Paris - Day 3

Sorry about not posting my days sooner. Now, I'm like 3 days behind. It's okay though. I needed sleep. Plus, my feet aren't handling all this walking so well. They're hurting pretty bad, but I've made it through the Paris half (remember it's technically day 6). 

Day 3 (Friday) started out pretty typical with breakfast in the hotel around 8:30 a.m. I've been eating similar things every day. Baguettes with jelly, an apple, fruit yogurt, and a boiled egg with orange juice. We left for the l'Orange art museum around 9:30 a.m. After taking the metro and walking quite a way, as usual, we arrived and got our museum passes from Dr. Philibert. Then, because the entrance workers at l'Orange saw us as a big group, he wouldn't let us enter at once. He said the museum passes were not supposed to be for groups and that we would only be allowed to enter two at a time. So, we decided to split into smaller groups and come back later. 

The museum pass could be used for all of the major museums in and around Paris. Five of us decided to go to the Louvre first. It was beautiful, but huge. Here are some pictures.

Mona Lisa 

       Bagpipe player

After the Louvre, we went to grab some lunch. We ate at a restaurant in the area, and I had a Cesar salad. It was a bigger portion than anything I've had here so far, and it was actually very similar to the states. They use a different combination of lettuce, which we have in the states, but I can't remember the name. It had purple leaves in it. No, I'm not mistaking those leaves with cabbage. It's not that salad mix. Anyway, it was pretty good, not as good as the states thigh. I really liked the smoked chicken in it. I've noticed every restaurant serves baguettes with their meals, like how some places in the states give different types of bread. I really enjoy those. 

After lunch we headed back to l'Orange, but we passed some souvenir shops on the way. I was rather surprised with how well we knew how to get around by ourselves. Katie, another girl, and I bought matching scarves. We didn't do it on purpose; we all just only liked that one. It was cute though we took a few pictures with them on. We went into the l'Orange, which was thankfully smaller than the Louvre. The pictures of Monet's water lilies were in these oval rooms, made specifically for those paintings. I'm not sure if the water lilies were really from Monet or if spelled that right; I'm not the best with art, but regardless, they were beautiful. I liked a few other pieces in this museum also. 

We left the l'Orange and decided to the Pompeii Do Center, which is the most modern art. We were all getting rather tired rather tired and no one else seemed interested in this museum besides me. That was a little frustrating because I didn't get to enjoy it the way I wanted to. I walked around the first gallery and took a few pictures. Most of the pieces in there everyone else seemed to think were weird, but I found them to be neat. We left there relatively fast and decided it was time to eat dinner. 

On the way to the Latin quarter to eat there was Shakespeare and Company, which was closed before. We went in and looked around. I bought a book called the Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. It's found in the states, but a character I relate to in one of my favorite movies reads it in the movie, and I've slways wanted to. I thought it would be a neat souvenir because they stamp the books with the company name on the inside. I have no idea what the book is about, but I really felt like I should get it, so I did. We will see. 

We also passed some street venders selling different books, art, etc. I found some original paintings by art students in Paris according to the vendor, and I really liked several of them. I said I would go back after dinner if I still felt I wanted them. 

We ate dinner at an Italian pizza place in the Latin quarter. I can't remember if I told you this in day 2's post, but the hostesses here stand outside and spot tourists and try to talk you into eating in their restaurant. It's a little intimidating, but today it was nice because the pizza guy offered us free drinks if we came in. So we decided to eat there. A few people in the group though he meant free pop as drinks, but shortly after we sat down, he brought us sample glasses of wine, which he said was actually sangria, a mix. Everyone was sort of paranoid that he would actually charge us for them if we drank them, but Justin and I tried them anyway and it was delicious. Two others in the group took a small sip. We ordered two pizzas to share because we wanted to get crepes after. 

We ordered salami and cheese pizza as well as a margherita (spelled correctly here) pizza, which was basically just herbs and cheese. Pepperoni doesn't exist here. Instead they had anchovies, calamari, etc. I was rather disappointed. Both pizzas were delicious though. 

We left the Italian place and meandered through the busy crowds towards the Notre Dame. I stopped back at the paintings on the way, but she was closing. So I decided, if possible, I would return again the next day (Saturday). When we arrived at Notre Dame, it was again closed for tours, so we headed back to the quarters to buy some dessert crepes. I bought an applesauce and cinnamon crepe, which was pretty good. I wish it would've been more crunchy, but it was still great. After getting crepes, we decided to head back to the hotel. We got on the RER railway, which is so confusing, but we managed. That took us to Invalides where we switched to the M8 underground metro to go to Ecoli Militaire, where the hotel was. We made it back safely. 

Adventuring on our own was much more fun than the huge group. Until next time...

Au revoir, friends.