After getting ourselves settled, it was past lunchtime and we were very hungry. We headed into the heart of the Latin Quarter, looking for anywhere to eat. For whatever reason I guess we thought it would be a good idea to go to a cafe, a French speaking cafe, to try to order from a completely French menu, talking to a French waiter, all while sitting right next to a group of six 20-somethings who thought it was very funny to hear a Texan say "Je ne parle pas Francais" to the waiter. (That means I don't speak French.) They all started giggling and I turned red and started sweating. It was painfully obvious to the whole city of Paris that two tourist were attempting to eat lunch at Petit Gaston. Maybe a little bit of over exaggerating, but it seriously felt like we were under a microscope. It didn't help one bit that I pulled out my French/English dictionary to look up anything and everything on the menu as well as how to order water and ask for ketchup and the bill. Merciful heavens, that lunch took a few years off my life...but it was a good burger.
After surviving our first language barrier issue, which by the way feels like a true physical barrier, we meandered the streets of the Latin Quarter.
The Pantheon wasn't far from our hotel either and upon coming around to the front of it, we turned to catch our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. I was giddy, giggly and overly excited. You could have put a big red neon arrow over my head that said "TOURIST!" at that very moment, but I didn't care at all. Seeing it in person is truly very exciting!!!
Then we made our way to my FAVORITE place in Paris, the Luxembourg Gardens. I'm pretty sure it's a magical place, especially in the fall. If we ever go back, I want to visit that garden in morning, afternoon and evening to see how it looks different at different times. The weather was spectacular and we enjoyed a few good hours of roaming, resting, and watching.
Lots of people as well as a large fountain where you can sail boats with different countries sails on them. It was fun to watch the children playing with such a simple toy.
Upon entering the gardens, we saw a large crowd gathered around a band and everyone was singing with the band. We didn't think much of it, but two hours later, when the band was still performing and every single person in the crowd was singing along, we stayed to listen for a while. I took a picture on the off chance that maybe this was a famous Parisian group and we had the luck of seeing them in person. So....look closely...anyone recognize them?
One of my favorite pictures of the day.
After the gardens, we wandered back towards our hotel. I saw a display of huge flavored Meringue in one of the bakery windows and had to try the Banana Meringue. It was tasty and it's a good thing we got this, because I have no idea what happened, but we ended up unable to find a single thing to eat anywhere for the rest of the night....I still can't quite figure out what happened but Shawn ended up at a tiny grocery store bringing home a loaf of bread and some lunch meat. Gross. I'll wait for breakfast.
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