Day 9: Paris Finally!

We had an amazing start to the Paris part of our trip, so we slept well and eager with anticipation to start our first full day in the City of Lights.  The plan was to go to the Louvre and the Musee D'Orsay.  We decided to walk to the museum to save some money.  We figured we could explore the city while saving money.  We did find an open cafe.  We stopped in and had a traditional French breakfast of croissant and orange juice for the hubster and cafe au lait and tartine for me.  Once we finished, we made our way to the Louvre.  We decided to enter through the main entrance even though it was crowded.  It was quite sight to turn the corner and see the pyramid glistening in the sun.  Of course, we had a mini photo session with the pyramid and surrounding fountains.

Selfie

Using the mini camera tripod

Me

So Vogue!

Another tripod picture (definitely worth the $8)

The hubster's turn being a model

The hubster inside the pyramid

Me in the pyramid

We purchased the Paris Museum pass which we definitely used to our advantage.  One of the perks was that at certain museums you can skip the line.  We finally made it down into the museum and started exploring.  It's true.  It's huge!  But the art isn't my style, so I kinda just meandered around.  I have to say that I do love sculptures most of all.  Painting is also fascinating, but the subject plays a huge role in how much I like it.  The Louvre has a lot of religious paintings which isn't really my thing.  They also have a lot of mesopotamian art which is also not mine thing.  The hubster did enjoy that part of the museum.

First courtyard we visited

It was so beautiful.  Definitely can see how this was a palace

Rawr!

Where are my arms?

I think I was the inspiration for this sculpture

Doggies!

Winged Victory of Samothrace

It was a shame that this area was under construction.  And of course, the reason why you come to the Louvre!

Me and the Mona Lisa...sorta

Of course, the Mona Lisa was crowded, but it's amazing the type of pictures people would take of it.  We knew it was small, but we were amazed at the security of the painting.

View from one of the wings

Inverted pyramid

I had the sudden urge to drop to me my knees a la Robert Langdon

Me and pretty rainbows!

Lots of people taking pictures touching the type.  I didn't have the patience.  We had walked the majority of the museum which is a MAZE.  I was getting so frustrated with the map.  We ended up backtracking so many times and when you've been walking for a week straight, every step counts!  At one point, we were getting tired and annoyed at the crowds.  So we skipped most of the pieces of art in each wing to hit the biggies.  We were also getting hungry.

We left the museum through a different exit and found ourselves on a side street.  We walked around looking at the different menus when we passed what looked like a convenience store, but turned out to be a super market.  Perfect!

We picked out some sandwiches, salads, cheese, bread, proscuitto, and drinks and had ourselves a little picnic.  We walked over the Jardin des Tuileries and found a spot to eat.  Since it was a gorgeous day, the park was pretty crowded.

There seems to be something missing...

When we sat down and I took this picture, I realized that the proscuitto was not in the bag!  I had left it at the store.  I was so mad.  It's ok because we had plenty of food.  We ate and sun bathed and just relaxed.  My feet were hurting and we just soaked it all up.  We were jerks and made fun of all the people eating McDonald's while we had our picnic.  How French of us!

Relaxing

Of course we were people watching too.  I saw this guy come walking up, carrying a motorcycle helmet.  He was in pretty good shape and he makes this big show of taking off his motorcycle jacket and shirt to sunbathe.  I also noticed two other guys (also not wearing shirts, but not as muscular) walking around.  Then a friend of motorcycle guy shows up also in motorcycle gear.  He is carrying a soccer ball.  So two motorcycle guys go down a small hill and decide to play some soccer with each other.  Not out of the ordinary at all.  I'd imagine this is what French people do.  Well imagine my surprise when I look over at them and see this!

Motocycle guy #2 had stripped down to his underwear to play soccer and was joined by the other two guys walking around the park!

Where else does this happen!??! I guess they call it the "Beautiful game" for a reason.  I seriously could not stop staring (not because of the guys), but because of how ridiculous this scene was.

After spending an hour and a half to two hours at the park, we decided it was probably time to get a move on.  We got up and headed to the Musee D'orsay which was right across the river.

Some French police on horses

Unfortunately, there are no cameras allowed in the Musee D'orsay.  We were able to skip the line and off we went.  I enjoyed this museum so much more.  The subjects in the paintings were a wide variety and they had paintings and sculptures.

I did manage to get this picture of the clock inside.

Musee D'orsay from the bridge

By the time we were finished with the museums, we were exhausted (deja vu, I feel like I've written this sentence a million times already).  We made it back to the hotel and asked the front desk for restaurant recommendations.  We had been successful with suggestions before, so we'd figure we'd give it another shot.  We picked a traditional French brasserie.  Once we rested up, we got dressed and headed out for dinner.

It was a typical snooty French restaurant.  They made it a big deal that we didn't have a reservation.  They crammed us in a back table that had to have the table be moved so that I could get to my seat.  I ordered a beer, escargot, and sweetbreads and the hubster ordered a filet.  We ordered flat water, but got sparkling.  Le sigh.

Beer, but perhaps I should have ordered wine

Look at that S-car go!

(Get it? *wink* *wink* *nudge* nudge*

My Julia Roberts' Pretty Woman moment

Main entree

If you have gotten to this point, you might have looked up what sweetbreads are.  Well, they are calf pancreas!  Before I had ordered it, I had read about them in food blogs and referenced in books (i.e. Hannibal Lecter).  Anyway, it was fine at first, but then it wasn't.  The texture of it got to me.  I think I have a pretty adventurous stomach.  The stuff I have eaten growing up has grown me accustomed to unconventional tastes and textures.  Take dim sum for example, some find it gelatinous and slimy.  That's kind of what the sweetbreads were like.  The flavor was fine, but the texture made my stomach kinda turn.  I'm glad I ordered it, but I also felt like I wasted my first fancy dinner in Paris.

I was kinda turned off to being adventurous for the rest of the trip, but we were still able to enjoy the food the city had to offer.

Up next, Day 2 in Paris...