Day 7: Paris

1/2/11

Finally refreshed and feeling back to normal we started our day out in Cafe L'Eden near our hotel. We have found that when ordering it's easier to just ask " Parlez vous anglais?" rather than butcher the French language by trying to order in it. This server was the first person we came across who just said "No." Marcus and I looked at each other trying to figure out what to do next. I tried to pull the cobwebs off the two years of French I had in high school and got as far as "cafe avec creme" when the server interrupted me and basically told us we were going to have croissants and coffee. We were able to order Marcus a chocolat chaude (hot chocolate) instead of coffee but it was obvious we weren't going to have any further options than that. We shrugged our shoulders and decided croissants were fine even though Marcus had really wanted a crepe.

After our petit-dejeuner we went to the Louvre. The line was enormous and when we finally found the end of it we learned that it was estimated to take 4-5 hours to get in from that point. It turns out that the Louvre and Musee D'Orsay are free on the first Sunday of the month... if you're willing to wait it line, which we were not. We went off in search of a place to buy a Musee Pass that would get us in to all of the museums and best of all, skip the line. So we ended up paying to get it on a day that was free but we entirely skipped the waiting process, went in through what seemed like a secret passage like a couple of VIPS, and spent our 5 hours admiring the Mona Lisa and Winged Victory rather than in line. I would say we came out ahead.

We stopped for a bite to eat at a cafe and had some delicious sandwiches, Croque Monsieur, and a beer. My sandwich was basically a grilled cheese (emmental) topped with more cheese, sliced tomato and a fried egg and Marcus' was a grilled cheese with ham topped with more cheese and then baked. We have since seen them at many boulangeries and they appear to be a local favorite. I don't know how the French stay so thin eating this stuff :)

We then walked to Notre Dame as the sun set. By the time we reached it night had fallen and the church was lit up. A Sunday service was taking place as we arrived, lucky us once again. We stood in the back of the church as the congregation sang hymns lead by a choir. After watching the service for a bit we walked around and admired the beauty of the cathedral. This was the first church that actually allowed photos (sans flash) so we both snapped away. It was incredible. I am so stoked we were able to take part in a service at Notre Dame. Tres bonne. After admiring the heart of the cathedral, we went outside and walked all around it admiring the gothic architecture before heading back to our home away from home for some well deserved rest.