Vous etes prets,” perhaps. I said, “Yes,” and she said, “Yes? Would you like zee English menu?” At that point we felt like laughing since it took so long to figure out what to order. But I think we had it down. We ordered the pizza with “saumon” and some spinach ravioli and decided we would share each dish. I also ordered some wine. The wine is listed in “25” and “50” quantities. I tried to find out how big the “50” size was, and finally I just ordered that. It turned out to be several glasses. I was a wee bit buzzed. The pizza ended up having a salmon cream cheese spread and LOX! Which Marc and I have never eaten, but you know, it was the best pizza I’ve ever had. And the ravioli was so delicious! If the Italian food in Paris is that good, I can’t imagine how good the French food must taste. For dessert, we had a very small piece of tiramisu.

After dinner we took the subway back to the hotel. I was still in the mood for something sweet since dessert had been about two bites each. We ran into Dan and Alice close to the hotel. They were buying crepes from a street vendor, so Marc and I got a Nutella crepe and chatted with them. By the time we crawled into bed we were exhaused… I can’t believe we did the Louvre, Versailles, Notre Dame AND the Musee d’Orsay in ONE DAY! We watched a silly French game show as we fell asleep, this one about contestants who try to determine who is a real spy and who is an impostor. Tomorrow it’s back to London and I am sad to be leaving Paris… It truly is the most beautiful city that I have ever seen.
Go on the next part of the journey!