France -- Paris day 2

Today (26 June 2010), we woke up a little earlier than usual and headed out into the city around 8 am. We stopped for breakfast at a café in Place Maubert and while we were enjoying our especially crunchy croissants and strong coffees, we admired the Saturday food market being set up right in front of us.

From there, we took the metro to the Musée d’Orsay and waited in line for about 15 minutes until the museum opened. Unfortunately, no photography of any kind was allowed here so I do not have any pictures of the beautiful paintings and sculptures we saw. We visited the Impressionist exhibits mostly (Monet and Cezanne are my favorites). We walked around the gift shop before leaving and hopping back on the metro to Saint-Sulpice church.

A nice market full of used book vendors had been set up in front of the church. We browsed the market for a while and I found two beetle prints (printed in the 18th century) for Carlos’ souvenirs. We visited Saint-Sulpice – I liked the dark gray stones used in the cathedral interior. We also found the rose line (of Da Vinci Code fame).

Next, we visited a nearby Pierre Hermé pastry shop where I purchased two fancy pastries: Ispahan and Tarte Infiniment Vanille. I also bought a small box of assorted chocolates. We ate the pastries on the steps of Saint-Sulpice and they were both extremely delicious!

After pastries, we found some lunch nearby (I had a goat cheese salad with tomatoes and onions along with an Orangina). We took the metro back to our hotel for a little break after eating our lunch. Around 4 pm, we headed out to shop for souvenirs at the bouquinistes – I found some stamps and a Bixa tree print for Carlos. We wandered all along the Seine and through Ile de la Cité, peeping into many souvenir shops.

Next, we took the RER to the Pont de l’Alma to ride the Bateaux Mouches – passenger boats that cruise along the Seine to look at all the sights. We took a 7 pm boat and after a nice tour of historic Paris from the water, we returned to the dock ~8:30 pm. We took the metro back to the hotel (but looked at the Liberty torch and tunnel where Princess Diana died before getting on the metro).

We stopped at a market for a picnic dinner (tomatoes, camembert, gruyere, bread, chips, nectarines, and soda) which we ultimately ate in the hotel dining room (because the nearby park was gated and locked!). While eating dinner, we watched the World Cup: USA vs Ghana which ended in a 1-1 tie. After our simple dinner, we returned to the hotel room for the night.