Tags
Beaumetz, Cheese, Clouet, Fra Angelico, Fragonard, French Paintings, Giotto, Italian Paintings, L'Indiana, L'isle Saint-Louise, McFlurry, Notre Dame, Paris, Pomme du Pain, Portrait de Gabrielle d'Estrees et de sa soeur, Red Bull, Shakespeare and Company, The Annunciation, The Crucifixion, The Louvre, Tournier, Twix, Weyden
Day 2 – Paris
*(Merci beaucoup et s’il ‘vous plait)
Kenzie and I woke up this morning to banging on our door. We either slept through the alarm she set or it didn’t go off at all. Luckily we weren’t on too strict of a schedule, but it was still startling, and Sergio still gave us crap.
We started off our day, and spent most of it, at Le Louvre. Where last year I only had three hours to spend in the museum, this year we stayed as long as our feet could handle—from 10:00 to 3:00 p.m. And we still weren’t even close to seeing everything. We spent a lot of time looking at the Greek and Roman sculptures, as well as the Egyptian exhibit. The rest of the time was spent looking at French and Italian paintings, where I have never spent so much time looking at and taking pictures of depictions of the crucifixion and the annunciation, thanks to Werrett’s Christianity and the Arts class. I got to see some Fra Angelico, Giotto, Beaumetz, Weyden, and Tournier. The must see paintings that I saw this year included Portrait de Gabrielle d’Estrees et de sa soeur. Those of you who know me know why this would make me squeamish. I also saw le Portrait de Francois 1eme, roi de France by Clouet, and Fragonard’s self portrait.
After out great journey in Le Louvre, we went to find a quick bite. We found a cute little sandwich shop called Le Pomme du Pain. Kendra, unfortunately, got a nosebleed, and didn’t feel well the rest of the day.
We decided that while we were close we would check out Notre Dame. Checking out Notre Dame turned into 1. Attempting to get there through a “Pain Fete” that was going on right in front of the main entrance (weird place for a bread fest); 2. Sitting in the pews, exhausted, without even looking around; 3. A few of the group members falling asleep in the pews; 4. A few other group members leaving those members to check out Shakespeare and Company (bet you can’t guess who that was); 5. Returning just in time for Mass, even though that member and one other were not Catholic (still interesting, just hard to follow, and not just because of the language barrier). It is kind of cool to say that I have attended Mass at Notre Dame. I could have accidentally taken the sacraments like I did at Saint Martin’s, but thought I would be a good Protestant and sit back. It was also great because, by the time Mass was over, the tourists had been cut off from entering, and we were able to see the cathedral with barely anyone else there.
Next, we walked around L’isle Saint-Louis and did some window shopping. I got to see (and smell) my first moldy cheese. Didn’t taste. Maybe some other time when I can’t smell.
With Kendra not feeling well and our feet a little sore, we decided to head back to the hotel for a quick rest before getting dinner. We came back to find Kenzie’s iPod charger broken via housekeeping, but they had bought her a new one.
We had dinner at L’Indiana, which, although it had a Native American chief as its logo, served Spanish and Seafood. I got a salad called the Malibu, which was crab (claws to be exact), shrimp, potato salad, red onions, tomato, and spinach leaves that came with a delicious side of vinaigrette. It was the best salad I have eaten in a LONG time. Kenzie and Sergio, on the other hand, ordered smoked salmon, which turned out to be a little more raw that we do it in America. Ryan ended up eating most of it.
On the way back to the hotel, I decided I wanted some ice cream, so we stopped at a McDonald’s to get a McFlurry. We also scouted out clubs that we wanted to go to tomorrow and Saturday night, finally deciding that we need to ask the front desk the best place to go since the neighborhood is a little sketch. This should be an adventure.