From the depths to the heights...the last two days

Friday June 24

Snacked to on delicious pan au chocolat while walking to the Musee D’Orsay via side streets.

-       Arrived when it opened at 9:30am, though there was a strike so we didn’t get in until 11:00am. In the meantime, we chatted with a French-and-British couple who suggested a restaurant in Montmartre.

    Musee D’Orsay: stunning mix of impressionists including Degas, Renoir, Monet, Cézanne, Manet, Van Gogh, Sisley, art deco, a scale model of the Garnier Operahouse. Also, inside a huge former train station. However, no pictures were allowed, not even of the building’s grand interior. We thought this was lame and tried to use our charm and wit to convince the museum attendants that we are too awesome for these rules, but sadly our French is not good enough. Also, in our opinion, Manet is way overrated. Margot was saddened by the temporary lack of Odilon Redon whose exhibit was in transit from another museum. Odilon Redon, “Painter of Dreams”- check him out.

-        Lunch across from Musee D’Orsay. Wound up chatting with Canadians who suggested a sight-seeing bus from the Eiffel Tower. We were shamelessly hit on by our waiter. It wasn’t uncomfortable.

-       Successfully navigated the Metro alone for the first time (without Fred or Georges to guide us). People died, but we got where we needed to go.

Disenchanted by Manet

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Eiffel Tower: next to a petit park, had to pick a pillar to ascend, while waiting in line we ate ice cream and chatted with a girl our age from Massachusetts.  She was making out with her super hot Frenchman while we tried  to get a word in edgewise. We got to the front of the line but then had to depart since even taking the elevator would have taken at least 2.5 hours, which we did not have time for. We bailed to eat delicious noms. Suck it. Tuesday. It will happen. Also, Autumn is terrified of heights. This has nothing to do with the fact they left….nothing at all….TUESDAY.

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Dinner with Fred, Georges, and Nadia at a jazzy restaurant. SO GOOD.  French beer, French onion soup, French, advice for life, philosophy, shrimp, pizza which has a drawn out German name there, waffles with chocolate and ice cream.

-       ** WE ATE SNAILS…..(twice.)TWO DIFFERENT KINDS…. AND THEY WERE PRETTY TASTY** Also, Autumn, the former vegan, ate tripe sausage. Yeah. There’s no going back now.

-       Feet. They hurt.

Saturday June 25

-       Bought too many pain au chocolat (chocolate croissants) for F & G in the hope of helping out. Silly Americans. Had coffee with Fred then took the bus to the catacombs.  Autumn was in desperate need of batteries. She ventured off alone. No one knows what happened, she’s not telling, but we’re pretty sure she’s a different person.

-       Met up with Georges did the Catacombes. We plunged wholeheartedly into the depths of Paris and our own souls to find numerous bones, weird feelings, dead people.  Egalite a la mort! Equality in death. Which made us so thankful for our lives and the things we share in it.

-       From the depths we came to the surface to celebrate life by celebrating Gay Pride! Yes, French Gay Pride Day in Paris. Trannies, feathers, attractive gay men everywhere, dance parties between floats,  dancing atop moving buses, one float happened to play California Gurlz as it passed us. A surprising lack of nudity, protestors, and pot, but an abundance of JOY. Beautiful.

-       Traversed the initially terrifying Metro like the pros that we are becoming all the way to L’Arc de Triomphe. We snacked at a Franco-Italian restaurant and were stared down and almost thrown out by an Italian waiter with quite an agenda. Charm and wit prevailed and Margot and Autumn earned the honor of a limitless stay.

-       We were then dubbed Marg-Autumn by Fred & Georges who met up with us to go see the Arc de Triomphe.

-       Arc de Triomphe: watched a daily ceremony beneath the arches in honor of the tomb of the unknown soldiers buried there plus an extra amount of ritual today in honor of French soldiers killed in Afghanistan today and yesterday. For real, a whole procession including soldiers, boy scouts of all ages, a full orchestra, veterans, and family members of the dead. Climbed the stairs up the Arc and took in a marvelous view of the entire city stretching outward from the Arc. The city and sky resembled a Hollywood backdrop. Does Hollywood even use backdrops anymore? Fine, a Hollywood “computer-generated green-screen background”. Paris.

-       Home cooked meal at Fred and Georges. Two words. La Tropezienne. Gmmmm.

-       Walked home through the gay neighborhood, awash in gay celebrations, life celebrations, alcohol and rainbows. Let me tell you, this town knows how to party. The contrast of chic & modern atmosphere with the historic everything else is fascinating.

Something should be said and I don’t know how to say it. The men here are possibly the most beautiful men I have ever seen in my life. Well-groomed, fit, attractive and they smell good contrary to popular belief. It’s really quite overwhelming. If you thought Italian boys were cute, think twice. The Italian men are travelling in France right now too.  Also Russian ones on top of L’Arc de Triomphe. If Elise is reading. =) We don't know all their personalities yet, just the ones of the gays, so straight Frenchmen attractiveness still pending.


Advice for life from the French: Whenever you toast someone you must look them in the eyes or you will have bad sex for 7 years! 


Word of the day: ossements - bone remains
dindons- male turkeys


If you have any questions, we have some inklings towards answers.