So many tourists, so little time

A plastic art thingie
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Yesterday, Saturday, the tourists arrived. After almost three weeks in France we do not count ourselves as tourists. After sleeping in, we took the bus over to the Beauborg district which is a few miles from the Marais, where our apartment is located. On our way to the Pompidou Center, which houses a modern art collection, we stopped for lunch at the first uncrowned restaurant that had a patio (terrace in French). A quick look at the menu and we realized that we were at an Italian restaurant. Named “Valentinos” In the mood for maximum carbs, I ordered the Fettuccine Carbonara and Mad had the veggie pizza. The restaurant’s kitchen was closing so we were able to dine and dash over to the museum a few blocks away.

Artistic Chair
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The Pompidou’s construction continues to cause controversy in France. Some applaud its bizarre construction, while others consider in one of France’s architectural mistakes. Whatever the opinion, it definitely is a structure that you will never forget. Modern art can be also be viewed two ways: “is that art? It looks like a 3 year old did it” or “how innovative, how creative!!” One piece of art was a concave canvas painted dark blue, while another was a life-size bright red hippo. Madeline loved the museum and wants to go back.

More art?
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Our next stop was back to the Batobus to ride along the Seine and rest our feet. Again, the tourists had overtaken our space, but relaxing on the river was still fabulous . Another funny side note: While on the Batobus Maddie and I observed an older man running along the Seine. Maddie said, “He runs like a girl.” and I responded, “He can run better than me.” Also on the Batobus were some French girls ready to party. The girls started to encourage the gentleman to run faster and faster. It was just amazing. He ran faster and faster!! He was the Forest Gump of France. He ran so fast that he actually kept up with the Batobus. Everyone was rooting for him. It was really cute.

I love this red Hippo
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We got off at the Eiffel tower in hopes of riding the elevators to the top, but again we were foiled by the tourists. On a side note: I read on Trip Advisor that the “gypsies” will try to lure you over to them so that they can “pick your pocket” . They ask you, “Do you speak English?” My first inclination was to say “yes” and then try to help them, but I quickly said, “no”, gave them my teacher look, and shook my finger at them. It worked. At the Louvre today they continued to approach me and I added my own foreign language to the mix and when they saw me again, they went out of their way to avoid us. Madeline also noted that they are obviously dressed like gypsies. Wouldn’t they we less suspicious if they were dressed like Americans and not like gypsies. Another gypsy note: When we were touring Normandy we saw a few gypsy camps, that really looked that the ones on TV; brightly colored caravans pulled by horses. The funny thing was they all had a satellite dish attached to the caravan.

France's Forrest Gump
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Back to our adventure. We decided to come back to the Eiffel tower on Monday morning and hopefully, by then, the tourists will have gone home. Catching a taxi seemed to be the best bet, given our sore feet. Many people seemed to want to do the same thing, although we couldn’t figure out what the actual procedure was. We moved down the sidewalk waiting for a taxi. We waved one down and went to get in the taxi and an American says, “There is a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine you know. That is how they do it here.” Her drawl was so extreme I couldn’t even understand her. So we went and got in “liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine after confirming the rules.

Outside of the Pompidou
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The taxi let us off at the end of the Gay Pride parade. And we walked, with pride, back to our apartment.

We woke up early on Sunday and took the metro to the St. Madeline church. It was built in 1806 and has Corinthian columns all the way around the church which makes it look like a Greek temple. The inside is gorgeous and sumptuous. Just beautiful.

Brunch was in order after the church. We just happened upon the famous Laudree tea room. When we entered we were transported back to a time when tea was a formal occasion. The price, 17 euros, was steep but so worth it considering the atmosphere. There were tiny little tables that were set with beautiful china and silver. The handles of the pitchers were covered with a paper cover that had a “L” embossed on them. We were sort of out of our element: Fancy ladies and gentlemen everywhere. On one side we had an adorable couple from New York who had brought their granddaughter, age 11, to Paris. One the other side was a woman, from the US who convinced me never to have a face-lift. Laudree is famous for its macaroons, but they are not like the ones in the US. They are two cookies that are held together with a filling and then dipped in a sugar glaze. Very pretty, but I didn’t really like the taste.

Saint Madeline Church
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Next we went to the carnival at the Louvre. In the middle of ancient buildings was a carnival and the best part was the huge ferris wheel that gave us a n amazing view of Paris with a full 360 degrees.

One more side note: right outside our apartment door is a restaurant called “Le Dome”. The first night we ate there the waiter insisted that we give him a tip. Even though you don’t tip in France because it is included in the price, I gave him a tip anyway because he was young and friendly. Looking back, I would not have given him a tip but oh, well… Last night we had a drink there and the waitress shorted us 10 euros. This time I spoke up and she finally relented and she gave it to us. Is this a place that takes advantage of Americans or just coincidence???? Stay tuned. We are going to try it one more time just to see what happens next.