My feet hurt!

Slept like a rock last night - thanks God! I woke up a whole new person. So thankful. I'm surprised I did so well to be honest, I figured it would have messed w/ me much longer... hopefully I haven't spoke to soon. :)

Slept in! It's VACATION! I don't care if I'm in Paris, sleep is a luxury I don't get to indulge in as much as I'd like, so that's what I did. THEN food! It's VACATION! Had a lovely breakfast of eggs, sausage (YUM), bacon (YUM), croissant w/ chocolate (YUM), cheese (YUM) and cucumbers. Some OJ and a the best cup of tea I've ever had (no clue why). Listened to an american man w/ three women at a table talk about someone named Tom for 20 min (you would have thought Tom was the Pope - does anyone know what the Pope's first name is? I think it's usually John... but not sure about this one). and then headed back to my room, finished up a few things and then headed out the door around 11:00am for the Louvre!

It started misting 1/2 way there and ruined my great hair, fortunately it held off for the 1st half when a man crossed the sidewalk to tell me something in French. I'm pretty sure he said I was the most beautiful American he ever saw, and since this is my blog and I'm in Paris and I have no actual clue what he said... I'm sticking w/ this story. :)

The Louve was awesome. The Musee D'orsey was great and I know those w/ better taste probably would judge me, but I loved the Louve. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get a ticket at this place, so I wandered into the court yard area. I had been walking for a while already so I sat down, took my shoes and socks off and soaked in life and then figured what to do after the Louve. Once I was ready to get moving again, I wandered around and finally figured out that you enter the museum thru the famous pyramid. I don't know how I didn't know that in all these years. Waited about an hour to get in, which went fast. Two dufuses budged in line as soon as we got near the entrance, but I wasn't up for arguing w/ them. And in we were.

I know it's cliché, but the Mona Lisa wasn't anything spectacular. However, the wing w/ the Italian painters was awesome. Paintings that were so huge they covered floor to ceiling of walls that were so ginormous. Ceilings that were more beautiful then 1/2 the art. One of the pics I loved in my Art appreciation class was there and it was something to see it in person. It was hugenormous! I couldn't believe how big most of the paintings were. There were several other there I had studied and it was special to see them in person. The museum was emotional a couple times actually.

I didn't take this picture, but it's one of my favorites and then here it was!  Also gives you some idea about an averaged sized picture in this wing!

The Louvre had actually been a fortress at one point and sitting there in that courtyard and in those rooms it was amazing. You could just imagine all that had happened there. I wondered who had sat on that bench before me?

From there I wondered to the university area and it was perfect. There's just something about a University that brings a special life to things. I wandered the neighborhoods in that area for hours. It was one street after another I couldn't wait to turn on! I popped in one place and grabbed a bite to eat. I almost pooped my pants when I had to pay the bill. Guess that kind of livin' comes w/ a price. :) The food was awesome tho. It was a mixture of jumbo shrimp, avocado, cherry tomatoes, chives and I'm guessing olive oil and lemon. It was delicious. As well it should have been. I couldn't eat it all so I put it in my bag and trotted on. I found a stationery shop which was thrilling, I have a weakness for beautiful note cards/paper. From there I began the trek home.

Got back worked on a couple things and around 8 decided I'd head to the Eiffel Tower and scope it out. It was a lovely night. Yesterday was chilly and windy and this AM was windy and rainy but not as cold, but tonight was about perfect minus the humidity. Grabbed a crepe (chocolate w/ strawberries and filled to the brim w/ whip cream YUM) and ate it under the Eiffel Tower. The workers fought vehemently the entire time, I could hear them as I ate still screaming at each other. You would have thought it would have been a minus, but it actually provided an amusing background noise. Made me laugh a couple times. Decided not to go up until tomorrow. I'd had enough of long lines and I was hoping to get back around 10 and not 11. :)

A few other things of interest:

Paris may be the fashion capital, but America happens to own fashion as far as I can see.  The all American blue jean is everywhere you go.  No getting away from it.  However, I did notice there were a few people in these Hammer Pants.  I thought about explaining to them that M.C. Hammer tried that in the 90's and it didn't real work out... but I thought it migt get lost in translation somehow.

When you exit the Louvre fortress area you can walk over a bridge to the University.  The picture below is from that bridge.  People bring padlocks w/ their and their lover's name on it and lock it to the bridge and throw the keys into the Siene.

Sat in this park in the St. Germaine area for about a 1/2 hour.  The kids must have been just getting done with school.  They were with their mothers eating ice cream cones w/ back packs on.  I think there was a play area on the other side, but they kids on the side I was on were content to run around with the other children.  The park had benches around the outskirts and it was filled w/ people of all ages as time went on.

Apartments outside the park - beautiful:

Sensible shoes!  They exist in Paris!

An area in the Tuileries where tourists and Parisian's off work gathered.  Sat here for about a 1/2 hour taking it in.  There was a man that would give the children boats to put in the water and they had sticks and they would move these boats from one side of the water to the other. 

It's hard to see w/ these size photo, if you click on it it should get a little bigger, but to the left the Effiel Tower,  to the right the Oblesque (??) and to the far right and back the Arch.  All in one shot baby!  :)

This has been the extent of the skateboarding community I've seen.  But the Museum of Modern Art in Paris as a backdrop and the Eiffel Tower as a view ain't to shabby.  You have to look closely to see there's an actual guy skateboarding there.