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 | Eseerydoc |  | Franco-Italia 2011 |  | Day 2, Paris |
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May 12 2011, 05:11 AM
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Panthéon, France
We both woke up at 4am but fortunately we were able to get back to sleep until 8. The hotel served breakfast in a subterranean dungeon. Breakfast was a serve yourself and save affair which included hard boiled eggs, croissants (the bomb), various breads (pain), yoghurt, nutella, meats, cheeses, and choco-crispy cereal, tea, coffee and jus du pamplemouse.
We booked over to Notre Dame and ascended for a tour of the bell tower. After climbing perhaps 400 million steps of a stone spiral staircase, we reached the top. There we found a bunch of crazy gargoyles, a huge8” thick bell, and an elementary school tour group (apparently, kids make yummy gargoyle food).
We descended and headed across the courtyard (which was covered in tents for a festival du pain) for a tour of the crypt. The crypt underneath the courtyard was a very cool archeological excavation which outlined the early settlement history of the island and had exposed much of the original stone buildings and walls.
The Louvre was next on the list, so we cruised over via metro. We first walked into the courtyard square area and I was blown away. The huge yet ornately decorated building impressed me more than much of the art inside. We walked most of the galleries and exhibits and determined that our universally favorite piece was the sculpture “Winged Victory of Samothrace”. Most of the galleries were chocked full of paintings of Mary’s boobs, baby Jesus, satyr’s, nude dancing nymphs, angels, more boobs, portraits of guys in frilly crap, and a few hundred more of baby Jesus suckling Mary’s boobs. We finally got to the Northern European section where the artists had painted different things like dead pheasants, landscapes, and horrible shipwrecks.
From the Louvre, we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower. The line was much shorter and we were able to catch the elevator after a mere 20 minutes. We rode to second floor and found out that top was open despite signs and attendants at bottom indicating otherwise…so… we rode to the top. The top was windier and colder than the second level, but definitely worth it for the enhanced view.
After hanging out on top for a while, we descended and had another wonderful dinner at a tiny restaurant nearby. Nic had some escargot and then bunny in mustard sauce followed by crème brule. I had a risotto with asparagus, a beef steak, and then a KILLER coffee macaroon which was really more like a meringue with a side of vanilla ice cream. After dinner, we walked back by the tower to see it at night, and then cruised home.
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