After a night of good rest at our hotel, we packed our scant belongings and planned our day as we walked in the direction of Cemitaire Montparnasse, an old cemetery with some notable people buried there including Camille Saent-Sains and Renor. On our way there, we stopped for breakfast at a little boulangerie-patisserie. It was small, and the lady was very kind and Victoria ordered for Galen and herself. She also had a nice little chat (en Francais) with the lady that works the register, They both got croissants, and I ordered (by myself, I proudly add) a Pain au Chocolat, which is basically a croissant filled with chocolaty goodness. It goes without saying that it was unbelieveably good. I didn't think it was possible to ingest something so divine. Everyone always raves about the pastry here, and it isn't a bit overrated. We ate while we wandered through the graveyard, taking pictures here and there.
It reminded us of the graveyard in the Madeline books- lots of vine-covered ground (all of the graves are above ground,) crunchy leaves, that old, decaying smell of the damp moss underfoot. We trotted on to the Luxembourg gardens, a beautiful , lush green park full of flowers and fountains and artists painting the landscape. We also saw a Japanese couple exchanging vows, with the wedding photographer as the sole attendant. We walked through and enjoyed the vast expanse of green-ness. It was getting close to noon, and so we started towards the restaurant that we had planned on eating at, the Polidor. First we stopped to get clarification on our google maps directions from a Gendarme, who was happy to help. As a side note, why do French law enforcement and army personnel wear those odd little pillbox caps while some American troops sport berets? Should be the other way round. I'm sure there is a story about why that is the case. There are lots of flower sellers, fruit vendors, and seafood sellers line the streets here, which creates an odd conglomeration of smells. Very colorful place!
We arrived at La Polidor a little before they opened so we had to wait outside for a few minutes. It was nice to sit down after all that walking! When we got inside, we all decided to get Bouf Bourgenion, which is a classic meat dish here. While waiting for our food, We enjoyed watching the restaurant bustle around, with people ferrying crates of apples, bottles of pellegrino, and vegetables back to the kitchen. Our food came and we dug in. SO good! It didn't help that we were eating in a restaurant that had been in operation since 1843. They had the time and the experience to get it right!
We wanted to see Notre Dame as well, which was about a 20 minute walk from the Polidor. We opted to just look at the outside, as all the tours were in French only and we had other places to see as well. We went to a little bookstore called Shakespeare and Company, a bookstore that Julia Child made famous as she frequented it regularly.
The fabulous Louvre was next on our list, and we walked about a half hour to get there and oh, it was so worth it! Even though we didn't have a ton of time to spend there, we thoroughly enjoyed all the things we got to see- the Mona Lisa, Venus di Milo, tons of tapestries, paintings and sculptures by the likes of Renault, da Vinci, Monet, Renoir, and lots of other artists. I took pictures of all of my favorites, including the building housing these great works, as it is itself a work of art. There were gilded ceilings, ceiling frescoes, and dramatic balconies and walkways that were amazing. We could have spent 3 days here and not seen everything, so we just hit the highlights and our personal favorites. I'm continually amazed at the skill it takes to make such amazing works of art. The biggest painting we saw was some 20 feet by 30 feet, at least. Incredible! However, some of the artwork was a bit dark/creepy, as is to be expected in any museum. In particular, they had an obsession with painting John the Baptist's severed head in various positions and in various scenes. They painted various Martyr's in their demise too.
We decided it was high time for a taxi to get to our hotel which was situated near the train station this time. We hailed one and it turned out to be driven by a lady that just talked to some distant relative on her headset the whole time. We arrived at our hotel and check in went fine. Our room was huge, and had 4 beds and a spacious bathroom compared to last night's accommodations. We dropped off all our stuff and headed out in search of dinner as well as macaroons, croissants, and French candy to bring home. We had great success and by the end we were completely and utterly loaded down.
Since I am better at reading French than speaking it and my speaking vocabulary being quite limited, I overrided my fear of failure in speaking with French people and went ahead and ordered my own items from 3 separate vendors: a chocolate store, a boulangerie, and the French candy store. It was such fun! I had a few moments wearing a "duh" expression when I didn't understand. I just said, "quoi?" and had them repeat until I understood. :)
Galen and I ended up getting some really good pizza to bring back to our hotel at a French-Italian fusion cafe. When we finally stepped in the elevator (which was about 1/4 of the size of American one) we were so weighed down with our food that we had to squish in and became a giant blob of arms, legs, pizza boxes, and macaroons. We squeezed out of the elevator and into our room where we ate dinner and decided to watch some French tele. We saw a show similar to "the price is right," except with mini golf thrown in (we were in stitches watching that one) and we also watched Dr. Who with French subtitles which was hilarious as well. It was Victoria's first exposure to the insanity that is Dr. Who, and in French, to boot.
We were tired from the day's adventure, and from all the walking we calculated our mileage and we had walked around 4 and a half miles that afternoon alone. And, it didn't cost a single Euro! Here's my new motto for transportation:
"Your legs, the original renewable energy."
(unless going a GREAT distance. Then, just run when you get tired of walking!) :)
Will post pictures soon.
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