Intense Paris - Day 2

11th April 2009

We were up early and on the train to the Musee de O'rsay. We knew that we needed to arrive early to avoid the crowds, but we were wrong. We were there 20 minutes before opening and there was already people crowding around everywhere. We jumped over to the little café for a breakfast baguette; 20 Euros for two baguettes and some juice. Wow - Paris is expensive. Plus when we were here I got a firm finger shaking from our waiter. He couldn't really reach our table so when he was giving me my baguette I tried to help him out and grab the plate. Apparently that's a big no no. We headed into the queue to get into the museum, at least the museum had opened by now and the line moved. We went through a security system, which was by far more secure than any airport I've ever seen over here.

Dan and I appreciated art in our way again. Medium paced walk, glancing at most pieces, stopping to look at labels of only the pieces that we enjoy. If we didn't do this you could spend half a lifetime in Paris art galleries. They are seriously massive. I saw three pieces of art that I recognised; Van Gogh's self portrait, Starry starry night, and the Whistler. There was also a rather pornographic shot of a vagina, it was incredibly graphic, but to make it worse, there was a creepy man that took at least 100 different photos of the picture from every possible angle.

Anyway, from here we strolled along the Seine to the Ile of Cite - The oldest part of Paris. Built on a little island in the middle of the river, it has some pretty impressive buildings. Our first stop was at La Conciergerie. It was a prison and torture place during the "Reign of Terror". Marie Antoinette spent her last two months of life here before being guillotined.

Then next door into Sainte Chappell; It is a church built by a French King on the grounds of the Palais de Justice. The church has a rather detailed interior paint job and some of the most impressive stained glass windows. Again, to get into Sainte Chappell, we had to pass through incredibly rigorous security. Maybe the airport securities need to do some sightseeing in Paris, to learn how it's done.

Just around the corner was the Notre Dame Cathedral. I was on the hunt for short little people with large bumps on their backs. Whilst we got there at about 1, the line to get in was massive. It wound right up to the back of the courtyard and snaked all the way back down and around the corner. Considering it being Easter Saturday, there were quite a few tourists, and it was closing early for services. Doesn't religion wait for tourists? We decided against waiting to get in, but we did plan to go back later on during the week. Don't get us wrong, it was a nice cathedral to look at, but we didn't think it came even close to wow factor as the Reims Cathedral.

Lunch was McDonalds. Dan found something funny in ordering a Royale with Cheese - I think it was something to do with Pulp Fiction. I dunno about him sometimes. I was a little disappointed to not find McCamembert or McBrie.

Next stop was to take a ride in a 'Bateaux Muches' (A river cruise), as suggested by guidebook (thanks for the loan Matt and Jodie). The map in the book showed us exactly where they left from, and we'd seen the boats during our time on the little island. We headed down to the launching site, but there was not a thing there. No ticket booth, no boats, no docks, nothing. We walked up and down the Seine for maybe 2 hours, trying to find where to catch the boat. We saw at least 10 of the damn boats too, but couldn't find where they stopped. In the end we settled for a different company, not as reputable, but at least we knew where the sailed from.

We got front seats on the boat, and it looked like it was about to piss down rain. Great, all that time we spent walking up and down and up and down the river, and it looks as though its going to rain now. Why? Luckily it didn't rain and we spent an hour cruising up the Seine. We saw all the same things we'd seen throughout the afternoon when we walked up and down the river; only this time we were seeing them from a boat. We got our first proper up close sightings of the Eiffel Tower as well.

From the cruise we went on the hunt for dinner. We found a lovely restaurant up behind the Louvre. Our waiter was so cute. He spoke only a little bit of English and quite confidently told us "I wish you a lovely meal". Dan ordered a mixed grill of pork products, and while we were waiting for our food to be brought out people came and set up an oversized oil burner, but instead of putting scented oils on top of the candle they put a big sizzle plate. The food came out and the platter got put on the hot plate and then the waiter served Dan his meal. Why they couldn't just bring the plate out and put it in front of him, I still don't know. I had a 'pave rumstek'; A very small, but very thick piece of meat.

After dinner we jumped on the metro home. While we were sitting on the train, all sorts of announcements were being made and other people were looking concerned and pulling up metro maps. We assumed that there was going to be some track closures or something on other lines. The line we were on took us straight to our stop, so we weren't concerned. Then, the next stop we stopped at the train stopped and EVERYONE got off the train. We thought we should as well, so jumped off and just looked at each other, confused. We must've looked really stumped because some friendly guy came up and asked we spoke English, and then went on to explain that the train was broken and we'd have to find different train line home.

So after a number of train changes, we finally made it back. Dan wanted to make a quick stop in at the supermarket on the walk back. We went into the busy little express supermarket, and Dan found his very important purchases. We then joined the queue for the registers. 40 minutes later it came our turn to pay. It was 30 minutes earlier that I was questioning "Just how damn important is this packet of Easter farmyard animal eggs, caramel yoghurt and a bottle of coca?" 40 damn minutes to pay. Needless to say I was unimpressed. Then, of course, it began raining on the walk home.