paris, day two

After we paid for the shower (oh yeah... no wonder the French smell so bad!), we were ready to hit the museums. Exploring the Louvre was like running a marathon through an art gallery... yes, it is very, very huge, but the ambiance does not measure up to the Hermitage. It did help, however, that we timed our visit to fall on the first Sunday of the month, when we didn't have to pay for any tickets ;)

We decided to grab a quick lunch Parisian-style - just a baguette. To find one, however, we must've walked ten miles. EVERYTHING is closed on a Sunday... wtf. Finally, after many interactions with the locals, we got our snack and returned to Musee d'Orsay for some more art gawking.

I know it sounds like a lot of walking, but we weren't done yet. We had a little picnic in a park close to Notre Dame, then walked all the way to Bastille, where I fully expected to find the fortress intact. No such luck - it was demolished a long time ago. We ended up grabbing some ice cream, and walking across Paris (again) to Rue Montregueil, where we polished off a bottle of Bordeaux in a very typical cafe.