"WHICH WAY TO THE MONA LISA?!"

I know it's been like 21 more days since I've posted a blog but the real world kinda sucks and is kinda busy. I'm just going to pick up where I left off at our second full day in Paris. Enjoy!

After getting our bellies full at lunch we were off to more sights and shopping. A quick swing by Notre Dame and weren't really feeling the whole waiting in line so we opted for a couple of quick self portraits in front of it and head towards the Louvre and the Musee de O'rsay.

It was a nice walk along the Seine River. Once we got there were weren't really feeling like waiting in line there either, plus we could come back to the Louvre later that night because it was Wednesday and this is the only night that they stay open at night, until 9:30. So we cross over a bridge covered in "Love Locks". This is a huge thing in Paris. Couples put padlocks on bridges to show their love for one another like carving "Tanya n' Bobby 4 Ever" on a tree. Officials in Paris have debated about removing all of the locks but have decided to let them stay. Pretty cool.

Time for a snack and coffee (I drank a cup a day, at least, and I'm not even really a coffee drinker). No coffee for Carrie cause she don't do caffeine although she'll have a decaf once in a while. We both had to pee and had to find somewhere fast. No bakeries in site so we go into a fairly nice restaurant right up from the Musee de O'rsay. Must be a fairly popular scenario because the owner told us it was 25 cents to use the "toilet" (this was added strictly for your amusement Bonnie). We happily paid the man. We hit up a bakery, Eric Kayser Artisan Boulanger, around the corner and grab some macaroons, pistachio and strawberry, and a hot cup o java. Macaroons are pretty much everywhere in Paris. I had two directly off the plane in the airport to help keep my eyes open, and they were as delicious as any we had. I fully realized on this trip that a little sugar in between meals goes a very long way, and a cup of coffee with it is just the icing on the cake, err...macaroon.

After our jolt of sugar and caffeine we were off to do some shopping. Carrie had her heart set on Printemps, a very popular department store found throughout Paris. We went to the Paris Haussmann location which is just north of the Paris Opera House, which was a gorgeous structure. Our metro stop put us out directly in front of L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon! Had we any budget left at this point we would have come back for dinner, but this was not the case.

Printemps department store and surrounding stores had us blind to the rest of the world for about 3 hours. One store had a Nixon section. Like the way a department store would have a Polo or Nautica section, this one had a Nixon section. An entire section devoted to Nixon. Pretty much their full line of watches, apparel, belts, wallets, headphones...the whole nine. It was like their website came to life and magically appeared here in front of me here in Paris. I spent a solid hour there, no exaggeration. Carrie found a sweet denim shirt she couldn't pull the trigger on so we took a photo of the tag so she can hopefully order it. We did this with more than one piece of clothing. Kinda brilliant when traveling with only one bag!

Our three hour shopping frenzy had us way behind schedule on dinner and our one and only chance to visit the Louvre. So we scramble to find a metro stop and are very much in need of some real food. En route (I'm so French now) to the Louvre we grab a gyro from a very small place. This was maybe the biggest waste of 7 euros anyone has ever experienced. The lamb tasted like it had been sitting out cooked and reheated when this guy actually had a customer roll in. I think we might have been his first customer all day. Awful. We both took a bite and threw it in the trash. We might as well have lit that money on fire. It's pushing like 8:30 at this point and the Louvre (on Wednesdays) closes at 9:30, so we scrap dinner for now and haul ass to the museum.

We get to the Louvre around 8:50. Now keep in mind Carrie has been there before. I, of course, have not. Once inside the walls we are both spinning with excitement. The sun was setting just right and the light in the sky was an incredible backdrop to the beauty of this place. We wander through all of the open areas and I'm going trigger happy with the camera(s). We find ourselves on the farthest end of the open areas. Carrie at this point realizes that it's like 9:05. "Where's the entrance?", she says. "How would I know?", I respond. A small bit of panic rushes over us. We kind of trot to the closest archway that would appear to possibly house one of the many possible entrances to this mammoth museum, right? Negative. Slightly more panic. We RUN to the furthermost archway which appears as if it would house one of the many entrances to this mammoth museum...negative. Full on panic. It's like 9:10 at this point. "How the hell do you get in this place?!" is being yelled by both of us kind of at each other. I'm like "haven't you been here before?!?!" which only causes her to become more aggravated. We bail on the side we were on. We're running with a heartbroken sense that at this late hour we won't be permitted to enter. I mean who goes to the Louvre, one of the largest and most famous museums in the world, with only 15 minutes to view all of the artwork inside? I'll tell you who. These guys. That's who.

As we make our way closer to the large glass pyramid in the middle, I think I saw a light go on directly above Carrie's head and I just followed her lead, after all let's not forget...I've never been there. As it turns out there is one entrance and one entrance only to the Louvre, which makes a lot of sense from a security standpoint. It happens to be into the side of the large glass pyramid, consequently near where you exit as well. So we enter and go down the escalations (which is what Europeans call escalators) to the main lobby. It's like 9:13 at this point. We come screeching up to the "information desk" and guess what our question is? You guessed it. While trying to catch our breath we ask the lady "Which way to the Mona Lisa?" I know it's cliche and there are thousand of works of art in this place, but we literally have 15 minutes to find the Mona Lisa, the most famous painting in the world. She points to some more escalations and we run to them. At the top of these said escalations there is another lady. She looks at her watch and states "you know you only have fifteen minutes right?" We said we were well aware of that. She then asked for our tickets. Tickets? "The lady down there didn't say we needed tickets?" "She told you that you didn't need tickets?". In all honesty, she didn't. But we didn't ask where do you buy tickets, we asked which way to the Mona Lisa. The lady that takes your tickets looked both ways and whispered "just go, we don't normally do this, but just go". And now we proceed to follow the posted signs directing you to the Mona Lisa. We are speed walking at such a vigorous pace that I'm pretty sure we offended a lot of people who were trying to enjoy the last few minutes of their day long visit to the Louvre. We pretty much run to the end of this hallway that has no other way to go, and more importantly, no Mona Lisa! We ask two ladies who obviously work there "WHICH WAY TO THE MONA LISA!?!" One of them says "down and to the left", which is just as vague as any directions we were given in Europe. So we backtrack and are at a full sprint in fear of someone stopping us and directing us to the closest exit as it is pretty much closing time at this point. Alas we find the climate controlled room that houses Leonardo da Vinci's most famous masterpiece. It's small, which I have heard, and protected by some seriously thick glass. We get a guy to snap our photo in front of it, slap each other high five, and take a knee to catch our breath. We did it. We went to the Louvre for 15 minutes, saw the Mona Lisa, and got a picture to prove it. Priceless. Literally.

Cheers Mona, it was nice to see you...

Andy and Carrie

PS-I promise to have another post quicker than the last :D