Had a nice relaxing morning, sipping coffee on the balcony and waiting for the clouds to clear up before I showered and headed out for the day. First stop was a nearby bakery for a yummy chocolate croissant. Then I was off to the Louvre, which was CRAZY busy because a new Da Vinci exhibit opened up today and I guess the Mona Lisa was off exhibit for a while and just came back last week. Still, despite how busy it was the place was plenty big to accommodate everyone. I only waited maybe 20 minutes for a Mona Lisa selfie, although the security guards were screaming at everyone “ONLY ONE PHOTO!” and practically dragging you off once they saw you got one (1). Whatever, I came to see Liberty Leading the People and Venus de Milo anyway, amongst other things. I wandered around all the wings and most of the floors before heading out. I picked up a Batobus boat ferry 2 day ticket and rode along the Seine to Notre Dame which you can’t get close to at all due to the recent fire. There I had a delicious Nutella and banana crepe from a street vendor. Then I got off at the Botanical Gardens and wandered admiring the humongous vegetables and beautiful Morning Glory pathways before jumping back on the boat.
I walked down to the Japan District and stopped at one place with the most disgusting yakisoba I ever tasted, the place was filthy too but I didn’t realize exactly how bad it was until I had started eating and people started moving around and just…ugh, the place was filthy and gross overall. I ate maybe half of it and then left (no idea why the place was so highly rated on Google; I would have fought about having to pay if I spoke French but the $12 wasn’t worth getting in trouble over). I went down the street to a different restaurant, this time run by actual Japanese people, and since I didn’t speak French and they didn’t speak English we communicated in Japanese instead. It was pretty funny, I think they got a kick out of it. Their food and cleanliness was MUCH better than the other place. I’m still debating if I should leave the first place a bad review, it was an overall terrible experience; however it was made better by the great experience at the second place. Ah, well. After eating I went up to Hard Rock Café to get my traditional pin from a very funny cashier who wanted to practice his English, then walked back south past a kid’s skateboarding park, then past the Church of St Eustache, then Les Halles. I swung by the hotel to drop stuff off, then headed over to the Highlander Pub for a cider…what can I say? I already miss Scotland!
