Made it through Day 2!

Jet lag has us in a tight grasp today.  We set the alarm for 8:30 this morning, and literally

 had to push each other out of bed.  Both of us were waking up every hour last night...after all, it was the middle of the afternoon as far as our body clocks were concerned.

We had breakfast in a cafe down the street.  The best part about the area we're in is that it's not very touristy.  Sure it's just 2 short blocks from the Arc, but somehow it's full of locals.  So we're getting to use our French a lot which is lots of fun, and lots of laughs too.  We spent 15 mins trying to remember / figure out how to ask for another spoon this afternoon!  Zut alors!

The plan for the day was to visit the Palace de Versailles.  When we reached the ticket counter in a train station that's about halfway there (apparently you buy the tix here before you get all the way to Versailles), we were greeted with a sign telling us that Versailles is closed today.  Zut alors again!  So we decided that we'd switch gears and take care of seeing Notre Dame and the Louvre today.

Notre Dame was awesome.  I could almost hear Quasimodo calling my name...  The cathedral was *so* crowded that it kind of took away from the majesty of the place a little bit.  But the architecture was wonderous inside and out.

From there we walked over to the Louvre.  It was a beautiful day today - a bit cloudy, but it added an extra dramatic effect to the pictures :-)  When the sun came out, it got really hot, so we were perfectly happy with the clouds.  

For all those who told me that the Louvre would take 2-days...no way.  We finished up what we wanted to see in a little over 2 hrs.  Maybe we were just focused and knew that we wanted to see some pieces in particular.  Some famous ones we saw:  Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, The Dying Slave,  The Raft of the Medusa, Napoleon III's apartment (this was breathtaking, btw).

We ended the day in a cafe - for coffee (for me) and beer (for Amit).  Now we're back in the hotel enjoying a couple of beers.  Planning to leave in about a half hour to go to

 dinner in the St. Germain district.  There's a restaurant and Jazz club called L'Arbuci that we want to check out.  That whole area is known for it's restaurants, pubs and bars.

Tomorrow morning we'll catch a 9:45am train to Nice.  I'm getting closer and closer to my night in the Chateau!!