Thank goodness, the people at the hotel taught us to switch to an American style keyboard. The letters are different, but at least I remember where everything is. BTW, the European keyboard has more of the letters with accents on it, the Q where the A is and the M and the , have switched. I have no idea why.
Today, we crammed in a good amount as well. We started off at a little cafe that was very Parisian and kind of rude. So we're not going back there again. Afterwards, we took the RER to Versailles (where we met a nice American family). Anyway, it was absolutely amazing. Huge, of course, with lots of ornate decorations. The Hall of Mirrors was undergoing restoration, but was still great. We also got to see Marie Antoinette's bedroom, which was beautiful.
After the palace part, we looked at the gardens a little, but it was getting really crowded, so we headed out. But not before hitting up lunch at a cafe where they served galettes, which is a form of crepe. One galette came with a salad and the other with egg, cheese, and ham. So goooood. Oh, and the dessert? A crepe with ice cream and chocolate.
We took the RER back and ended up heading to the Musee de Mode and Textile. Based on our guides, I thought this would have exhibits on French fashion. Mostly, it was arts and contemporary furniture stuff, with a small exibit on Jean Paul Gaultier. I was not too happy with it; we headed out after that and headed over to the St. Sulpice. It is a gorgeous church that Teo wanted to see cause it was also featured in the Da Vinci Code. :)
The Jardin (Garden) de Luxembourg was right down the street, so we made our way over there after the church. We saw the Palais and the Musee that was around the gardens, but was the most amazing part was how huge the area was. It wasn't just gardens and flowers. There was a huge fountain in the middle and people were sailing little boats on it. I have no idea where the boats came from, but they had these sticks that they would use to push it around. We sat there and people-watched for a long time.
Once we finished there, we headed back on the metro and headed back to our neighborhood. Since we hadn't quite yet tortured our feet, we got off at the Ecole Militaire stop and took some pics of it. Teo got some more pics of the Eiffel Tower as well which is right across from it (kinda set up like the Mall in DC). We headed back to the hotel to regroup after that.
BUT I'm still not done. Cause it ain't a full day until you change your shoes and keep on keep trucking. We ended up going to dinner at a cute little cafe right on the Seine and afterwards took one of the Bateaux (boat) cruises on the Seine. It lasted for an hour and we got to see a huge amount of sights that we wouldn't have caught. Unreal - I cannot believe how much there is. We got to see both islands (Cite and St-Louis) and the Louvre from the river. We also got to see a whole bunch of other landmarks that I have to look up!
On the complete opposite end of the Notre Dame (towards the end of the hour long cruise), we were past the Eiffel Tower farther west. Anyway, we got to see the smaller Statue of Liberty that exists over here. It was really cool seeing it so close. I do still like ours better!
So, we're almost done with our Paris adventure. Tomorrow, we head out in the afternoon, so we're going to spend the morning checking out a department store and some of the stores in our area. Did I mention that right around the corner from our hotel is a precious little marché? That's an outdoor market area. It's open every day, and we've been catching breakfast there. They also have quaint little stores as well. We figured what better way to spend the last day than to do a little shopping? I can't decide if I want to commit to buying any designer stuff - mostly cause it's more expensive here, but then again, we are going to a department store...
That's it for now. It's 12:30 and I'm crazy tired! Bon soir and see you tomorrow...
