Wednesday
We had read about the Jewish Quarter in Paris and our hotel actually was very close, so we walked to that area for breakfast. The shops were just starting to open their doors about 9:00. Bryan asked for their specialty and got a huge piece of cheesecake for his breakfast. It was not as dense as normal cheesecake, quite fluffy. Mine was what looked like a cinnamon roll, but was made with chocolate.
We did a little shopping, I needed some better shoes, and I found some nikes on "soldes" or on sale. Bryan found the Tag Heuer store and got a fancy blue watch.
We walked up the Champs Elysees and saw the Arc de Triomphe, many, many people. We went straight to the metro and got out of there.
For lunch we went to the Champ de Mars area, just
southeast of the Eiffel Tower. We both had salads and beer, they were really tasty.
At 1700 we had reservations for the Louvre. Just a short train ride away and we were able to exit the metro straight into the Louvre shops. Looked like the shops you might see LasVegas, very clean and upscale. We did not have to wait in line to get in with our reservation, but it was confusing as to where they would take our ticket. The Rick Steve's guide had suggested starting at the Denon wing, unfortunately we entered on the total opposite side and had to find our way there with trial and error. Their signs suck! We paid for the audio tour, I wouldn't waste our time with that again. Really we were not impressed by the art for the most part, it was very limited as far as era and too much on the wall, sometimes less is more. They allowed tourists to take pictures, and culturally there is a group that thinks they should shove their way in front of every picture just to take a picture.
Bryan and I both agreed that the art in the Orsay Museum was a thousand times better!
For dinner we stopped on the way back to the hotel at a little corner restaurant that we had walked past a million times. We had mussels and French fries, there were probably 45 mussels in the little pot, for only 14 euros. They were yummy!
