The Louvre!

Today I went to the Louvre (picture above I took yesterday of the southside of the Louve).

First thing is first though. I woke up and got ready and went down to the front desk to see if I could stay at the Hotel de Nevers until Monday. No go, its booked. Of course, I easily could have seen this coming as this is par the course for weekends at cheap hotels.

So, I looked on line and started to consider the whole EuroRail idea. Travel unlimited 1st class rail for 15 days for $670. Not really that bad considering I was thinking I could sleep on the train a few nights. I thought it best to think on this and got ready and headed out for the Louvre.

I grabbed my camera (feeling confident because I had charged the camera battery last night) and grabbed a map of Paris from the front desk and started walking.

Now, something struck me while chatting with my Australian friend Dave last night when I told him that I had walked to the Eiffel Tower without a map. He said I was crazy or something along those lines.

Well, today, WITH a map in hand, I got lost twice while walking to the Louvre. At one point I actually walked about 15 minutes in the complete opposite direction as I wanted. It took me over an hour and a half to get there. Its amazing that yesterday I didn't get completely lost without a map.

So, once finally at the Louvre I walk in and all of a sudden have a panic that I did not put my newly charged battery in my camera. I look and sure enough, no battery!

This REALLY upset me. I admit, I am a photo nut! When I see something beautiful, I want to photograph it. And wow where there some sights in this museum. I decided I was not going to let the lack of photography ruin my tour, but I have to admit, many times while walking in the museum I couldn't help but think 'Wow what a great photo that would make'. I would even try to figure out what the best angle or shot would be. Pretty sad.

The Louvre was very impressive. The building itself was a historical piece of artwork (literally). There was an almost annoying amount of Jesus dieing in horrible ways paintings but I guess that was what people used to like to paint. Or possibly the church was the only one hiring painters at the time. Also, the french like to paint their women naked, ALOT. It seemed like every housewife and young girl always had at least one breast hanging out. I thought it was strange. Even the dieing mother surrounded by her mourning husband and crying children had her breasts exposed. I guess I am not really complaining, just thought that some of the cases were strange.

One fine painting did have a clothed women in it, The Mona Lisa! I was very excited to see this but was a bit underwhelmed when I finally saw it. Because it is such a big attraction you can not get any closer then like 10 feet from it at best. I probably never got closer then 30 feet because of the crowds. I like to see them up close.

There were other Da Vinci's that I could get close to which I enjoyed. Not to mention countless other famous works of art that I can not name, but recognized. And again I can not go on enough about the building itself. Probably could have gotten some great shots today. :(

On my way back I stopped for some coffee at a nice cafe and realized I was getting bolder with my French. After the tiny coffee, I stopped at a Starbucks and got a green tea (my usual). This is the only Starbucks I have seen in Paris. As opposed to London where there is one on every block. McDonalds is very prevalent here though, as is KFC. I have managed to avoid both so far.

My food of choice in Paris is the grilled panini sandwich with tomatoes and mozzarella. It is very tasty. Found a nearby shop that sells them cheap with a soda for 4.5 euros.

Also found a mexican restaurant tonight for dinner. Got a burrito. It was pretty good, but not really what I was expecting. More like a French/Mexican burrito.

So, with more exploring and the help of my brother, I found that the EuroRail pass is not an option for me. Apparently you need to buy it before you leave the US. I can still buy one but it would be 20% more expensive and I would have to pay to have them ship my pass to me. Oh well, turns out they would have charged me extra to sleep on the train. :(

That being said, I am now homeless with no lodging in 12 hours. There are a lot of cheaper hotels in this area though and I am thinking I will stay in Paris until Monday. First thing is first, in the morning I will hunt for a new home.