Girls Gone Abroad

Wow - jetlag is crazy! Today I woke up and looked at the clock and it was 11AM and the other girls hadn't even stirred... Yes, you read that right, Sandy and Shan slept till after 11 in the morning... and neither could believe when I woke them that it was so late. So, no petit dejeuner trip for me today - bummer since I really enjoyed the early morning French life.

So - it is Sunday and according to the books, everything closes, so yikes our plan had been to get to the market and get some food so we could fend for ourselves for dinner. I quickly jumped on the internet to find a market in Paris on Sunday that would be close and hopefully not closed. The market at Place de la Bastille was the choice and open till 1:30, so we brushed teeth, washed faces and put on hats to rush out to the market.

The market was everything you read and a great test ground for my experimental French. Last night I told the waiter that Sandy says "C'est bon vetements" and he looked at me cockeyed so I knew something was wrong - he said "we have good clothes"? Ah sacre bleu - I meant good food but somehow after much wine and a long day I said good clothes... So, today I was back to being a bit intimidated, but all went well and we got supplies for Sunday night dinner.

After the market we stopped at a brasserie near the basilica for moules frittes - delicieux! We gathered ourselves enough to head to the Musee L'Orangerie for some sight seeing before we it closed. WOW - Monet's Water Lilies is there in 2 oval shaped rooms, 4 huge canvases a piece. It was so cool to be so close to the real painting we all take for granted on our calendars. The lower level sported Renoir, Cezanne, Picasso, Guillaume, etc... it was crazy.

After, Sandy and I took the metro to save my blistered feet some walking - Shan walked briskly home. Shan beat us back however, Sandy and I wandered into a nice shop with scarves and the epicerie for some necessities.

I fixed dinner - entree - charcouterie et fromage; salade avec chevre; fresh ravioli with pesto and mushrooms; gateau du chocolat (if we eat it, currently we are resting).

It was a nice relaxing pace today, but we made our list of items to see in the next 2 days and we will need to wake before 11 to get it all in. Oh well, we have taken on the life and are not worried if we don't see it all, we are just enjoying the experience.

Sorry for no pictures, the computer is being crazy with resizing, I will post as soon as I can get it working again. For now, it is off to bed, we are trying to have an early morning!