Currently nomming on:
Chocolate chip baguette. No big deal (SO GOOD).
Day 2 in Paris was much better than day 1. We slept in, saw an historic castle, saw an historic monument and then had a classy French dinner. Amy set her alarm for 9:50 AM. Only problem with this is that her clock was still set to London time. While I woke up naturally at 10, Amy woke up to her alarm at 10:50 Paris time. We got ready quickly and left the hotel about noon. I stopped at the Monoprix (grocery store) near our hotel and got a quiche lorraine for breakfast/lunch. Quiche is breakfast-y, right? The egg and ham hit the spot as I was starving, but more in the mood for breakfast than lunch. I also got a mini "pain au chocolat" (like a mini chocolate croissant) to snack on later.
We boarded the Metro and set out for Versailles. The train to Versailles was two levels, and also about a million degrees. Europe in general doesn't believe in air conditioning. If you're from Texas, being without AC can be quite hard to deal with. We begrudgingly sat and sweated our asses off for the 30 minute or so ride there.
Once we arrived, we stopped at the first Starbucks we've seen this whole Paris trip so that Amy could get her district manager a France mug. We left the Starbucks and walked to the castle. Which was freaking huge.
We got inside and just like everywhere else we've been, it was freaking packed. It was difficult to navigate the crowds of people listening to their audioguides (which looked like cell phones. The people using them looked about as stupid as the Olympic athletes do when they bite on their medals.). Let's also not forget the people who would be walking along with the flow of traffic and then just stop dead in their tracks to take a picture. You do NOT need another peace sign picture with an exhibit of modern art that has no place in this castle to begin with. Now move it! Just sayin'.
More on the modern art in a second, but despite the frustration, Versailles was chock full of history and pretty pictures.
So, about that modern art. There were random pieces of art scattered throughout the castle that looked completely flashy and out of place. At the end of the hallway with the chandeliers was a larger than life-sized piece of art that looked like a pair of heels. There were also some really gaudy pieces hanging from the ceilings in random spots. Observe:
The piece that takes the cake for me- that I'm really disappointed I didn't get a picture of was the pink helicopter covered in feathers and rhinestones. This thing took up an entire room! Amy got a picture of it that I'll have to post at some point, but seriously. Ridiculous.
After battling the crowds in the castle, we took to the gardens, which were much more bearable as there was more space to work with. They were absolutely gorgeous, too.
We spent a few hours walking around outside taking in the sights and I now have a nice sunburn to show for it. After about four hours at Versailles, we decided to call it a day and headed back to the million degree train. En route back to Paris, we decided to stop at the Arc de Triomphe as it was the one monument we hadn't yet seen.
I'm not sure what was going on, but we happened to get there in the middle of some sort of military presentation.
After the Arc, we originally planned to get baguettes from Monoprix for dinner and chill at our hotel, but Amy suggested going to a cafe as she was rather tired of sandwiches at that point. We got off at our usual Metro stop (St. Germain de Pres), anyways, because I wanted to get a chocolate chip baguette.
Now, let me just say this about what I've learned about France in the time that I've been here. These people have no manners and don't use deodorant. Seriously. You hear about it all the time and just figure whoever is telling it to you is exaggerating, but no, it's true. After a packed Metro ride where people don't say "excuse me" and literally just push you out of the way, we were sweaty, sunburned, exhausted and cranky. Let's add to that the smell of bad body odor. It is ALL OVER. It's there everytime we get on the Metro (won't even talk about how the last Metro station we were in smelled of urine), it was all over Versailles and in line at Monoprix, the guy behind me was so bad that it took everything in me not to gag. After being pushed around a bunch of times on the Metro and being sunburned and tired, I had had it. I got my chocolate chip baguette and as we were leaving, told Amy that I was "so over this country," and "couldn't wait to be back in London."
We went back to the hotel to spend some time in the only place in France with air conditioning. This was good as it gave me a chance to cool off and come down from completely hating this country. After about twenty minutes or so, we set out to find dinner. Both of us wanted to stay nearby and not get on the Metro.
We walked down the street where there are a string of cafes and restaurant and eventually settled on an adorable restaurant called Le Petit Zinc.
They had a special going on where you could get one starter and one entree or one entree and one dessert for 21 Euros. Amy got the starter and entree while I got the entree and dessert so we could share. We're staying in the nice part of Paris, so this was a completely welcome treat after the day we'd had.
Food porn time!
Salad with tomato and mozzarella.
Chicken in a mushroom sauce with pasta.
Creme brulee.
We each had a glass of red wine and everything just seemed to slow down as we enjoyed our time and ate. We each spent about €35, but it was totally worth it. Again, not gonna say YOLO, but come on. When in Paris, do as the Parisians do (but put on deodorant. And use your manners. Seriously.).
In a much better mood than I was when we left, we headed back to the hotel, but things got a little interesting as we passed the adjacent restaurant. Amy pointed out to me that somebody famous must have been inside because there were two groups of men standing outside with cameras strung around their necks. We hung around for a few minutes to see if we could figure out who it was (there was a group of people sitting outside), but eventually caved and ended up asking one of the photographers (who also smelled. WTF FRANCE?!!?).
The photographer only told us that it was a "surprise," but that it was an American celebrity. We prodded a little more until he took out a credential of sorts that had a promo picture for The Expendables 2 and pointed to Sylvester Stallone's picture. We think that it was either Sylvester Stallone or Jean Claude Van Damme- because there was another man waiting outside with handful of autographed pictures of him. JCVD is obviously not American, so I think it was either one or the other, or both. We got back to the hotel and Googled both the name of the restaurant and the movie. The Paris premiere of The Expendables 2 was in fact the same night- so it is entirely plausible that either one or both of them were inside. I guess we'll never know for sure. Made for a funny end to a great night, though, that's for sure.
Paparazzi outside Societe L'Encouragement (yes- that literally translates to "Encouragement Society").
We got back to the hotel about five minutes later (it was a seriously short walk) and just chilled and blogged until about 1:30. The day was a bit frustrating, but at night, we got to experience more of the Paris you see on TV and movies. It was a nice end to a hectic day.
Day 16 is coming up! Leave me comments and I'll catch you soon!
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