Pluvieux (Rainy) Paris

I was lucky enough to be able to go to both Paris and London this past week.  Paris was rainy and cold but me, BK, and DD proceeded to hit up all the neat touristy things you can do there.  We were ALSO lucky enough that the Louvre is free every first Sunday of the month, and we just HAPPENED to be there for that.  It did mean waking up early and getting in line, but luckily it wasn't raining while we were waiting outside, unlike for those unlucky hundreds that showed up after 9 am.  We saw all the really impressive paintings, although the Mona Lisa was a little underwhelming.  (Although there were at least a hundred people the second time we passed her, the first time, we managed to wiggle our way to the front fairly easily)

What was overwhelming, was the Louvre itself.  I know they say its impossible to see everything in there in one day, but we did try.  We were there a total of four hours, and equipped with the free map they provided us, which highlighted all the really famous paintings and sculptures.  We got to see the Code of Hammurabi, that I learned about in 6th grade, the Colossal Statue of Ramesses II, the Venus de Milo, Pysche and Cupid by Canova (although I didn't realize what it was until after we'd left the room and they vehemently refused to let me go back and take another look) and basically a tons more.  We must have passed "The Winged Victory" about a million times in order to pass between rooms.  Eventually we dreaded the sight of her headless self. 

Attached to the northern portion of the Louvre, is the Napoleon apartments, where Napoleon III (not the original Napoleon) literally just moved in and made the Louvre part of the palace.  My favorite story of Napoleon Bonaparte goes along with the painting "the Consecration of Emperor Napoleon I".  See, the story has it that the Pope had come to Paris to crown Napoleon, but at the last minute, Napoleon goes "The only man on earth fit to crown me Emperor (Note: Not even King, he demanded to be Emperor), is myself" and he grabs the crown from the Pope and places it on his own head.  Sassy and ballsy Napoleon.

Paris itself was wonderful.  I fell in love with beignets, which is basically the best version of a chocolate filled doughnut you could ever hope to have.  BK and I, on our first night in Paris, were wandering around the Red District near Moulin Rouge when we came across this little pastry shop, where of course, she bought a Baguette and I my Beignet.  I didn't eat it until the following morning, as we shared the Baguette, but the second I ate it, I knew food would never be the same for me.  That good.  I'm trying to imagine how could it would have been had I eaten it fresh.

And of course we saw the Eiffel Tower almost every single day.  We've seen it at night, during the day, in the rain, from afar, from up close, but never actually from the top of it...Like the Winged Victory, by the end of our trip I actually was getting sick of seeing its odd colored structure from every part of the city.  Although it is really cool that you can see it from almost anywhere.  If we leaned out our room's window at the Hostel, we could see it in the distance.  I'm going to be annoyingly proud of this picture below.

BK and DD left early Monday morning, but mine and Tita's flight wasn't until 3:00 from Paris-Beauvais.  Since I wasn't actually any where near Tita, and we'd planned to meet at the bus station to get to Paris-Beauvais, I set out early from the hostel in search of a place to buy stamps and about five beignets to hold me over until I got back to the churros of Madrid.

Now here's where I will remind everyone that I do not speak a word of French.  Nothing.  Other than what I previously mentioned, and since I was incapable (no matter how much I repeated BK with her pronunciation) of saying water, I really had nothing to go on, except my exceptional miming skills and the simple term "Je vousdrais" (again, "I would like").  I managed to find a post office, because luckily it is called a "Poste" something and it had a letter on it.  I wandered it, holding my three postcards I wanted to send to my family and stood patiently in line.  Finally I reached the postal clerk and indicated with my phrase and the space where you are to apply stamps to my postcard that I would like stamps, and although he spoke in French, I actually understood the term "Would you like me to accompany you to the machine and show you how?" where I promptly responded with Oui!  Now if my family doesn't get my postcards, its because it was my fault and I put them in the mailbox outside the post office, where I was told to.  One, the one I didn't put them in, I thought said something like...within France, and the other was International.

Let me know if you get them!

GG

p.s. oh and I found beignets afterward.  Must learn how to make them.