EuroTrip: Day 4-Exploring Paris

We had to get up “early” today to make it to breakfast and to the Louvre Museum meeting spot for our tour on time. So, I didn’t run.. we got ready and left the hotel room by 8:05 and walked to our Crepe destination.. to find out it was closed! Damn.

We carried on and walked into every place that was open.. several only had croissants and jam, one lady said they were out of eggs, and then finally we walk into a cafe that claims to have breakfast AND eggs.. so we sit and order.. y’all, those fried eggs on top of that ham would have been a masterpiece, had they actually cooked the eggs a little bit.. like they were still gooey, I wouldn’t even had called them over easy! Hahaha

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I still ate them.. because fat kid problems, I was starving and who knew how long it would take for him to come over, take them back, bring them back, etc.. plus I hate sending back food in general. So whatever, me and those gooey eggs went to town, stomach cramps later be damned. Lol Mom attempted and then gave me half of hers-which was actually cooked to over easy. I got a side of French bread and used that to soak up the yolks.. I wasn’t like loving it, but in the end I wasn’t mad at it either!

We walked to the Louvre Museum and stopped at a bridge along the way. I thought it was bridge Andrea and I had put love locks on back in 2019, but the majority of the locks had been cut off and the railings were covered in plexiglass. I was sad, to know that the lock Andrea had put on for her and Andres had been cut off and thrown away. I was also sad that the one I put on for Nancy was gone, too. —-side note, Andrea and I hiked the Camino de Santiago across Spain in 2019, 550 miles, but we started our trip off with a few nights in Paris before going to St. Jean Pied de Port. Andrea and Andres had just started officially dating. And Nancy, my work mama and the all around best human I’ve ever known, was at home in hospice care after the return of her pancreatic cancer. I put a lock on the bridge for her, symbolizing for everyone that loves her that their love would be eternal too. She passed away shortly after I got back from that trip, before I got to see her one last time.

Anyway, on this bridge today, I decided I’d get Andrea and Andres a new lock, and Nana and myself our first lock-since clearly that didn’t jinx their new relationship 3 years ago.. maybe it had some benefit to their relationship seeing how it’s been going strong ever since (heaven forbid it be because they were always meant to find each other and nothing at all to do with some lock she put on a bridge in Paris).. either way, I figured it couldn’t hurt us. We didn’t see anyone selling locks like Andrea and I did a few years ago, so we continued on to the Louvre to wait for our tour and we’d handle all this lock business later.

We met at the chariots for our tour guide. There were several companies and quite a few people, but our guide wasn’t there yet. The lines at the Louvre were really starting to grow. Since we were early, we got to watch lots of groups go ahead and walk to the museum and in through a side door. Eventually, our guide showed and he was absolutely worth every penny paid for this tour.. he had the look of a professor out of 1822, clothes and all-plus he was witty and cracked jokes that I found hilarious (others didn’t seem to find him as funny as I did though, whatever, be miserable). He was born in France and grew up here, but his family originated in Wales, so he had more of a British accent except when he spoke French.. I was in awe.

He took a group of 16 of us through the side doors, security, and then to the main area to start the tour. We had headsets on in one ear and he proceeded to take us around and show us things along with telling us the history behind the pieces he was showing us. It was educational, entertaining, and I feel like I got much more out of it than I would have if I just walked around on my own. We learned the history of the Louvre, all about Napoleon the 3rd, the French Revolution(s) and the many governmental overthrows and sieges. He also taught us about the differences between Roman and Greek statues and lessons about the important ones he showed us.

