Day 6, Tour de France
Today was another great adventure. We were determined not to take any taxi's or any other transportation except for our feet. We ended up walking for about 5 or 6 hours. We had to start the day by going for breakfast. They eat a lot of fish here, salmon. Bread is usually served without butter, and they usually have either a honey bread or French bread that always says its fresh, but if you are going to eat any at all, you must eat first thing in the morning because the same loafs stay out all day uncovered and become very hard. The sandwiches are the same way. They pre make all the sandwiches even with tomatoes, meat, cheese, but they don't cover them, they leave them out like on display, except when you order, you get the display. We noticed that the French do not use preservatives, so all their food is fresh. We even experienced a grocery store here. They had one whole isle just for cheese, all sorts of cheese. Don't get me wrong, the food here is good, lots of restaurants to choose from. Enough with that, on with our day.
We went to the Louvre. Our mission was to see the Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo da Vinci. Getting inside the Louvre was very challenging. There were no signs letting us know where to go to enter. We finally figured out that you have to go downstairs underground to enter. Once inside we needed to find a toilet because we had eaten breakfast and walked all across town. Little did we know that the French have these massive buildings but didn't think of toilets, they must have been an after thought. We finally found them after asking directions twice- my French is not really good so I had to rely on hand gestures. Everyone we approached was very nice, smiled, and attempted to help us in English as much as possible, but not all speak English. Sometimes here in France they have only one bathroom for men and women. Sometimes you go in and there will be stalls with doors for women, and then urinals for men. I wasn't so sure a couple of times if I was in the right place so I would ask and they assured me that I was correct. I saw more than I should have a couple of times, but oh well. Mostly this was in the country areas of France. In Paris, all was normal, just like in the USA. After the restroom issue, we adventured off to locate the Mona Lisa. They are remodeling, so the map that we had was not always correct. Some portions of the museum were closed. We finally decided to go all the way to the top and work our way down. When we still could not locate the painting, we followed the flow of people. We finally reached this room with swarms of people around the painting. I always thought of this painting as being more massive than what it turned out to be. I also pictured this painting as being in a dark room with soft light illuminating the painting with it being the only painting in the room so as to not take any attention away. Instead, it was on display, rather a new display, that positioned the painting in the middle of the huge room with tons of other paintings on the other outer walls of the room. It was hard to get close enough to see due to all the people. Next, we headed to the basement of the Louvre where we caught a glimpse of the castle that the Louvre was built on top of. Some of it's original structure was still there.
After the Louvre, we went to the Notre Dame. Even if your not a religious person, the beauty of all the stain glass windows and the enormity of the structure will take your breath away. The thought that they could start building something this detailed and massive in 1163. They were even doing confessionals that had a line out the door. There were candles lit everywhere and people praying everywhere as well. This is a very busy weekend.
Next, we walked over to one of our favorites, the Musee d'Orsay. This is a museum full of impressionists, art. Claude Monet's paintings were here in three different rooms. This museum has more than just paintings, but that is all we wish to see.
Now it is time for our lunch in town. We decided to go down some side streets to get away for the touristy part of the city. We ended up going for giro's. This was funny because an avian water, coke, and a huge gyro with fries that both of us shared cost only 7.50 in euros, but we had McDonald's before and it cost us 20 euros. We have found that the prices here are not consistent. They pretty much charge you what ever they can get in a certain area. So, if you go to another area, you might pay more, or you might pay less. Now, we must find another toilet. Our adventure led us to a hotel tucked away in the middle of everything. We asked the lady if we could use the toilets and she agreed and instructed us on where to go. This is very uncommon, due to there are public restrooms about but you have to pay anywhere from 20cents to 50cents to use them, and good luck finding them. While we were inside the building we investigated a little, we took pictures of an old elevator that was a cage. We also did a little shopping and picked up some mouth watering treats made here in Paris. After that, we headed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. Dinner tonight was on Trek. They were taking us to a lovely restaurant about 10 min walk. We ate like Kings, and had lots and lots of wine. Another successful end to a wonderful day, although for some in our party, the night was still young. 4am??
We went to the Louvre. Our mission was to see the Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo da Vinci. Getting inside the Louvre was very challenging. There were no signs letting us know where to go to enter. We finally figured out that you have to go downstairs underground to enter. Once inside we needed to find a toilet because we had eaten breakfast and walked all across town. Little did we know that the French have these massive buildings but didn't think of toilets, they must have been an after thought. We finally found them after asking directions twice- my French is not really good so I had to rely on hand gestures. Everyone we approached was very nice, smiled, and attempted to help us in English as much as possible, but not all speak English. Sometimes here in France they have only one bathroom for men and women. Sometimes you go in and there will be stalls with doors for women, and then urinals for men. I wasn't so sure a couple of times if I was in the right place so I would ask and they assured me that I was correct. I saw more than I should have a couple of times, but oh well. Mostly this was in the country areas of France. In Paris, all was normal, just like in the USA. After the restroom issue, we adventured off to locate the Mona Lisa. They are remodeling, so the map that we had was not always correct. Some portions of the museum were closed. We finally decided to go all the way to the top and work our way down. When we still could not locate the painting, we followed the flow of people. We finally reached this room with swarms of people around the painting. I always thought of this painting as being more massive than what it turned out to be. I also pictured this painting as being in a dark room with soft light illuminating the painting with it being the only painting in the room so as to not take any attention away. Instead, it was on display, rather a new display, that positioned the painting in the middle of the huge room with tons of other paintings on the other outer walls of the room. It was hard to get close enough to see due to all the people. Next, we headed to the basement of the Louvre where we caught a glimpse of the castle that the Louvre was built on top of. Some of it's original structure was still there.
After the Louvre, we went to the Notre Dame. Even if your not a religious person, the beauty of all the stain glass windows and the enormity of the structure will take your breath away. The thought that they could start building something this detailed and massive in 1163. They were even doing confessionals that had a line out the door. There were candles lit everywhere and people praying everywhere as well. This is a very busy weekend.
Next, we walked over to one of our favorites, the Musee d'Orsay. This is a museum full of impressionists, art. Claude Monet's paintings were here in three different rooms. This museum has more than just paintings, but that is all we wish to see.
Now it is time for our lunch in town. We decided to go down some side streets to get away for the touristy part of the city. We ended up going for giro's. This was funny because an avian water, coke, and a huge gyro with fries that both of us shared cost only 7.50 in euros, but we had McDonald's before and it cost us 20 euros. We have found that the prices here are not consistent. They pretty much charge you what ever they can get in a certain area. So, if you go to another area, you might pay more, or you might pay less. Now, we must find another toilet. Our adventure led us to a hotel tucked away in the middle of everything. We asked the lady if we could use the toilets and she agreed and instructed us on where to go. This is very uncommon, due to there are public restrooms about but you have to pay anywhere from 20cents to 50cents to use them, and good luck finding them. While we were inside the building we investigated a little, we took pictures of an old elevator that was a cage. We also did a little shopping and picked up some mouth watering treats made here in Paris. After that, we headed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. Dinner tonight was on Trek. They were taking us to a lovely restaurant about 10 min walk. We ate like Kings, and had lots and lots of wine. Another successful end to a wonderful day, although for some in our party, the night was still young. 4am??
posted by CBE Staff at 9:44 PM
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