On Monday March 12th, I decided to cook myself a nice little breakfast using eggs I had purchased at the local grocery store. They were by far the best eggs I've ever eaten in my life. Clearly not GMO'd like so many things in the US and very fresh.
I was supposed to do a half day tour with a small group at the Louvre, unfortunately I got the time wrong and arrived too late to join the group, so I ended up walking around the Louvre by myself. It actually ended up ok because I get bored easily and couldn't handle more than a couple of hours in a museum anyway. Wanted to see the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and a few other famous works and was able to do that.
At one point there was a silent protest of the Louvre's support of a fossil fuel company called Total. They were laying on the floor in front of a large painting and had media there to take pictures and get the word out. I also helped them by spreading the word on Twitter. Not sure what, if anything, came of it, but at one point the museum staff ushered all the visitors out of the area they were hanging out in and I'm not sure what happened to the protesters.
After the Louvre, and before the Eiffel Tower summit tour, I decided to head to a restaurant called Angelina (at the recommendation of a coworker) for some hot chocolate. I was skeptical because I mean, how good can hot chocolate really be? Holy shitsnacks was this stuff to die for! It's very thick and they provide it to you in a traditional creamer pitcher that you then pour into a separate mug and add fresh (non sweet) whipped cream to. It was amazing, as was the dessert that I had with it. I know, sugar on top of sugar, but it's Paris! What's funny is that a lot of their desserts don't seem very heavy or sweet as compared to what we have in the US. Probably because most of our food is so processed. By the way, that is not a muffin in the pic, it's a meringue type dessert.
I was supposed to do a half day tour with a small group at the Louvre, unfortunately I got the time wrong and arrived too late to join the group, so I ended up walking around the Louvre by myself. It actually ended up ok because I get bored easily and couldn't handle more than a couple of hours in a museum anyway. Wanted to see the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and a few other famous works and was able to do that.
At one point there was a silent protest of the Louvre's support of a fossil fuel company called Total. They were laying on the floor in front of a large painting and had media there to take pictures and get the word out. I also helped them by spreading the word on Twitter. Not sure what, if anything, came of it, but at one point the museum staff ushered all the visitors out of the area they were hanging out in and I'm not sure what happened to the protesters.
After the Louvre, and before the Eiffel Tower summit tour, I decided to head to a restaurant called Angelina (at the recommendation of a coworker) for some hot chocolate. I was skeptical because I mean, how good can hot chocolate really be? Holy shitsnacks was this stuff to die for! It's very thick and they provide it to you in a traditional creamer pitcher that you then pour into a separate mug and add fresh (non sweet) whipped cream to. It was amazing, as was the dessert that I had with it. I know, sugar on top of sugar, but it's Paris! What's funny is that a lot of their desserts don't seem very heavy or sweet as compared to what we have in the US. Probably because most of our food is so processed. By the way, that is not a muffin in the pic, it's a meringue type dessert.
Later, I met up with my tour group to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We first went to the second level and walked around and it was crazy cold and windy. We then went to the very top and, I'm not exaggerating here, the tower was swaying in the storm wind. It was really freaky and I wanted to get back down to the bottom as soon as I possibly could. Got some great pictures, but I will never do that again.
Forgot to mention a couple of things about my apartment in earlier posts. One was that when I first arrived in Paris, I hit up the local grocery store and not only did I purchase those fantastic eggs, but I also got some camembert cheese, saucisson (salami) and bread. A previous guest had left some Dijon mayo in the fridge. This was my go to sandwich almost all week, absolutely delicious! As some of you know, I really wanted to try some stinky cheese while in France, and boy did it stink up the fridge at the rental apartment! I felt so bad, but it was totally worth it and delicious.
On Tuesday the 13th, I attended a short tour at the palace of Versailles and was blown away at the opulence of this place. Crazy how these people lived back in the day. Some beautiful paintings, chandeliers and gold throughout.
I had a hankering for crepes, and found a great little off the beaten path tiny restaurant via Yelp where I enjoyed both sweet and savory crepes and some cider for lunch for less than €10. Chatted up it up with a couple of locals who gave me some tips on things to do. The restaurant itself is no bigger than my small one bedroom apartment in Portland, and the entrance opens right into the kitchen, which kind of threw me off. I didn't know if I had come in the wrong way and the guy who greeted me didn't speak English, so he had no idea what I was asking. It was a bit awkward at first, but all ended up well and I enjoyed a delicious meal.
Later that day I had planned to do a wine and cheese tasting in a Paris cellar that I had booked through Viator, but apparently they changed the meeting location at some point after I booked it and never told me. So I showed up and the guy had no idea about the group and was unable to help me. So I just decided to wander around, checking out cute shops, chatting with people and petting their dogs and just enjoying the day. It's funny saying 'bonjour' to a dog, but the owners appreciate it and seem to get a kick out of it. Snapped a couple more pictures of the neighborhood in which I was staying, then went to a place called Pink Flamingo where I got an 8 cheese pizza... unfortunately one of those cheeses was goat and it almost ruined it for me. Otherwise delicious.
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