Today was our first whole day in Paris, so you'd probably think we got up straight away to take advantage of it. Sure that would've been smart but, meh. After yesterday's enjoyable deathmarch through the city, we couldn't pry ourselves out of bed until 10AM. And even then, we had a ,ission before we could get to the fun stuff: find a laundromat! Precious underwear supplies were running low, so we shoved all of our dirty stuff into our backpacks and went out in search of a laverie (laundromat). I tried using my phone, I tried the phonebook, and it ultimately came down to aimlessly wandering the streets. Fortunately for us, that isn't a half-bad way to spend a morning in Paris.

We finally stumbled onto a laverie and then came the fun part: figuring out how to use the machines! It actually wasn't that hard though, and we got the hang of it pretty quickly. With an hour to kill we split up in pairs for a little independent exploration. I think mine and Dad's was the most fruitful; we found an amazing macaroon shop. They weren't all great, but the fruit flavored and caramel ones were excellent. They're expensive little suckers though at a euro a pop. With fresh laundry in hand, we marched back to the apartment and laughed as we passed another laverie within one block of us. Can't fix stupid, I guess! After dropping our packs off we went straight to the metro.

I love the metro system in Paris because it is so incredibly easy to use. I was explaining that to my parents until we spent about half an hour walking all over the station nearest our house, searching for the right line. Up the stairs? Down the stairs? The next track over? I dragged my parents all over the station, feeling less and less like a guide and more and more like a moron. Finally, Brittany spotted a sign. The track we were looking for was closed! Are you kidding me??? It's the absolute peak of the tourist season and you're going to shut down a central line?!? Very frustrated, we decided to just walk, which turned out to be a great thing. Everything here (well, if you look past some trash now and again) is gorgeous. The bridges, the buildings...it's fantastic. Mom and Brittany loved passing the shops with open doors because just about every one of them had a little dog or two sitting inside. Dogs are everywhere here: on the sidewalks, in the stores, and at the table. I like seeing dogs but I'm not a major fan of dodging their sidewalk bombs. I guess they're a little behind the curve on anti-poop-is-everywhere laws :) Notre Dame was our goal destination and it was a long ways away, so we picked up a couple of sandwiches and kept going. Ever heard of bicycle street polo? Me neither. But it was pretty cool to watch. It must be a big deal around here because there were a lot of people cheering on the sidelilnes.

Once you get to Paris you suddenly discover that you can't just walk from point A to point B without first stopping at points A1, A2, A3, and so on. There is just too much cool stuff on the way! Our first neat detour was across the bridge to Place de la Concorde. Definitely worth seeing, but ironically the only thing Mom cared to see there (the physical spot where Marie Antoinette was beheaded) was all blocked off for the Tour de France. There are barricades everywhere, but I had expected more. I thought there would be big flags and souvenir stalls, and stuff like that. But other than the barricades, it would be hard to tell that anything special was going on.

The next part of our walk took us through the Tuileries gardens. I've seen these before, but I don't remember them beign quite this beautiful. The variety and vibrance of the flowers is incredible, and the park is really designed to be enjoyed, not simply passed through. So we enjoyed it! We found an excellent spot next to a small pond full of baby ducklings, got a cold drink and pulled up a chair. This is my kind of vacation...easy breezy japanesey.

A large section of blooming lavender made the air sweet. I would really love to see acres and acres of it down south, but it's a bit too far for this trip. That'll have to wait for our next time around; maybe we can crash at Tim's place. Speaking of Tim, we were supposed to meet up today but he sent me an email to let me know that his train would be late; it'll have to be tomorrow. He isn't the most reliable guy I know, so I wasn't exactly surprised when things didn't go as planned :)

The last major distraction on our walk before reaching Notre Dame was the Louvre. This place is gigantic. Throw on the fact that it's stunningly beautiful and I think I saw smoke coming out of Mom's camera, it was clicking so fast. It's actually kind of nice that she's taking all these photos because it means I can be pretty lazy with the picture taking (and you know how lazy I can be). After prying everyone back to the road it was a pretty short walk to Notre Dame. I have never been to the Conciergerie though, so we hopped inside just short of the church. It was large, cqvernous, and not especially "homey". I guess that should be expected considering that it served as a prison for quite some time. They even have a mockup of the room in which Marie Antoinette was kept before her execution. That tiny cell was absolutely packed with tourists, and for what? I really don't get it. Absolutely nothing in the room is original; it's all just speculation. Hey, she might have had a bed here, and a cup over here...What's the big deal? Whatever. Of course, Mom was buried in that room ten tourists deep while I was thinking all this :)

We exited and FINALLY walked the two hundred feet to Notre Dame, only to find that there was a 300 person line. Ummm, how badly do we want to see this? I knew the crowds would be bad in July, but I guess I had really hoped everyone would magically disapper, just for our trip. Didn't happen. We had walked all day and had absolutely no desire to stand in a giant line, so we decided we'd come back first thing in the morning tomorrow. The only thing around without a line was a speciql exhibit on the foundations of Paris, under Notre Dame itself. It basically walks you through the history of the city, and you get to physically see ruins under ruins. There is an incredible amount of history there, but by this time I was jonesin' to get to our final stop, which also happened to be the most i,portant stop in the city for me: Musee d'Orsay.

I have never been in a museum that I liked more. It's like someone read my mind for my favorite sketches, paintings, and sculptures, and then put them all together in an old train station in Paris. The museum was open until almost 10PM tonight, but we didn't get there until after 7PM. Not enough time! Even Mom and Dad liked it (which, if you know them, is saying something). It was a rush to get my face within 6" of Van Gogh's Starry Night. I love seeing the thickness of the paint and taking in the vibrant colors individually, which is a lot easier to do up close. I couldn't find the sculpture I remember most from my last trip, but that's just fine because I found a new favorite. I posted the picture. I love her mischevious, nymph-like smile, and I'm amazed by the fragility the artist gave her hair. In case you can't tell: I had a good time! The best part though was how much Brittany enjoyed it. It means so much to be interested in and care about the same things, and now I know it isn't just my favorite museum, but ours.

We found a café near the museum for dinner, and despite our throbbing feet, decided to walk all the way home. A few blocks from our apartment we found a park with an excellent view of the Tower, so we plopped down in the grass and waited for the lights to sparkle. I don't think I ever got to see that on my last trip, and I definitely missed out. I had fun teasing Mom: she didn't want to take any more pictures once the lights stopped sparkling, despite the still-incredible view and sunset. "But it's not sparkling!" she told me. "Oh that's right, now it's just the dumb old Eiffel Tower." Who'd want a picture of that? :)