May 28th, 2011 - Paris

First full day in Paris.  We headed on the train towards the Latin Quarter.  We found the Pantheon and took some pictures outside of it - great view of the Eiffel Tower from there too.  Then we started looking for a breakfast cafe.  We sat down at one, but didn't see anything that appealed to us, so we got up.  We then went into a little corner bakery.  I got a breakfast roll that was like a hard, flat croissant with apple jam inside.  It was pretty good.  Laura tried to order a cafe mocha drink, but instead got a microwaved nesquik, served in a tiny dixie cup sized cup.

Then we headed back to the Pantheon.  We peeked in, but tickets were quite expensive, so we just moved on to the Luxemburg Gardens instead.  They were just a few blocks away and didn't disappoint.  Laura loved them.  We got lots of pictures and walked around it quite a bit.

We were starting to get hungry for lunch, so we stopped at an open front cafe and sat at a table near the sidewalk.  We ordered two waters and shared a ham and cheese sandwich.  He brought us two 12 ounce bottles of Evian water and our sandwich with no side.  It was good, but nothing special.  Our tab came to 16 Euro - 4 Euro for each water!  It would have been cheaper to get a beer!  The waiter was very rude, despite not being busy at all.

We then headed for the Shakespeare bookstore we had heard so much about.  After walking for 5-10 minutes near where it was, we asked a waiter where it was.  He pointed just around the corner into a small alley that we never would have found.  We went into the store - we could barely walk.  The "aisles" were no wider than 2 feet and sometimes narrower.  We felt the owner needed to be on an episode of "Hoarders" - so we left shortly after.

Then we headed for the Notre Dame cathedral.  It was really a neat sight.  The intricate detail on the front was amazing.  The inside was equally impressive.  We couldn't get very good pictures due to it being so dark and no flashes were allowed.  It had really big stained glass windows on each side of the alter.  From there, we walked to the galleries mall.  It was gigantic and in a neat building.  It was lots of different shops all in the same "mall" - almost hard to tell them apart as you walked along - it had the feel of a huge department store in the US.

After leaving there, Laura went into H&M while I went to look for water.  I found a mini-grocery store just a few doors down.  I was shocked at how cheap the water was.  It was 20 cents for a 1.5 liter bottle.  By the time I got back, Laura was done looking already.  We headed home on the train and then into the grocery store next to our hotel to buy some wine to take, along with McDonald's, for our picnic at the Eiffel Tower park for dinner.  Before heading for our picnic we both rested for a couple hours to regroup.  While resting, we both just drank out the wine straight out of the bottle, since we had no cups.

The picnic didn't disappoint.  I got a Royale with bacon (mentioned in Pulp Fiction) with a beer for the value meal's drink - very interesting getting a beer at McDonald's.

At the picnic, we laid down a sheet we borrowed from the hotel sheet closet.  We found a quiet spot near the tower to eat.  Then we people watched mostly.  Lots of guys selling mini Eiffel Towers, wine, champagne and little light up toys they fling into the air.  Whenever the police would come near, the guys selling the alcohol would take off running, but would be back shortly after the police left.  We sat next to an evergreen tree that they used to stash the unsold alcohol inventory.

We walked under the tower and came across some impromptu street performers doing breakdancing.  It was neat to see, but only lasted 10-15 minutes.  After laying around, people watching and looking at the tower, we headed home around 10 pm after a long day.