We woke up quite early to get to the Louvre a little after it opened. It was a quiet morning, especially from me. I don't think I actually talked until 1PM that day. I was a combination of hungover and still asleep. When we got to the Louvre there was a long line already, but it moved pretty quickly.
The Louvre was interesting, but I find modern art much more appealing, so I wasn't as mesmerized as everyone else. We saw the Mona Lisa. Don't hate me, but it was quite anti-climatic and definitely not my favorite. There was a mob of people in front of the painting. You had to wait "in line" to get to the front to see it, where you still were about 10-15 feet away. I don't deal very well in tight spaces like that, especially not with people no more than 2 inches from me on all sides. I had to take deep breaths to prevent myself from freaking out and causing a big scene.
When I finally got to the front, it was hard to get a good picture because 1) it's behind tons of glass 2) it's tiny 3) everyone is jostling you all the time 4) you get bombarded with cameras from Asian tourists wanting you to take a photo of them with the painting. After a couple of minutes at the front, I had enough. And the worst part....it was even harder to get out than it was to get in. No one would move to my "excuse me," "pardon," ".excusez-moi!" or "entschuldigen. I got frustrated enough to where my patience was gone, and I just pushed and shoved my way out. FINALLY, FRESH AIR!!!
I would have to say my favorite parts of the Louvre were the Egyptian wing and Napoleon's apartments. It was amazing seeing the hieroglyphics, artifacts, and the Great Sphinx. It just made me more excited to go to Egypt in December! Napoleon's apartments were breathtaking! I almost liked it better than Versailles. They were so lavish!! Everything was so beautiful! It was amazing to see whole rooms brought into the museum.
After we left the Louvre, we went to see where Bastille used to be. There is a monument there now. While we were there, we saw a Moped accident. Somehow a lady tipped her Moped over and it landed on her. The movies are correct though - tons of people drive Mopeds/scooters around in Paris. From what I can tell, you're not cool unless you do haha.
Later that night, Malia, Trevor, Anna, & I went out for our last dinner in Paris. We went to a nice little restaurant! I have to say that Pairs has a lot of adorable restaurants, albeit pricey. Our main stipulation for tonight's restaurant was to have escargot. Malia and Anna wanted to truly eat French cuisine. I ordered some sort of chicken dish. I wasn't really sure what it was going to be. It turned out to be really amazing actually!! It was grilled chicken in some sort of sauce with some kind of pasta. The sauce was the best I've ever tasted! It was a spin on cream sauce.
Anna ordered escargot for her meal. So brave only getting that! Malia ordered a steak. She tried to tell the waiter that she wanted it cooked, not raw. His response was, "No cook?" Oh gosh, I couldn't do anything but laugh. Malia's steak was a very thick round steak. It was browned, so it looked like he understood....until she cut into it. It turns out, it was only seared on each side. It was horribly raw inside, especially given how thick it was. Thank goodness it was a dark restaurant, I think both her & I would have got sick if we had saw all that blood. She did pretty good though, making an attempt to eat it. Poor Malia!! 2 beef dishes and both were raw. From her experiences and mine, I would advise you not to order beef in France!! That is unless you like it raw.
When Anna got the escargot, I was surprised. I've never seen escargot before so I didn't know what to expect. There was a plate of shells on her plate. Only when I took a picture did I realize that the snails inside were green. We all anxiously watched as she ate the 1st one; her reaction was normal. She even said they were good. Next, Malia tried it. At first her face was composed and then all at once she freaked out. It was quite hilarious, since the snail wasn't in my mouth. They both said the texture is so much different. It's ok until you get to a grain of sand or something in the middle. NO WAY was I eating a snail! Not that brave! A great close to our time in Paris. On to Normandy in the morning.
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