Paris part deux

Bonjour all,

First of all let me apologize for Bryce's post yesterday(even though it wasn't that bad was it? C'mon let's hear it for Bryce(yay)). He was unprepared (thinking I was going to type but then I forced it on him when a cute girl started talking to us(me)) and rushed (20 minutes on a timed card seems like a lot, but really isn't). Nevertheless he did our first full day in Paris justice.
Yesterday (the 30th) we were forced to rise early so they could close off our room and bang and pound on the walls to somehow make our hostel safer. I saw no change when we returned. The good news from this was that we got to the Louvre very early and had literally no line for the Mona Lisa, or La Jocunde as they call it here. Let me say, it's famous for a reason. It's magnificent! I won't bore you with the Louvre though, you've either seen it and know how big and awesome it is, or someone has told you how big and awesome it is. I tried to lose Bryce in the ancient mesopotamia wing but he found me at the pyramide inversee so it obviously isn't big enough. I will say that the whole French wing was closed off(what gives, have they no pride?) so I couldn't see my beloved Watteaus and Bouchers.
We strolled through the Tuilleries gardens and then went to see the Rodin Museum featuring the Thinker and about 50 other nude dudes in poses you never see in real life. Feeling very tired from climbing everything in sight the previous day, we sat in the Rodin gardens for a bit trying to think of something that didn't require energy. What you say? A boat tour down the Seine?? That's exactly what we thought!
It was cool to see all the buildings from the river that we saw from the sky, and our tour guide did the whole thing in French, English, Spanish, and Italian. Tres Impressive. We went to St. Michel via the light rail (called RER) which kicks the Metro's ass in comfortability, style and speed. And both trains are included in our three day pass that we got. We also got the three day museum pass which gets us into almost all the museums here in Paris and lets us skip the ticket lines. St. Michel is in the Latin quarter near our hostel, full of restaurants and shops. We looked around for a while(stopping in another Gap, geez their capri pants are expensive!) before deciding on a quiet little French restaurant. It wasn't quite dinner time, which isn't really until 8 or 9 here(really I saw a family with 8 yr olds having dinner and sipping wine at about 11:30 the other night), so the place was virtually empty. Still they manage to sit us at a table directly next to an occupied one. Have they heard of personal space here?? Anyway, apparently they know what they are doing because we had a delightful meal talking to this Brazilian man who is in Paris studying law. He gave us Brazilian geography and travel lessons (Lesson 1-Amazonia is HUGE! Lesson 2-The beaches in North East Brazil are the best in the world. Lesson 3-Brazil's futbol team is the best in the world. As he spoke French and English, he helped us with the menu. I ordered escargo(which was really good. Really.), duck, and creme brulee, oh and wine. Oui! Bryce got (French) Onion Soup, steak, and creme brulee as well. I must say we couldn't have been happier with our big French dinner.
Today we split up to get more stuff done and have a pleasant solo experience. I went to the tropical aquarium, the Musee d'Orsay, Luxembourg gardens(seeing old men playing boules), and the Pantheon. I'm not sure what Bryce did so he'll have to tell you, but it's probably lame and has to do with some old king's velvet-lined sock drawer. Tomorrow we leave Paris for Mont St. Michel which should be fantastic. Gotta find our departure time now so until next time...

Leo Snaileater