paris, day 2

We were pretty beat from our first day in Paris, so we got to a later start the next day. Breakfast was included with the room since I have status with Hilton, so we went down and enjoyed a large sampling of Hilton La Defense's breakfast buffet. Nice to have some free food. Paris is not a cheap place to eat.

We took some photos of the area around our hotel before getting back on the metro. This area (La Defense) is architecturally very interesting, very modern, and completely different than the other parts of Paris we saw.

Creepy thumb sculpture outside the hotel:




Le Grand Arc. It's actually an office building or something. Quite unique.




Our first stop of the day was the Eiffel Tower. Fortunately, the weather was much better this time around and the only drawback was waiting in a long line. I took a few photos while we were waiting.












The views were great and were well worth the fairly pricey (13.40 euros) we paid to go up to the top. It was a bit cold up there and I hadn't brought a jacket, but I managed.





Looking up was quite dizzying, since the moving clouds made the top look like it was swaying.








And one final Eiffel Tower view:


We ended up being at the Eiffel Tower longer than expected due to the long lines, so we decided to make our way to the Louvre next. It's the largest museum I've ever seen or been in by far, and dealing with its size and with the crowds turned out to be really exhausting. It's the kind of thing that you'd really prefer to break up over five days because it's so overwhelming. In that respect, it reminded me of the Vatican Museums, which have so much stuff in them that you get to the point where you don't even care that you're surrounded by priceless works of art; you'd rather just get the hell out of there. That's definitely how we started to feel after a couple hours in the Louvre.

By the way, this would also be a good place to mention that a British colleague asked me if I was going to the "lou-VRAY", and I had to bite my tongue really hard to not laugh in his face. The British tendency to completely mispronounce any word of remotely foreign origin is a unique gift that I've not seen in any other culture. Well done, Brits.

Tyler and the underside of the famous pyramid:


Some famous angel statue that everyone was going ga-ga over. I assume it's the model from which all the ones on St. Peter's Square in the Vatican City were created.



Mona Lisa. I consider myself an art lover and decently versed in the subject, and I was not at all impressed by this. Again, people were going crazy over it and I had to take this photo from afar. I just don't see what the big deal is. I've been more impressed by CD artwork.



We both thought this was pretty cool:




More and more, I've enjoyed finding random works of art and seeing if I can get decent photos of them. Look at the creepy faces in this one:


Nice details on this one:


Another creepy one:


I'd love to understand the back story (or even the rationale for depicting something so gruesome in a work of art) on these next two:




Some jewels:


Cool fire-breathing dog:


I continue to be fascinated by hieroglyphics:


Venus de Milo. Again, nice, but I don't see what the big deal is.


Here's something very cool. The Code of Hammurabi (eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, etc.):




As previously mentioned, we started to get really tired and the wheels started coming off the bus. That's the reason why my brother thought it would be a good idea if I got this photo of him:



After eventually finding our way out (the Louvre is built like a casino--impossible to navigate), we went outside and walked around. The weather was cool and it was nice to get out of the Louvre, which is kind of stuffy and hot inside.

The underside of the pyramid:


Louvre grounds:






We cruised around for a while, and the slightly stormy weather made for some good photos.







We even lucked out and got photos of this double rainbow over Notre Dame:


We eventually found a sidewalk cafe and sat down for a nice meal. I had French onion soup (good, but not as good as the night before) and veal with a cream sauce and egg noodles. I can't remember for sure now, but I think my brother got another cheese platter. Man, can that guy down the cheese.

My brother wanted to get some souvenirs and/or some food from a grocery store to take home, so we asked the restaurant works to point us toward a supermarket, which they were happy to do...except that there was no supermarket where they pointed us. In fact, we never saw a single market or convenience store the entire time we were in France, which is a very odd thing. They're everywhere in most countries--UK, US, China, Turkey, etc.--and none was to be found in France. We walked all over the place looking for one, but no dice. At least we saw some interesting side streets.

We were pretty beat, so we headed back to the train station a bit early. This turned out to be a good idea, as it was not very organized and took us a while to get through customs. This is a good place to give an assessment of Paris:

- Nice city, and all the ideas about it being romantic probably come from two major factors: the Seine and the sidewalk cafes. Paris is a very easy place to walk, easier than other major European cities I've been to, like Athens, London, and Rome. This makes it a good place to hang with a date.

- I like London, Rome and many other cities more. The first two, in particular, have far more to see and do. I was a bit surprised by this.

- We did not have any run-ins with rude Parisians. I found Paris to be no better and no worse than other major cities.

- Paris is an expensive place to eat. Prepare yourself to pay 8 euros for a soda or 6 euros for a bottle of water.

- Drinking fountains and restrooms are practically non-existent, and many of the public restrooms required that you pay to use them. We held it and avoided paying, finding the concept highly insulting. The last time I had to pay for a restroom was 12 years ago in China; I expect more from Paris in 2011.

- French food is not nearly as complex as I was thinking it would be. Maybe we ate in the wrong places, but it was mostly simple food that I would expect people in the country to eat. That said, it was great, regardless.

It was good to see a new city and a new country. All in all, it was a great weekend.