Paris at Night

For our last day in Paris, we decided to do a night cruise on the Seine, which I definitely recommend, they're cheap and it's a nice way to see the city. Also go at night, sometimes they light up the Eiffel Tower so it looks like it's sparkling. It's a different way to see this city, and you'll do most of your tourism during the day anyway, we almost never went out at night because we had to work, and also we were too tired after a full day of walking around.

We brought provisions.

This dude is holding a light-saber. Pretty sure this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen.

I miss Paris so much! Besides that one day at the Louvre, and the first night when I felt homesick, it was a perfect trip. I know that sounds cheesy but it's true, it was a really happy time for us and we will always have that. I am sure we will go back, we talk about living there for a couple years when we have kids, if we're still working freelance then. It's such a well thought out city, both in looks and functionality. I can't wait to go back.

Next stop: Amsterdam.

Paris - Museums & McDonalds

Yes that's right, McDonalds. Before getting the train to Giverny we had some time to kill and decided to stop for breakfast at the coolest McDonald's we had ever seen. The food was so good too! Instead of a hash brown it came with little croisants. Paris does everything better and its just the truth, sorry!

On a more sophisticated note, we went to a lot of museums while in Paris (duh) and they were all pretty sweet, that and we weren't museum'd out at this point so it was a lot of fun. We went to the Musee D'Orsay but I don't have any shots of that, however it did have some of my favorite pieces. (lots of Renoir, yes please).

Let's start with the Louvre. There was a really pretty courtyard by the entrance that Seth and I strolled through before going in.

There's the Musee D'Orsay in the back.

Once we got there, a mandatory photo shoot ensued.

Once inside, things got a little grim. We were totally overwhelmed and I hadn't done my research. It took us about a half hour to get ready, we got our audio guides and followed it into the first part of the Louvre where the old walls from the original fortress were. We walked through it and decided we were hungry so we went back to the main section and got some food. We had a choice, bad cheap food or good expensive food, we went with bad cheap food. This was a mistake. We got packaged sandwiches and chips, the sandwich was a strange mix of tuna and hard boiled egg. Seth wouldn't eat his, but I ate mine anyway since I didn't want to be hungry, and I hadn't a had a bad sandwich yet since we'd been in Paris so I figured it would be okay. So we go back through the fortress part, and we reach the Venus De Milo when I start having these terrible stomach cramps. To make a long story short I spent about 2 hours sitting on the cement floor, back in the fortress section (where we spent almost all our time here) clutching my stomach. It came in waves of pain, where my stomach would literally feel like it was being twisted, then it would go away for a few minutes and come back. It was awful. Seth found a little medical place in the museum so I finally went in there and the girl gave me some fizzy drink. It got better, but every now and then I still get similar "attacks" and I have yet to get that checked out. I should have followed Seth's footsteps and stayed away from that damned sandwich.

We did end up going through the museum, but I was still in pain, and we didn't get to do a thorough look-through. Here are just a couple shots.

To sum it up, here are some tips when going to the Louvre (or any museum for that matter).

• Get the audio guides, they really help especially in a museum as complex as this
• Bring your own headphones, you can save a bit this way, especially if you bring earbuds, then you only need to buy one guide, and you can share the headphones
• Eat somewhere else before you go in, this is pretty much a rule anywhere you go, as prices are really expensive in the big tourist areas.

Our favorite museum was the Centre Pompidou, which had all modern art, a fresh of breath air after all the french expressionism we saw. We spent a lot of time here.

R. Mutt!

Towards the end of our stay we had some extra time and didn't know what to do with it, so my bestie Michelle suggested we go to the Rodin museum. To be honest I wasn't sure who Rodin was, I've never been a huge fan of sculpture. But I was pleasantly surprised by his work, really good stuff.

And now, for the first time ever, Seth views the Thinker.

Seth stares in wonder, unaware of the camera in my hand, lost in the world of Rodin.

More Seth and Rodin:

I've never seen such emotional sculpture before. It's like they're in all this agony because they are forever stuck in this mold, I guess if I was made into a sculpture this is how I would look too. I'm not sure that's what Rodin meant by it, but that's what I took from it.

At the metro stop you get off to go here they have a couple of his sculptures, which I thought was pretty neat.

France - Giverny

Giverny, Seth and I decided, is the cutest place we went on the whole trip. We had an extra day where we wanted to go outside of Paris a bit, we thought about Disneyland Paris, since it would be cheaper to get to than it would be to go to Disneyland in California. However, after reading some reviews we decided to see something a little more interesting. We decided on the cutest little town you will ever see, Giverny.

Monet came here when he was growing tired of Paris, and a little community of artists was formed. We were able to go inside Monet's house and it was so adorable! I want to design a house just like it, some of the rooms were monochromatic, the dining room was yellow, the foyer was blue, so cool. Unfortunately they don't let you take pictures inside, but you can see some of it here.

It was rainy that day, but we had a really fun time. If you ever end up going here, I would give it a whole day. First we went through Monet's house, and then we walked through his extensive gardens, which are literally right from his paintings. Then, we walked around the town and visited the little museum of french expressionists.

Enjoy.

Monet's garden and house:

A walk around the town: