Paris Day 2 (Louvre, Marais, Notre Dame, Love Lock, etc.)

Our start was later today. The lack of sleep was starting to set in. Today, we went to breakfast at Les Parisienne (I can't find a link). It was a small cafe located on the small street directly behind the Hotel Empereur. Breakfast was good. I think the fresh squeezed orange juice and of course the coffee are the only things worth blogging about.

After breakfast, we walked up to the Place de la Concorde and through the Jardin des Tuileries.   Then we came upon the Louvre. I was completely unprepared for the massiveness of the museum/palace. Walking up to it, it seemed we walked past 3 city blocks of museum. We had no problem entering at the pyramid (thank you off-season + museum pass) after snapping a few necessary pyramid photos. 

Once again, we were very thankful for Rick Steves. We are no art history majors and the museum is OVERWHELMING. I've heard many statistics about how long it would take to see everything if you only spent 30 seconds on each work. I don't know which is true and it probably changes daily. It's A LOT. Google it ;) Rick was able to lead us to the highlights.

Winged Victory of Samothrace

Venus de Milo

Mona Lisa

I'm glad we went. I'm also glad we only spent 3ish hours there. It was about all of our art-ignorant minds could handle. I will say I was BLOWN AWAY by all of the statues. The Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, and Michaelangelo's "Slave" are the highlights. But there were thousands of other sculptures to gawk at. I can't imagine painting a masterpiece but it is even harder to fathom turning a block of marble into perfection. I could have stared at the details for days. I mean, how do you make a HUGE and HEAVY block of MARBLE look so light and airy? How do you give something so stiff and cold the essence of movement and flight? It is so far beyond my realm of thinking, I'm still working on perfecting drawing stick people. I'm so thankful that the good Lord gives people these gifts and that they realize their gifts and share them with the world.

After the Louvre, we walked for a long while down the Rue de Rivoli. Lots of shopping and a very French feel. Then, we decided to take Rick's suggestion and walk through the Marais neighborhood. We walked a few blocks north and passed by the Centre Pompidou. We didn't take the time to go inside, but the outside was as funky as expected. 

 We continuted walking through the neighborhood and made it to our lunch destination:  L'As Du Fallafel. Beware of the posers (hello, middle school vocab) and make sure you find the right one. You can pay more to sit inside or go to the take out window. We did takeout and opted for two GIANT pitas with no guilt-- i'm confident we walked off the calories. I had the traditional falafel and Andrew had the chicken schwarma. Both were delightful. They were perfectly and messily stuffed with sauteed eggplant, cabbage, hummus, tahini, cucumber, and a delicious spicy sauce. Would definitely be near the top of my "What to Eat in Paris" list (that doesn't exist).

 We made the decision after lunch to change the agenda (shocking I know). We were already over by the Ile de la Cite and decided to check Notre Dame off our list. We waited in the longest line of our trip to climb the bell tower.  It was quite a hike, and each time you thought you were at the top, there was another set of stairs to climb. The view would have been much better if it had been a clear day. I definitely preferred the night view from l'arc. I'm glad we went up to the bell tower and for a closer view of the gargoyles. 

After we came down, we went inside the cathedral. I wish we had done a little studying ahead of time (in hindsight--reading Rick in the line would have been perfect). We were trying to make it to the love lock bridge before nightfall, so we didn't spend a ton of time. We did walk through the sanctuary. We stopped at the little gift shop to get a couple of things for our wonderful grandparents before leaving. 

 This next part was one of my favorite parts of our trip. We've discovered many people (even friends who have visited multiple times) do not know about it. Thankfully our friends had told us about it and we came prepared with our lock. Here is the Pont de l'Archeveche (aka Love Lock Bridge)...

 The idea is that you decorate your lock and attach it to the bridge. Then you throw the keys into the Seine, symbolizing that your love will last forever. So sweet, right? It was insanely romantic and one of my favorite places I have ever been. It was so neat to be in the presence of all of those locks and all of those love stories. We even found one lock that said "50 years together." I think it would make a great documentary to do a follow up on the locks... maybe someday... 

Anyways, I insisted we kiss as we tossed our keys in the river. Our romantic bliss was quickly interrupted. Not by the satisfying "plop" of our keys descending into the water but a loud "CLANK!!" We quickly opened our eyes to find while we were wrapped up in each other, we managed to drop our keys into the bridge's GUTTER! Yes the GUTTER, filled with leaves and trash and cigarette butts. Andrew was the knight in shining armor and stretched his arm through the bridge to dig the keys out. I was in tears convinced that this was a horrible omen for our marriage. He got the keys and this time we successfully got them into the river, eyes open, holding hands. Upon returning home, we shared this story with a sweet friend. She pointed out that it's a beautiful illustration of the journey of a marriage. Sometimes it doesn't go as planned. Sometimes one person has to dig it out of the gutter. Things may not always work out on the first try, but when you stick together and put in the effort there is always good in the end. Sometimes, what you think will be the most memorable part of your trip because of the romance becomes your favorite funny story to share. I think our mess up only made me cherish this memory and Andrew even more. Thanks for doing the dirty work babe. You're my hero!

We followed the advice of Rick and those who had gone before us and went for Gelato across the bridge to the ile St. Louis. It was damp and cold and we were tired and our feet hurt but by golly we weren't missing the gelato.  There are two places recommended, Berthillion and Amorino. Amorino was open so we went there. It was really good. Not amazing, but I think our mood had a lot to do with that. 

We took the road that runs on the south side of the Seine all the way home. There are fun pop up street vendors selling touristy things. We purchased our traditional print. After what seemed like days of walking in the dark and cold, we made it back to the hotel. We rested for a moment, showered and changed for dinner. 

Dinner was at Le Relais de l'Entrecote. This was another recommendation by our friends. No reservations. Long line (which to me is always a good sign). No menus. Only, "How do you like your steak cooked?" The picture below is a point (read: Ah-Pwan). It's technically medium in french, but I would say medium rare by American standards. Any ways, once you finally get inside, they seat you. They ask how you like your steak cooked and hand you a wine list. You order wine. They bring a salad and your first round of steak and frites (fries). I'm not a sauce on my steak kind of girl but "when in France..." it was delicious. When you finish, they automatically come with your 2nd round of steak and frites and sauce. Best steak I've ever had? No. Yummy food and fun experience? Yes!

We ended our last night in Paris perfectly! It was late and we decided stop by the Eiffel for one last visit before we went to the hotel. Up to this point, we had yet to see the tower sparkle. In a dream moment, as we walked across the Pont de l'Alma the tower lit up in millions of tiny lights. I squealed like a little girl. To quote Rihanna it was "beautiful like diamonds in the sky." We took pictures of signs I had made for two friends whose weddings we missed while on our trip with the tower in the background. And then we stood there, making out like teenagers and taking it all in. It was the perfect ending to our last night in Paris.

We walked our poor, tired feet back to the hotel and savored our last nighttime glimpses of the golden dome before going to sleep.