We went to sleep at the quite reasonable Parisan hour of 9:30pm.  However we got a bit of a late start this morning, since Eli’s internal clock reverted to EST, and he slept until 11am Paris time (or his completely normal work wakeup of 5am EST).

Despite the late start, we had a full day.  We started with Lunch near the Eiffel Tower at Cafe Francis.  We had delicious Croque Monsieur (toasted ham and cheese sandwiches), which were hot, gooey goodness.  

We then walked along the river Seine until we got to the Place de la Concorde, which has a stolen Egyptian Obelisk.

Then we frolicked through the gardens on our way to the Louvre.  Mel emulated some silly French signs (do not sneak!), and sat on an abstract statue.

Then we spent the rest of the day at the Louvre.  Yes, we did see the Mona Lisa (on our way out), and yes, it is quite underwhelming.  We spent most of our time elsewhere, looking at sculpture, ancient artifacts, objects d’art, Napoleon’s apartments, and lots of other stuff. Eli’s final impression with most of the French objects: “Wow, those people were really really rich.” There were tapestries 20’x30′, with at least 25 colors in them, meaning that there were 25 colors of thread running the length and width of the entire thing, and someone (or bunch of somoenes) spent weeks or months or years weaving it, just so some king/baron/lord/duke could hang it on their wall commemorating their hunting season.

Hil, when I saw the above, I immediately thought of you.  This is a piece of bath equipment intended for serious bathers only!

We took more pics of art we liked, and we put these and some more on our honeymoon photo website.  We’ll keep adding photos there, since only a small number are up so far!

Oh, then we tried to eat, but apparently Parisians don’t eat out on Sunday nights.  Finally found a place pretty close to the hotel, and Mel had yummy goat cheese on bread and salad, and Eli had cheese plate. We shared chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert (it was a cafe, so no serious French desserts).

Oh, and we got some watercolors of Paris from a street vendor guy who we watched painting before it started raining.  Score!

Sleep, then lots more museums tomorrow.

We wandered around the general vicinity of the Pompidou for about an hour, looking at the shops and our map.  Why didn’t we think to bring a compass?  When the streets go all sorts of crazy directions, how do you keep track of North?  But we eventually got there, and it was really exciting.  We definitely will be going back before we leave.

When we got there, there was a street actor/director putting on a ‘show’.  His actors were dragged out of the audience (2 didn’t speak French), and he directed them in an action sequence where the girl breaks up the fight and ends up with the hero in the end.  It was a hoot.

One of the most striking exhibits (to me anyway), was the giant cube made of toothpicks.

We had a fantastic dinner at a random restaurant.  We had risotto with fromage, and chicken caesar salad with potatoes.  They were both incredibly tasty.

Our hotel room has a fantastic view of St. Augustin church, and Place de St. Augustin

Church St Augustin

And it also has a really cool spiral staircase leading to the rooms.

It also has a comfy bed and a super-deep bathtub.  And a flat panel TV (all in French!).