After grabbing our morning croissant from a nearby boulangerie, we set out toward Notre Dame to enjoy the sunshiny day from the top of the towers. I had forgotten what a spectacular view you can get from up there – perched above the rooftops, smack dab in the middle of city, you can see most of Paris’ major monuments. Seeing the famous gargoyles up close is pretty fascinating, too – each one is different – some resemble birds, others are little gnome-like men, and my favorites are the dark little Gollom-like creatures.
After a lunch of roasted chicken and bouef bourginon at Les Philosophes (our favorite Marais cafe), we took the Metro to the Champs Elysses to do some walking. We gawked at the price tags in the Louis Vuitton windows, took a peek at the Arc de Triomphe, and had had enough of the grand boulevard – this is one area of Paris where I never quite feel at home, so I was happy to hang a left and head toward the river.
We stopped at Nouvel’s Musee du Quai Branly to admire the impressive green wall.
And because we once again found ourselves so close to the Eiffel Tower, we walked over to the Champs des Mars to lounge on the grass and enjoy the sunshine.
After a power-nap, I was ready to go again, so we walked over to the Pompidou (conveniently just one block from our apartment!) to do some art-gazing at my favorite museum. They are currently showing an exhibition of Edvard Munch’s work that is a-mazing – Shane walked out of there saying he had a new favorite artist. We spent an hour or two wandering the halls of the permanent collection and I visited a couple of old favorites, fondly remembering the days when I’d check out the museum every couple of weeks.
We had a great, although way-too-filling dinner of couscous and lamb at Chez Omar that night, happy that we were able to squeeze into one of their last tiny little tables before a line formed outside the door. We ended the night at the courtyard of the Louvre – these buildings are nothing short of majestic at night. And the sky was especially cool that night, dark with fluffy white clouds (props to Shane and the shot below – he’s a stud with our new little point-and-shoot!)
It’s easy to see why this is on Shane’s Paris-Top-3 list, isn’t it?
