Paris Day Five

Today was another great day except that weather.com totally messed up the forecast. The forecast called for partly cloudy skies. Thank goodness we all brought our umbrellas because the skies opened up and it rained all day. We left the hotel around 9 and picked up pastries for breakfast on our way to the metro. Upon arriving at the metro, we discovered that we did not have enough coins to buy a carnet (pack) of 10 tickets. I went to the ticket window, only to be told that they don't sell tickets and won't give change. The machines only take coins and our credit cards don't work in their machines. Back up to the street we went and bought a coffee at the Starbucks to get some change. The lady behind the counter told us that we could get change at the Tabac (tobacco store) next door. She had just given most of hers away to someone else. We were so excited to find out that the Tabac sold the carnet of tickets at the same price (11.60) as the machine downstairs and we could use our euro cash. The metro here is an underground train just like in London. In London we looked for the "name" of the line and the direction it was going. In Paris we look for the "number" of the line and the stop at the end of the line for the right direction. Other than that, they are mostly the same. Paris does tend to hide their metro entrances more than London and some of the ones in Paris don't even have a sign! We went to the Eiffel Tower because it wasn't raining when we left. When we arrived however it WAS raining so all we could do was walk until we had a good view, take a picture from under the umbrella and walk away. Brittany said it was still exciting for her to see it. Debbie and Brittany were surprised that it was so big. Next we went to the Louvre which is a very large museum of art housed in a former French Palace. The Louvre is big enough to spend a week in, but we only hit the main highlights. Among those were Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa, and the busts of the parents of Tiberius, who was Caesar when Jesus was crucified. Mom also really liked a statue that was holding a bird. We think it made her think of her own birds, Red and Tweety, back home. We ate in the food court in the Louvre. It is completely different from when I was there last year because now there are stations for all kinds of different ethnic varieties of food. Mom, Debbie, and I ate quiche lorraine and a chocolate tart from French food and Brittany ate Pizza from Italian food. We shopped some in the Louvre where Brittany fell in love with a store with floral fragrances and we found my favorite chocolate store, Maison du Chocolat. We caught the Metro under the Louvre and went to Champs Elysees to walk a little between showers. We found a lot of interesting shops to pop into as well as some that we knew our pocketbooks weren't prepared for. We saw a big pile of logs with cylinders scattered inbetween. The cylinders had photographs and things on them. We discovered that it was a art exhibit. The artistic design was lost on us I'm afraid. We walked toward the Arc du Triomphe and rode the metro back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. We ate dinner at a place that my sister-in-law Christy recommended, Relais de l'Entrecote. The place is so popular that people (including the French) line up outside the door to get in as there are no reservations. We went around 6 and there was not a line. When we came out around 8, the line had formed. It was really really good. They only have one item on the menu, steak with special sauce. When you are seated, you are asked one question...rare, medium, well done. We were served a green salad with walnuts and spicy dijon vinaigrette that was really yummy. They slice the steak near the table and give you some with a lot of skinny fries and pour the sauce all over the steak. Once you think you are finished eating, they give you the other part of the steak that you didn't know you had left and even more fries. Brittany enjoyed an Orangina with her meal, a fizzy and light orange drink that I introduced her to. The dessert menu was totally in french. We were able to understand some of it, but the young lady sitting next to us offered her boyfriend to help us decipher the rest. The picture of the desserts is as follows...raspberry sorbet, ice cream with caramel sauce, strawberry tart, and chocolat profiteroles. Which dessert matches which person....hmmm? Once back at our hotel, mom and I had settled in only to suddenly hear water pouring in the bathroom. It was coming through the ceiling! I ran down to the desk and the clerk came right back up with me. Water was everywhere and the hotel is full so there is no where to go. He brought someone back up with him and he thinks it might be the air conditioning. He also brought a bunch of towels and someone will have to come and check everything in the morning.He was very puzzled. Tomorrow is supposed to be a sunny day unless weather.com is wrong again. We plan on going to Montmartre. Hopefully our ceiling will be fixed while we are gone.