Day 4

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Jenn

Friday

Morning....

We are still waking up at the ass crack of dawn, but I think that is more the bed than the time change. You cannot stay in this bed too long, at least I can't, my hip has been hurting like you would not believe. We went down and had our baguettes and cafe before heading off to the Louvre.

We got to the Louvre around 8:30am, half an hour before they opened. I think we were the 4th or 5th group in line. The nice this was we had the museum pass and didn't have to purchase tickets once inside. So we ended up being the first ones into the museum exhibits. Being that it was so early, we got to see the beautiful sunrise again. I took this picture while we were hanging outside, waiting to go in. As soon as they let us in we booked it to the Winged Victory - having come the year before I knew exactly where she was. I have to say she is one of my favorite works of art, I know Jenn enjoys her to, she bought a poster of her later that day! After that we headed to the Mona Lisa, who if you have never seen it, is VERY VERY small, not much bigger than a sheet of paper. Kelley was really funny, she didn't see what all the fuss was about. Ces't la vie, what can you do when someone doesn't understand or really seem to enjoy art? We headed back to the main area to set a meeting time and place. I ended up heading over to the Richilieu wing. The previous year it had been closed for renovations and I didn't get to enjoy all the sculpture before. I ended up finding a place to sit in one of the two main rooms, the one with the horses from the pedestals near the Concorde. I don't know how long I spent just watching the people, admiring the statues. To me it was a great way to spend the morning. Not sure where Kelley and Jenn ended up heading. We met at noon near the bookstore and headed up to the cafeteria to eat. I loved the food! So inexpensive, yet delicious. I got a faux filet with mashed potatoes and green beans. The meat was a little red, but still really good. I have to say out of all the places we ate, for the food you got, the cafeteria was probably the best value.

Afternoon...

We decided to come back another day to spend more time in the Louvre. So we headed out and walked slowly along the river to the Conciergerie.

A Bit of History: This fortress like building on the Ile-de-la-Cité, built by Philippe the Fair (1284-1314) now makes up much of the Palais de Justice complex. Its history as a place of imprisonment, torture, and death is is significant. That said, it does have some beautiful features, in particular the Salle des Gardes - the room of the guards with elegant vaulting - the colonnaded Salle des Gens d'Armes - 69m long and 27m wide now sometimes used for concerts - and the Cuisines with its four large fireplaces, each large enough to roast an entire ox.

Built during the first quarter of the 14th century, the architects were Nicolas des Chaumes and Jean de Saint-Germer, although many elements of its construction are now forgotten, and obscure.

Among its more famous prisoners were Marie Antoinette, Charlotte Corday, Danton, and Chenie. Marie Antoinette's cell is now a chapel to her memory, and includes her crucifix, and two portraits of her from life.

This was where Marie Antoinette spent the last part of her life before being beheaded.

The building was pretty cool, but not amazing. We did have fun with the small door, I hit my head - which seems to be a running theme. It began a long joke of taking pictures of me in small doorways! We did end up goofing around a little in the small courtyard just off of Marie Antoinette's cell, we set all 3 cameras down, hit the delayed timer and then ran and took our positions. Lots of fun! I am glad it was free though with our pass, I would have been annoyed and felt like I wasted money on it.

We then headed next door to Ste Chapelle - known for its amazing stained glass windows. The church is pretty much hidden in the Palais du Justice, you can just barely see its spires from the street. We had to wait in line to go through a security check point. As we neared the front of the line we put our bags on the conveyer belt to go through xray. Kelley went first, then me, then Jenn. I didn't get it until after we had gone through and headed out to the church that the security guy was flirting with me. Just as I reached for my bag, he pulled it back through the xray machine, and then asked me to open it. Kelley said she had been watching him and that he just used that as an excuse to get me to talk to him. I have to say he was EXTREMELY cute! Oh well. I have to admit my mind was just not on cute guys! When I travel I'm not going to get laid like a lot of people, I go to enjoy the culture and experience the place, although I am sure there are people who would say hooking up with a native is just part of the experience! Anyway we headed into Ste Chapelle and up some stairs, I'm not sure, but people must have been midgets back then, all the stair cases are tiny!! Anyway the gallery room was awesome, I can only imagine what it would look like on a sunny day, with the light streaming through... Its funny, it was actually really hot this trip, last year I froze my ass off, so I packed for cold weather this time... Oh well, rather be hot than cold I guess!

Anyway after spending a little while at Ste Chapelle, we joked about going back through security to check out the cute guy again, but opted to instead head down a little further to Notre Dame. I will admit I was tired and decided to be a poop and park my butt in a chair near the entrance. I had gone through the previous year and didn't feel like pushing through the crowds. Once Jenn and Kelley came back we used our passes and headed into the crypts, which were nothing like what I expected. I was really dissapointed. I was hoping they would be like the crypts Indiana Jones ends up in during Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I wanted dead, rotted away skelletons... and all I got was a musty old foundation. Oh well. Jenn and Kelley seem to really be hitting it off. I'm glad, its nice to have ones best friends get along. We headed out of the crypt rather quickly, the air was super dry and icky down there and cruised around, what I think is the best shopping area in Paris for touristy stuff. We took a short break and sat for a little while in the little park behind Notre Dame, and I swear if there really was a hunchback of Notre Dame he walked right by us! Since it was already almost 4pm we decided to head back to the hotel to take a nap and then go to a pub for drinks, dinner whatever.

later that evening...

We ended up having very short naps (well me and Kelley) then giggling about boys most of the time, and the souvineirs we had purchased that day. We got dressed and headed down the street to the Red Light district to the Irish pub I went to last year, O'Sullivans, which is next to the Moulin Rouge. We had a drink - FYI they serve Absinthe there - then went into a few sex shops (a must in that area). Oh! While walking to the pub, we passed a group of guys hanging out on a bench, they started cat calling, Jenn and I were in front, Kelley was lagging - smoking a cigarette. Kelley said that one had jumped up and took a picture of me with his cell phone, I couldn't stop laughing. I have to admit being a blonde in Paris is definatly different! I will admit I love the compliments, some people think its rude and disrespectful, but I'm sorry when someone takes a picture of you with their phone, that is a compliment in my mind. Kelley and Jenn were getting a good giggle out of it too, definatly something that has never happened to me before! We ended up stopping in what looked like an Indian restaurant on the way back to the hotel. I ordered another nutella crepe, oh so yummy! We got back around 11:30pm I think Jenn passed out pretty quickly, Kelley and I stayed up until almost 1am reading tour guides and plotting out the next day.

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Photos

Winged Victory
I thought asians were supposed to know how to use a digital camera.... Sorry if that offends you... Just very dissapointed in the picture.

short doors
Yes I nailed my head on this door....

Yummy
yummy yummy food.. Yes I'm eating greens...