Paris Part Deux

Apologies for taking so long, but I’m finally getting around to writing about Day 2 of Paris.  Now that I’m back in Cambridge, life is as stressful as ever (and by stressful I mean, what am I supposed to do with myself until the next episode of Sherlock is put online?!).  As usual, I’ve just been lazy.  But no more!  Here, as promised, is Paris Part Deux.

Musée d’Orsay: Not gonna lie: the main reason I wanted to go here is because it was featured in one of my all-time favorite Doctor Who episodes.  Seriously, even if you’ve never watched Doctor Who, you should watch “Vincent and the Doctor” which made me both laugh hysterically and cry tears of sadness and joy.  Yes, I said it: I cried during Doctor Who (and it wasn’t the first time…for all of you Whovians out there reading this, I will just say: The Doctor. Rose. The beach. Yes. I was sobbing.)  Anyway, where was I?

Ah, yes, the Musée d’Orsay. We spent a whomping FIVE HOURS in this place, and probably could have been there much longer.  Originally a train station (as you can tell from the pictures), the place is more massive than it looks from the outside.  The highlight was, obviously, seeing all of the Van Gogh and other Impressionist paintings.  Gorgeous. 

Also, cool? A giant sculpture of a man fighting a crocodile.  Alas, I did not get a picture.  Instead, here's a picture of a giant rhino.  Apparently, Paris when through a rhino craze when one was brought to the palace.

Post Musée we stopped at a strange coffee shop where I proceeded to try telling my friends about my screenplay and they proceeded to laugh until they were in fits.  Let me just mention: my screenplay is a drama.  Yes, I have great friends.  Yes, I imagine this is what Hollywood is really like.

The Louvre, but not so much: We decided to go to the Louvre gardens (or Le Jardin des Tuilleries, as Ange just informed me) to see all the beautiful statues and hedgery (my computer thinks this isn’t a word, but that’s because I just made it up now).  Unfortunately, due to heavy rainfall, the Seine was flooding and so were the gardens! Yes, the end of the world was upon us! Though that would have been dreadful, if you’re going to be anywhere while the world’s ending, Paris isn’t so bad of a place.  But thankfully the world was still going strong.  However, the Louvre gardens were closing just as we got there.  Still, sneaky as I am, I was able to take some pictures through the fencing. 

Despite missing out on the gardens, I got some gorgeous pictures of Paris in general.  The bright shafts of sunlight through the dark clouds made for some lovely photographs.

Shopping: Being in Paris, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to shop a bit.  My friend wanted to go to Fragonard while we were there.  I had no idea what this was, but I was certainly going to find out.  For all those un-classy people such as myself, Fragonard is short for Fragonard Musée du Parfum. Yes, a perfume museum.  We didn’t actually go into the museum, but we did go into the “gift shop”.  At first my nose was assaulted with smells and I thought, “Dear Lord, how does anyone work here?”  But after a few minutes my brain sorted through the sensory overload and I was able to walk around without passing out from the fumes. 

I’m not one to wear perfume, but being surrounded by the most lovely smelling French perfumes, it was hard to say no.  So…I bought one.  And it’s actually the souvenir I’m most excited about.  My scent: Bleu Riviera, which Ange says reminds her of the South of France. Never been there, but it sure smells good.

We did some more shopping all around Paris.  Top find: a delicious candy and cookie store.  When I saw those piles of cookies, I couldn’t resist, despite the large price tag.  And, oh man, were they good.

Alexandre and the Great Outrageous Parisian Expedition: No, this is not the title of a children’s book, though if it was a book it'd be the story of my life or, at least, this part of it.  We met up with Ange’s friend, Alexandre, an eccentric Frenchman who was going to take us to dinner (though when I told him he was eccentric he said, “I’m not eccentric; I’m French!” Touché, sir.).

Alex, despite living in Paris, didn’t quite seem to know where he was going.  He led us on a half hour walk to one restaurant, only for us to find out it was closed.  Then he knew of a different place and we walked another half hour…right back to same spot we had been in before.  Le sigh.  He couldn’t quite remember where the restaurant was and after suggesting we go to Starbucks (“No!” was my quick response…who eats dinner at Starbucks, especially when they’re in France?), we found a nice Italian place.

After finally getting a full meal, we decided to head back to our hotel and get some crepes.  Alex led us on another expedition through the underground, where he bounded up and down stairs with the energy of a baby gazelle.  Ange, Anna, and I trudged behind him like the weak members of the herd, just waiting for a lion to take us out of our misery.  Would it do any good to tell you that at this point in the trip, after hauling suitcases up and down endless stairs, my feet were pretty much dead?  

Thankfully we got home quickly and plopped down in a booth of an adorable creperie.  Anna and I split two crepes, a Nutella crepe and a salted carmel crepe.  Only a picture of me drooling would explain how delicious they were (thankfully, I don't have photographic evidence of that, and if I did...well, it wouldn't be put up here).  We chatted long after our crepes were gone.  We took photographs with Ange’s panorama and my 35mm film camera.  We tried to translate “tickle” and “poke” into French.  Finally Alex dropped us off at our hotel and said goodbye (finally, here's a picture of our tiny hotel).

  

We ended the night with old wine and Edith Piaf and a bedtime of 3am when we had to be up at 6am.  Ah, the life.

Gonna miss these girls, my favorite travel partners. Thanks for a great time, ladies.


PS: That's not the end of the adventure. Look for a Travel Bloopers blog coming soon filled with funny photos and cute anecdotes that didn't make it into these travel blog posts.