11/19/10 Paris Day 2!

Miriam, Haley and I slept in again and started our day in the same place that we had the day before, in front of Notre Dame.  Instead of walking through the Latin Quarter, we walked along the river.  Although Paris was pretty dreary—cold and grey (which Haley says is the weather most of the time), the walk was beautiful.  The architecture of the building along the riverside was amazing.  It had a European feel, how I imagine a European city should be, unlike Barcelona which has more of a modern style.  We walked across the river on a famous foot traveler bridge.  Along the bridge, locks were attacked to the chainlink sides.  Apparently, couples come to the bridge, initial the locks and throw the keys into the river.  Just on the other side of the bridge was the Louvre.  We walked through the courtyard of the museum and out to the other courtyard with the famous glass pyramids.  We continued to walk through parks that led away from the Louvre.  This park led into a road where a Christmas market was set up on either side!  Immediately, I was in love with Paris.  There were tents lining either side of the street selling all sorts of foods—chocolates, crepes, potatoes with cheese and ham (my lunch).  Other tents had small gifts and homemade craft goods.  We walked all the way down one side of the market which led into another famous road.  This street had all the high class shops of Paris.  We walked all the way up it, because at the end of it is the Arc de Triumph.  The Arc de Triumph is in the center of a giant traffic circle.  The traffic circle has about twelve roads converging into it and no markings on the road.  Apparently, none of the auto insurance companies in France cover accidents in this traffic circle, because they happen more than once every half hour on average.  To get to the Arc de Triumph, you have to walk underground.

 Some random building.  Lots of amazing random buildings like this!

 Locks of Love

The River

 Louvre

Christmas Market

 Christmas Market

Arch de Triumph

 One of Napoleon's Rooms (lucky!)

 Milo de Venus?

            After this, we walked all the back from where we came from.  We stopped for lunch at the Christmas market.  I also got a crepe with chocolate.  I am really missing the crepes in Paris.  Miriam and I headed to the Louvre for the rest of the afternoon, while Haley went back to her dorm.  She had already been many times.  Miriam and I only saw a few wings of a few floors.  My favorite part was the Napoleon rooms, rooms decorated from when Napoleon lived there.  We also saw the Mona Lisa, which I have to say is probably one of the most overrated pieces of art ever.  Honestly, I have no idea what makes it so famous compared to other portraits.  I was dragging by the end of the museum, since we had been on our feet since we left that morning.  Miriam and I called up Haley to meet us for dinner.
          We also met up with Evan for dinner and went to another small restaurant.  This time we were all able to get a prefix meal, which includes and appetizer, entre and dessert.  This was the best meal I had in Paris.  I started off with French onion soup, followed by these beef tips with a cream dipping sauce and some sort of caramel cream dessert.  We followed dinner by going to the bar next door and eventually meeting up with Alex and Daven later that night.

 Authentic French Onion Soup

 Dinner!

Alex and Miriam