Ja'dore Paris

The Eiffel Tower was beautiful last night. We got up to the 2nd level right around sunset. The lights of the city sparkled as far as the eye could see. As we were leaving we got caught right in the middle of a scuffle. The police were chasing a guy who was selling souvenirs and he used us as a human shield. Luckily the guy gave up the fight and the police ushered him away with no gun play. It was a tense moment to be sure.

By the time we got back to the hotel it was way past 11pm and we hadn’t had dinner yet. We tried to get something to eat at a nearby restaurant but our exhaustion combined with the language barrier made it to difficult to find anything easily. We headed back to the hotel and ended up having a twenty euro dinner for four out of the outrageously priced vending machine in the lobby. You can eat M&M’s for dinner, right?

This morning we got down to breakfast late and were thrilled to see that the dining room was still serving. It was great! I had my first French crepe and croissant. Yum.

We headed to the Louvre and within the first twenty minutes I was standing in front of the Mona Lisa. There was definitely a crush of people but seeing it was incredible. The crowd was so big I lost the rest of my classmates and after looking for them for a couple of minutes I decided to head off by myself. I spent 5 hours walking around the labyrinth that is the Louvre and I still didn’t see everything. I spent the majority of my time in the French painting collection. I could not get enough of the large scale painting or the portraits. I also managed to see Napoleon III’s apartments, the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, and countless other masterworks by every artist you have ever heard of.

Around 5, I met up with the group and 8 of us split off to find dinner. We came across a place called Vapors. They have a case full of entrees that are raw and when you order them they are steamed in little wooden baskets then brought to your table. I had ravioli with mushrooms. It was great and so different than anything I had ever had before. We topped that off with more crepes (of course) for dessert.

Paris is wonderful so far. Tomorrow we have a free day and I am hoping to go the flea market (!!!) and then on a self guided tour of Paris. Maybe after that we will hit the Carnavalet Museum. I already bought like 100 bucks worth of souvenirs. Somebody stop me.