One of my favorites was Hermaphrodite, the son of Hermes and Aphrodite.. the sculpture looks like a woman daintily lying on a soft bed from every angle, except one, when you realize the figure has male genitalia. He told us a story about one theory: Hermaphrodite fell in love with a Fairy or a mortal and his parents forbade him to be with her, so the couple went to another God and begged to be inseparable, so the God joined their bodies and gave the one remaining body the best of the previous two. So they literally became one. And while I’m clearly not the best at retelling Greek folklore, I love the story regardless, and I love the meaning behind it.. not that I want to be in that situation myself lol

Anyway, we ended up at the Mona Lisa, the prized painting of the Louvre. There was a line to get to the front and then you had to basically fight for your chance to get a picture with the painting.. Lord have mercy it wasn’t that serious! I mean, it was beautiful and it was what I originally came for.. but all the hoopla was a bit much. From that moment, I swear the rest of the tour became entirely too crowded. People smacking into you, standing so close to a painting that they couldn’t see it if they tried, but yet they blocked it from view of anyone else.. cool.

Mom started to venture off on her own way before this moment, because she didn’t find our guide quite as entertaining as I did.. and the crowds were bothering her, too. By the time we finished, we were both famished and didn’t stop for much on the way out in order to find a cafe to sit at and eat some lunch. There were plenty of options choose from, I just picked one and we sat inside at a window so we could people watch.

I ordered croquettes, which none have yet to taste like the ones Andrea and I ate all the time in Spain, but these were still good. Mom got a burger, I got fish and chips, and it wasn’t too shabby. Naturally I liked the wine best 😉 Mom actually ordered a Chardonnay,I was shocked! (She didn’t like it lol). We ate and watched the people coming and going, and then watched a little longer as we waited for the waiter to bring us our check.

From there we walked towards the Eiffel Tower, and in search of the actual bridge Andrea and I had put locks on. She had sent me a picture so I could try to find her lock, and when I saw it I realized I had been at the wrong bridge before.. the one we put locks on was very close to the Eiffel Tower, and so maybe, just maybe, I’d be able to find them!

We walked, laughed, took pictures, stopped for little sit breaks, and walked some more. When we did get to the correct bridge, our locks had been cut off-the only locks there were with 2022 dates besides a few here and there with some older ones. I scoured the bridge anyway, just in case, with no luck. Oh, well. I’ll get new ones. Except even here there was no one selling any.

We continued towards the Eiffel Tower, stopping for more pictures of pretty places. We came to a perfect spot to take pictures together with the Eiffel Tower in perfect view. We hung out a while, then went to a little grocery store to get a phone charger for mom. They were playing Outkast, which made me smile. They also had some black locks for sale, not quite what I wanted, but they’d get the job done.

Immediately after leaving we found some souvenir shops.. we got a few goodies and then BAM. Mom spotted the good locks-way too big and €7, but how can you put a price on everlasting love? 🤣🥴 So i got them, I used that man’s marker, and then mom returned the black ones to the supermarket.

We went to a cafe and had wine (well, I had wine, mom had coffee and a crepe lol).. we were originally wanting to hang out in this area until night fall so we could watch the Eiffel Tower light up.. but then we changed our minds and decided to do that tomorrow. We walked back to the bridge, I put our locks on and threw one of the keys for each lock into the water.

We were heading back to our hotel room to decide what to do for dinner when I had to pee so bad, so we stopped at another cafe. I went in to use the bathroom and mom got us a table out front. We ended up ordering a pizza and more wine for me, a Coke Zero for mom. Y’all, I really try to get her to enjoy some alcohol with me, but she’s not really a fan and you cannot talk that woman into doing a single thing she doesn’t want to..

We enjoyed the pizza and eventually started making our way towards the hotel when mom flagged down a taxi driver.. she asked him, “can you take us to our hotel?” Of course he says yes, which hotel? And she says, “oh, I don’t know” hahahaha dear lord. I had to get the address out for him because there are several locations and we were nervous we’d give him the wrong one. We were swiftly back to our room, where I changed to go for my mile run.

It was already dark outside and a little creepy, since I didn’t have a perfect understanding of our area.. I managed well enough though 🙂 I finished my mile less than a block from our room, but ended up turning the wrong way, so I added a 10 minute walk to it.. whoops! I’ll blame all the wine 😉

Speaking of wine, that’s what’s taken so long to write this post and get it uploaded.. I drank too much wine to actually write any of it last night, I just went to sleep.. and I slept damn good, too.