Rx-ipe: Hey Jules, Do You Know What they Call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris...?

Kind of wierd, two McDonald's references with the last two post titles. Well, Vin and I made it back to London after two and a half days in Paris and five days in Venice. I'll split the two cities into two posts, so this one will be about our time in Paris.

There actually isn't a whole lot to say about Paris. It definitely was not as accessible for an English speaker as I would have thought. There were very few people that knew any English at all, so it was a little difficult while there (to get the most out of Paris I think it is best to know at least a little French). However, we made the best of it, and it is a place definitely worth visiting at least once. We saw pretty much all the sites the city had to offer and did it all by foot, we definitely put in some kilometers because we walked from end to end of that city, and it certainly isn't small.

The first day we got there around eleven or twelve, got a cab to take us to our hotel, which actually only ended up being a few minutes from the train station. Then we bought a map, tried to plot a course to the Arc du Triumph and Eiffel Tower. We actually ended up walking past Moulin Rouge on the way. Our walk to the Arc ended up being a little longer than it should have been because we got a little lost but we ended up getting there anyway. I don't think there are any straight streets in the whole city of Paris. The street plan is a mess, they are all curvy and their names will just change at random points sometimes, but we eventually got used to it and became decent navigators of the city. So we saw the arc and then walked on to the Eiffel Tower. Both were really cool, and we had a crepe, which was unbelievable at the foot of the Tower. After that it we started our journey back to our hotel, which brought us past some more old buildings to look at on our way back.

The second day we spent most of the day at the Louvre where we saw the Mona Lisa, she really does seem to be looking at you from just about any angle you look at her, Vinnie confirmed it. The museum is ridiculously big, it would probably take a week to get through the whole thing. After the Louvre we went to the cemetery where Jim Morrison is buried and saw his grave. I've wanted to visit it since I read his biography in 10th or 11th grade and saw a picture of it, I couldn't believe I actually had the chance to do it. Seeing it was definitely my number one thing to do in Paris, so I had to convince Vin to go to the cemetery since it was kind of out of the way. After that it was time to walk to the train station to catch our overnight train to Venice.

On our way back from Venice today we had a few hours in Paris again, so we visited Notre Dame. It was actually free to go in so we looked around there for a while, it is definitely an impressive church. However, after being in Venice we realized just how dumb the French are, so we were kind of over the city. So we pretty much went from the train station we got in to from Venice, to Notre Dame, to the train station to get back to London.

Overall my thoughts on Paris are that it was definitely a cool city to visit, but I really don't feel a need to go back. The people were kind of rude, it was hard to find something to eat because the menu's were all in french and who knows what your going to get when eating French cuisine. What we did eat, eclairs, croissants, baguettes, and sandwiches were all really good, but our options were limited for sure. The French definitely do know their pastries and breads. By the way the answer to the question in the title really is a Royal w/Cheese, I took a picture of the menu, it is not just a funny quote from Pulp Fiction. There are plenty of pictures to look at, so enjoy.