Memoirs of Sunday in Paris

• Walking tour of the city along the Seine and seeing all the wonderful art along the river, and walking across the Pont Neuf.
• Standing under the Tour Eiffel and walking to the Arc de Triomph.
• The little café with wifi where we ate lunch late.
• The icky lady and her icky male-friend, how they bumped into us constantly and kept asking David to use his lighter in French despite our inability and unwillingness to communicate with them.
• Missing our bus stop coming back to the hotel that evening and trying to figure out how to cross the expressway by foot without getting killed.

Memoirs of Monday in Paris

• Going to the huge Samartine department store and finding it closed due to security reasons after Nancy asked me to get her a brush from that store.
• Trying to find an ATM.
• Trying to find a sim-card for my cell phone and getting wrong directions from everyone.
• Going by the Place Igor Stravinsky and seeing the funky fountain there.
• Eating at the Italian restaurant and using the internet there (yummy bread balls).
• Going to the Jewish museum and David losing his ticket.
• Navigating the trains.
• Seeing only three McDonalds and one Starbucks the whole day.
• David’s “friend” at our hotel and getting good directions (David has the uncanny ability to make friends with people).
• Getting pictures of the National Music Academy at the Opera station.
• Getting pictiures of the National Opera at the Bastille station.
• Seeing the girl smoking MJ on the steps of the opera.
• Filming the Juliette memorial statue near the Bastille station and saying, “I think this may have something to do with the Bastille…”
• Getting off at the right stop on the bus and David knowing how to cross the expressway by foot without getting killed.

Memoirs of Tuesday in Paris

• Making friends with the man who works at the breadshop near our hotel. He seems to work there 24 hours a day – he’s there when we go in the morning and when we come back at night.
• Finding out who won the super bowl.
• Going to Versailles on the nice RER train.
• Almost eating at the Tex-Mex restaurant in Versailles, but instead opting for Quiche at a local café.
• Seeing where Marie-Antoinette was when they stormed the castle to take her to prison and her ultimate demise.
• Seeing the room where the treaty of Versailles was ratified in 1919 (the “Peace Room”). Inspiring…
• Buying paintings of Paris at the little shops in Versailles.
• Checking our email at the Dungeons and Dragons place in the mini-mall amongst the gaming geeks, Star Wars figures and Nintendo games.
• Going to the bathroom at the McDonalds in Versailles.
• The smelly people on the lift up to the highest level of the Tour Eiffel
• Seeing all of Paris from the top of the Tour Eiffel.
• Getting to the bottom of the Tour Eiffel just in time to see the blinking lights at 6pm (we think they’re only on for about 15 minutes).
• Going to the Opera stop and finding the large department store.
• Looking for the brush for Nancy, but not finding the right brand.
• Finding out that the Samartine department store is actually closed for a long period of time, not just one day.
• Eating at the restaurant that reminded us of a Swensens ice cream place.
• David claiming to be able to use the escargot utensil, but then fumbling.
• Me filming that.
• Going back to the hotel and David getting in a fight with the manager about shoes.
• Me calling the hotel in Milan from my cell phone to get directions from the airports (yes, I learned my lesson).
• Our feet hurting A LOT!

Memoirs of Wednesday in Paris

• Going to the Louvre and seeing the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the painting on which we based our Femme 415 pose, the Napolean apartments, and hundreds of other 15^th, 16^th, 17^th, 18^th, and 19^th century paintings and works of art.
• Taking a break from the art and eating antipasti and crème brule at one of the lovely cafés in the museum.
• Seeing the clear pyramid structure at the entrance/exit of the museum, which was designed by I M Pei and opened in 1989.
• Drinking wine and espresso at a café near the museum while using the internet on my computer.
• Seeing the smaller version of the statue of liberty, which is situated in the Seine river not far from the Tour Eiffel.
• Eating (more) escargot at a brasserie nearby.
• Seeing the Moulin Rouge (from the outside).
• Making our way back on the number 7 train (22 stops) and then getting on the 186 bus to go home.
• David experiencing a menagerie of smells on the bus.
• Finding out that the little bread stand we frequent DOES actually close at some point.