Our second day in gay Paris began with breakfast at Les Deux Magots (The Two Traders), a prominant establishment in our neighborhood representing business success. Our order consisted of 2 eggs, smoked salmon, coffee, and tea. Our bill...$45 Euro! C'est la vie.
After choking on our breakfast bill, we metro'd over to the Musee d'Orsay to check out the impressionists. Line was outrageous, so we decided to come back to this spot after we bought our museum passes. (The passes allowed one to skip the long lines and go right to the front...a valuable investment for any tourist wanting to knock out 3-4 museums in 2 days).
We instead headed over to Sainte-Chapelle, a small gothic cathedral built to house the crown of thorns worn by the world famous Jesus. These are only displayed on Fridays during Lent; so we did not get to see the crown...but the church was amazing! Tons of stained glass and butresses made this a worth while stop.
Feeling all Catholic, we then headed down the street to Notre Dame to see Knute Rockne. Suprisingly, all they had there was a massive church. Wandering around the church did not take too long; we lit a couple candles, said thanks to Jesus, and hit the streets.
Next on our list was the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte. We walked though the Tuileries (giant gardens near the Champs) across the river to the military museum where his crypt was displayed. If Napoleon ever had a "little man's complex," it was evident by his final resting place. Certainly worth seeing.
Now back to the Musee d'Orsay with museum passes in hand. Look at all these chumps standing in line.....hahahah! Straight to the front! We wandered the halls of the great impressiontsis...Manet, Monet, Degas, Gaugin. Where the hell are the Van Goghs? Upon checking the info desk, we picked the one day of the year the Van Gogh exhibits were closed for renovations. Oh, and it was free admission, so our museum passes just got a little less valuable. Fortunately we were able to sneak a peak behind their curtains to see a couple of Vincent's works...one of the self portraits, and one of the sunflowers. Good enough for us!
aside: it really confuses the parisians when you mix in mexican with your broken french and english. "Deux, por favor. Merci." Stupide Americanes.
At this point in the day, we had probably walked 5 miles on 2 croissants worth of fuel. We headed home to rest up before grabbing dinner at Cafe Jade near our flat. We donned our finest clothes and left for the Crazy Horse cabaret. Unfortunately for Stephanie, il pleu (it rained) and her shoes were not made for walking quickly down cobblestones. However, we were rewarded with front row seats to Paris' most risque offering. The title of the first act said it all, "God Save our Bare Skin." Off to bed for our own bare skin. :)
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