Today I woke up and started my day by having two DELICOUS crepes sucre from the patisserie across the street from my hotel! I love this place-I have been getting sandwiches, crepes and benets from them daily- I am going to miss it! AND, in addition to the food being among the best I've had, it's SUPER cheap, and all the locals go here, everytime I have been, I am clearly the only tourist/non-french speaker...
After breakfast, I took Batobus to the Lourve. First impression- HUGE!! Way bigger than I ever imagined. I found out there's over 1 MILLION pieces of art, and in order to look at every piece for a minute, it would take TWO years! Incredible. The actual building itself is as impressive as the art in it- remember, this is where the King & Queen of France lived before heading out to Versailles! I saw hundreds of paintings & sculptures, but the highlights were: 1) Mona Lisa- not as impressive as one would think considering all of the hype surrounding the piece. I was actully more "wowed" by other paintings, but it is a MUST see, and another thing off the bucket list. Seeing all the people cram in and fight to take pictures was more of a spectacle than the actual painting, 2) Sculpture of Aphrodite- Venus de Milo, 3) Winged Victory of Samothrace- she/he is missing their head, 4) The Raft of Medusa- an inspiring painting, I really was moved by the emotion captured in the faces of the men on the doomed raft, 5) The Wedding Feast at Cana, 6) Seated Statute of Ramses II- SO amazing, I am very intrigued by ancient Egypt, and 7) Napoleon III's GRAND apartments- and let me tell you, they were GRAND! Very opulent and ornate...must be nice!
After an exhausing 6 hours walking around the Louvre and admiring the inspiring art, I was exhausted and decided to return to my room for a nap before Moulin Rouge- I knew I was going to have a VERY late night. I got back to my room, and I was SHOCKED- I walked in to see a man literally jack hammering my cement floor- cement dust covering my computer, clothes, bed, etc. Needless to say I FLIPPED out! Truly flipped out. I told him to stop work, and went down to the front desk. The clerk was a TRUE jerk, and pretty much said they needed to install an air conditioning unit in my room, and the work would continue. I said "NO WAY!", went back to my room, and started throwing the equipment out, told them that the work could continue after I left, and if they didn't leave I would call the police. I know I caused a scene, but I didn't care- I booked this room, and paid in full for it in February- the hotel knew I was coming, and for them to kick me out of my room and do non-emergency work was ridiculous. Anyways, the problem was solved when the clerk spoke to the owner, and he told me that I would be upgraded to a suite the following day, so me and my stuff would not be distrubed! Thanks God! Sometimes you just have to raise hell to get what you deserve...
After I calmed down and got all fancied up, I walked to Cafe Dome, near the Eiffel Tower, and had a three course dinner- started off with a mozzarella and tomato salad (it is not called Caprese in Paris), had a ham and cheese crepe, and then chocolate mousse and cappucino for dessert. Caught the 10pm Eiffel Tower light show, then a taxi to Monmarte for 12 euros, to see the 11 pm Bal du Moulin Rouge show!!!
Moulin Rouge- the theatre itself was impressive, the costumes, dancing and talent was captavating. At some moments there was SO much going on, I almost didn't know where to look. There were contortionists, a woman who swam in a LARGE tank of water with snakes-EW!, a juggler and a comedian, in addition to TOPLESS cabaret dancing. Even though the women were almost naked, it wasn't raunchy or offensive, it was artistic, and I saw that nudity truly can be art. Luckily for me, I was seated next to Ella, a young Russian girl from Moscow, who also was traveling alone. She and I got on well, and we shared a bottle of champagne during the show. Overall, the show was impressive, and I had a wonderful time- it was worth every euro of the 92 euro ticket price!
After the show finished it was VERY late- 1:30 am, and I tried to catch a taxo for 10-15 minutes...finally I got a cab, went back to the hotel and crashed out...knowing I had another busy day ahead of me- Musee d' Orsay and Notre Dame!
xoxo- Tiffany
After breakfast, I took Batobus to the Lourve. First impression- HUGE!! Way bigger than I ever imagined. I found out there's over 1 MILLION pieces of art, and in order to look at every piece for a minute, it would take TWO years! Incredible. The actual building itself is as impressive as the art in it- remember, this is where the King & Queen of France lived before heading out to Versailles! I saw hundreds of paintings & sculptures, but the highlights were: 1) Mona Lisa- not as impressive as one would think considering all of the hype surrounding the piece. I was actully more "wowed" by other paintings, but it is a MUST see, and another thing off the bucket list. Seeing all the people cram in and fight to take pictures was more of a spectacle than the actual painting, 2) Sculpture of Aphrodite- Venus de Milo, 3) Winged Victory of Samothrace- she/he is missing their head, 4) The Raft of Medusa- an inspiring painting, I really was moved by the emotion captured in the faces of the men on the doomed raft, 5) The Wedding Feast at Cana, 6) Seated Statute of Ramses II- SO amazing, I am very intrigued by ancient Egypt, and 7) Napoleon III's GRAND apartments- and let me tell you, they were GRAND! Very opulent and ornate...must be nice!
After an exhausing 6 hours walking around the Louvre and admiring the inspiring art, I was exhausted and decided to return to my room for a nap before Moulin Rouge- I knew I was going to have a VERY late night. I got back to my room, and I was SHOCKED- I walked in to see a man literally jack hammering my cement floor- cement dust covering my computer, clothes, bed, etc. Needless to say I FLIPPED out! Truly flipped out. I told him to stop work, and went down to the front desk. The clerk was a TRUE jerk, and pretty much said they needed to install an air conditioning unit in my room, and the work would continue. I said "NO WAY!", went back to my room, and started throwing the equipment out, told them that the work could continue after I left, and if they didn't leave I would call the police. I know I caused a scene, but I didn't care- I booked this room, and paid in full for it in February- the hotel knew I was coming, and for them to kick me out of my room and do non-emergency work was ridiculous. Anyways, the problem was solved when the clerk spoke to the owner, and he told me that I would be upgraded to a suite the following day, so me and my stuff would not be distrubed! Thanks God! Sometimes you just have to raise hell to get what you deserve...
After I calmed down and got all fancied up, I walked to Cafe Dome, near the Eiffel Tower, and had a three course dinner- started off with a mozzarella and tomato salad (it is not called Caprese in Paris), had a ham and cheese crepe, and then chocolate mousse and cappucino for dessert. Caught the 10pm Eiffel Tower light show, then a taxi to Monmarte for 12 euros, to see the 11 pm Bal du Moulin Rouge show!!!
Moulin Rouge- the theatre itself was impressive, the costumes, dancing and talent was captavating. At some moments there was SO much going on, I almost didn't know where to look. There were contortionists, a woman who swam in a LARGE tank of water with snakes-EW!, a juggler and a comedian, in addition to TOPLESS cabaret dancing. Even though the women were almost naked, it wasn't raunchy or offensive, it was artistic, and I saw that nudity truly can be art. Luckily for me, I was seated next to Ella, a young Russian girl from Moscow, who also was traveling alone. She and I got on well, and we shared a bottle of champagne during the show. Overall, the show was impressive, and I had a wonderful time- it was worth every euro of the 92 euro ticket price!
After the show finished it was VERY late- 1:30 am, and I tried to catch a taxo for 10-15 minutes...finally I got a cab, went back to the hotel and crashed out...knowing I had another busy day ahead of me- Musee d' Orsay and Notre Dame!
xoxo- Tiffany
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