Did I mention I was in Paris?

Versailles was amazing. Well the castle there, I guess I didn’t see the city at all, but you know what I mean. I enjoyed it so much, it was so freezing, and the wind when I went outside almost killed me. It was how I remember it (or how the video we’d recently watched at home reminded me of it). The only disappointment was that the Hall of Mirrors was only half open for repairs. Oh and my shoes, which coupled with my multicoloured toe socks got quite a few stares as I gingerly stepped from individual cobblestone to individual cobble stone, or piece of gravel.

Anyway, all that opulence before lunch was really trying, so at about 3 I gave up and decided to head back to the station.
Weak! I’m so weak! I passed MacDonalds on the way and actually went in – justification:
1) the toilets there are free
2) and usually clean
3) I was starving
4) I got to try the French equivalent of McOz which was basically soft cheese, mayonnaise, and beef... how bad for you is that!

I know that’s not really true to traveling form, but sometimes it can’t be helped. Right?
So that evening I went back to Paris, and the hotel and had baguette, salami, and more cheese.

It’s France, and thus my diet was becoming cheese based.

So the next day I was completely able to devote myself to the Louvre, it was Friday – so it was open late – and I had the whole day. Of course it was the first sunny day in Paris. Good planning by me. Anyway I got to the Louvre about 10am and didn’t leave until 6.15pm. I loved it, and the audio-guide and I had a great day. I still only saw about a quarter of what the museum had to offer.

Afterwards I decided to go in search of a traditional French restaurant to try some well, traditional French food. I wondered around for a while and found a cosy little place with fondue etc. It seemed nice enough, no one spoke English and there was no English menu so I thought, ok, that’s pretty damn traditional.

So I ordered from the set menu and chose the ‘mixed’ main. Which I imagined was a mix of things to put in fondue, like meats, bread etc. Well I was right, except that it was raw meat and I had to melt the cheese myself. I found this all rather hilarious and started laughing (I must have looked super freaky sitting in a restaurant by myself laughing at the raw meat) and trying to cook it. So the waiter came to explain and this made me more hysterical as I tried to explain that I didn’t know what I was doing. Luckily the waiter was born Algerian and I could revert to Arabic and explain better.

So I cooked my strips of raw meat and melted my cheese ate my pickles and mayonnaise, got my chocolate mousse, which was the must delicious thing I’ve ever tasted in extreme chocolate flavour. I could only eat about a quarter (I’ve got to stop doing things by quarters!)
Where are we up to? Saturday the 11th. I got up and hadn’t decided exactly what to do, it was my last whole day in Paris and I still hadn’t revisited the Eiffel Tower, Arc du Triumph, Musee d’Orsay and so much more. Upon leaving the hotel my mind was made up it was absolutely freezing. So cold and windy that I couldn’t consider not being inside, let alone 300 metres up a metal structure being blown around. Ergh.

So Musee d’Orsay it was. Obviously the whole of Paris thought this was the best idea, as the queue was enormous and involved standing an hour in said freezing weather. Once I was in the queue though I thought it was worth it, and remained. I only managed a 5 hour date with the audio-guide this time, and yes I’m a nerd.

‘Twas an early night of MTV and packing for me because a demain I was off to London to visit Kristen and Mike!