Second Day In Paris

We woke up late since we partied too late the night before. We decided to go see the Goya exhibit. So we headed out, past Carla Bruni's place, than found that the Petit Palais is one of the museums that is closed on Monday. Oh well. At least I got to try a public toilet. I pushed a button to open the door, went in, and did my business. There is a square into which you put your hands to start hand washing water. It might have been blowing air too to dry my hands. I'm not sure. I couldn't figure out how to flush it. So I left and there was a woman standing there just outside. She waited so I guess the washroom was self-cleaning. Elena wanted to go too, but she didn't stand in a way that made her looked lined up. Elena gave up and we headed on.

We headed down to the Invalides and it was closed too. But we wandered around the cannons and the plaques honoring all the dead soldiers in the various wars and conflicts France has been involved in. We then headed to the Champ de Mars and then up to the Eiffel Tower. We walked all the way up to right under it. It seemed much bigger than last time I saw it in Las Vegas. And there weren't any sexy cocktail waitresses. But it was impressive. We saw people going up the stairs. "going up" being the operative words to get Elena excited. She said she would come back and climb as high as they would let her. Since she banged her knee on her bike, we figured we should do it Friday. The line to the elevator was crazy long. Thank goodness I don't really want to do it.





After the Eiffel Tower, we walked along the Seine and found our way to the Arc du Triumph. At this time it was getting humid and we were getting hungry so we came home to eat chorizo, tomatoes, Rocquefort cheese, and apparently also my raisin bread and cookies I bought for myself. Not only did Elena not have permission to eat my cookes, but she complained that I hadn't bought better cookies. ;-)

We slept for a while and then went out again. This time we did the Arc and the Champs Élysées. Too many stores. I'll never undertstand the appeal of Louis Vuitton. We found another Starbucks but didn't have any coffee. By now I'm not even shocked by a tall for €2,60 (about US$4) for a coffee that's US$1.73 in Seattle.

We found a Decathlon and Go Sport and looked into options for outfitting ourselves for our future travels. I wish they had better mosquito nets. Oh well. Then we came home since I have a little bit of sore throat and some fatigue.

Elena went out to meet Philippe and I decided to take a short walk through the Pigalle where the Moulin Rouge and the sex shops all are. Hawkers were persistently trying to get me into their establishments. But my sales resistance was good. I guess single men looking into all the store windows are prime targets for the hawkers. They actually grab you and try to drag you into their establishments.