I'm Louvre'n It

Thursday June 6 - Day 7 part 2

Back in the exec lounge...  We went out to the Louvre and arrived in the dead heat of about 11am.  Nita has a high fatigue rate as of late so we decided to take it easy.  When we got to the line we were very very thankful we paid for the skip-the-line tickets.  We shuffled past the easily hour wait, prancing past the leering eyes of the unprepared.

Mona Lisa is back there somewhere!

The Louvre was huge and there was no way we were going to see everything.  I really wanted to see the Venus de Milo and we both agreed we couldn't leave without seeing the Mona Lisa.  We trekked past the roman sculptors and snapshotted our way past the cavernous pillars and high painted ceilings.  We took lots of breaks as we made our way through the greek sculptures and italian paintings.  Despite the enjoyment of the museum, we were both exhausted and could no see many of the other "must-see" exhibits.  We had our fill of huge gorgeous paintings and masterfully carved noseless and penis-less statues.

Macarons

We left and stopped at a cafe overlooking the tourist-saturated streets.  Nita ate a "small" dish of hotdogs and fries (even though we ordered sausages), and I ate a canard de confit finally.  Tasty and succulent, the meat fell off the clean bones.  Dijon mustard was a wonderfully powerful addition to the potatoes.  We the stopped at a nearby pastry shop for a small opera cake.

We headed to the Champs D'Elysees shopping district and peeked in and out of big name brands like Louis Vuitton and Eric Lompart.  We grabbed some incredible (and incredibly) expensive macarons from a fancy place called Laduree.

After this, we decided to pack it in and are back in the hotel for Souli's "lunch" break since she's on night shift.  Our bags are going to be quite full out of Paris.

Souli had a lunch break so we headed next door to an italian place.  I had a delicious ravioli with way fattening cream sauce and cheese.  Nita had a steak with onions and french fries that was not stellar.

Eiffel Light Show

Thursday June 6th Day 7

What a gentleman

Long relaxing day yesterday.  We took a little time to figure out the machines and headed for a small lunch at an italian place across the street.  We shared a across the street.  We shared a pretty delicious lunch of thin crust pizza and an okay minestrone soup.  By the time laundry was done and our stuff was reorganized it was already 4pm.  We left to shop near chinatown to get gifts for our parents and metro'd towards a small shopping district.

Grrrr....

After some window shopping we headed into a pedestrian market and picked up some pate.  We ate escargot and escalope canard.  It was a heavy poutine-like meal that we nearly finished.  We left for the Eiffel tower and spent a few romantic hours strolling down the pathways, sitting on benches and lounging in the grassy park with many others.  We were casually and often asked if we wanted souvenirs or "wine? champagne?"

Strobey light show

The night peaked with the light show on the tower at 11pm.  The tower sparkled in a dazzling display for a few minutes.  We rushed towards the station and found locals selling slingshots that fired slow-falling and brightly lit LED propellors.  We went to go see how much, but the seller was walking quickly away from some cops.

On our way to the station we saw some breakdancers and soaked in the culture before heading back.

Currently, we have just finished breakfast at the god-sent Exec Lounge.  We are headed to the Louvre and it should be a packed day!

Rougey-Bougey

Wednesday June 5th Day 6

Free love!

Last night we left to metro towards Souli.  The train system is super simple so we arrived without a hitch.  We joined Souli at a bar with about 10 other people.  This could have been awkward for me especially since I was the only one who didn't speak french.  Luckily most of her friends spoke english and we chatted about travelling and work and Paris.  Nita and I split a pulled pork sandwich that was pretty delicious.

We said our goodbyes and headed to the red light district.  We arrived about 25 mins in advance but quickly realized we should have come much earlier.  The line for first-come, first-served seating stretched down the blocks.  When we got in, we were seated pretty far back but the place was well set up and the stage was very visible and we were center view.

Ooooo... toys!

The show was pretty spectacular.  Bright colours, huge set changes, flashing lights, impressive vibrant costumes and so, so, so many boobs.  It was great.  Gymnastic and comedy acts brought the house down and enthusiastic topless dances kept the energy up.

We left and took a taxi back as the subway system inexplicably shuts down at midnight.  After a short wait in a long line of taxis we hopped in a young man's cab.  It was thrilling.  Empty tuesday night streets acted more like a race track.  He weaved past other taxis and cars like they were still.  He spent more time on shoulders and in between lanes than on the road.  It was exciting and yet, we weren't afraid.  He was a pro no question.  The insanity of speeding down narrow roads mixed with nascar precision.

Nita and I got back tired.  So tired that it is now half past noon and we just got up.  After such a hectic few days I am happy to take it easy and do some laundry.

Many breasts can be found in that building.

Paris

Written: Tuesday June 4th

We arrived in Paris relatively late.  4:30pm we met with our guide (and Nita's cousin) Souli.  We metro'd back to her hotel and were given access to the executive lounge from one of Souli's front desk friends.  The hotel room is amazing on the 16th floor with a good view of the city.  We are very lucky.  After dropping off our stuff we took a short walk and ate at a small cafe/restaurant.  Duck breast for Nita and a rack of lamb for me. Amazing as expected.  We walked down to the chinatown but all the store fronts were closed on late evening mondays.  A nice walk, we ended up taking the metro back to our hotel.  We stayed up a bit later to take care of emails and look up a laundromat about 25 mins away.

Might be the best meal of the trip

Duck breast

We slept like rocks in our heaven of pillows and got ready for a very full day of sightseeing.  I must be sure to conserve my energy today.

Amsterdam

Written: Monday June 3rd

We arrived into Amsterdam yesterday starving.  Always avoiding the first place I see off of the train, we ended up in an italian style restaurant.  It was pretty good, but it might have been the hunger.  It was then a mad search for the hotel began.  At first I took a wild guess (as I printed everything for our trip but this hotel).

Tired Nita on the train

We went to the tourist info guide who sent me to the other side of the tourist area.  I then spent another 20-30 mins trying to find the hotel with a heavy bag and broken store wifi.

After we arrived we rested a while.  Nita took a nap and I walked some of the Red Light district.  It did not disappoint.  I stopped by my first coffeeshop 3 doors from our hotel.  Afterwards I found my way back to our room for an afternoon nap with already passed out Nita.

We woke up early evening and there was a bright sunny day.  It was still unseasonably cool which was perfect for me.

Mmm...

We walked all night through the different parts of town and I fought my instincts on buying a blindbox toy.  We ate some fries and a hot dog, walked a few hours and had a nutella waffle.  We also ended our night with a late dinner of a meat pie with mash, which we shared.

When it got really late and it was dark, we had chicken burgers and strawberry waffles.  We woke up to the free buffet style breakfast of bread and cheese and cold cuts.  We packed up and stopped for coffeeshop muffins and more waffles with ice cream.  We ended our food-filled day with lunch, a chicken club that we shared.  Lots of food and lots of walking past window-lined streets of girls, sex shops, bars, and coffee shops.

Plain ol' chocolate muffin

NSFW!

Amsterdam nightlife