48 Hours in Paris, Part Two of Three
The second day of my trip began as my consciousness awoke to enveloping waves of love and desire, nearly overwhelmingly intense. Okay, maybe that's a little over the top, but it's still a pretty damn accurate description of waking up next to Chocolate. The best time to visit Paris is when you're in love, and to wake up in love in Paris is to come as close to perfect happiness as any corporeal being can achieve.
So, second day in Paris.
The previous night had actually tired us out quite a bit (all the walking) so the decision was made to explore a bit more reasonably. Chocolate's a plant nerd, so the first part of the day's agenda was to visit Jardin des Plantes, the botanical gardens. On the way to the metro, we spotted lots of people walking around with branches in observation of Palm Sunday. Later, we were witnesses to a pretty entertaining (in retrospect) exchange between an older woman with shopping bags and a male metro rider who got on her bad side, first by seeming to ignore her request to allow her to sit down, then by (accidentally?) kicking her bag as he shuffled off the train. This kept us talking and laughing all the way to Gare d'Austerlitz, where we entered the 5th Arrondissement to have lunch.
After some walking about, we settled on India Gate, since we both agree on Indian food. I made a mistake and ended up ordering twice the amount of food that I could eat, but I'd have to say the salvation in this was savoring the best Tandoori Chicken I have ever eaten in my life. Seriously, it was.
After lunch, we walked back down Boulevard Hopital to Jardin des Plantes. A leisurely stroll led us to the Grande Galerie de l'Evolution. Further walking took us past a menagerie, greenhouses, an amphitheater, and through a hilltop labyrinth.
Having exhausted most of what we could see for free, our walking led us past the gates of the Jardin and across the Seine. We crossed Pont d'Austerlitz and headed north up Boulevard de la Bastille, took in the monument, then walked back down the canal.
The next stop on our self-authored walking tour was the Musee De L'erotisme in Montmartre. I wasn't sure what to expect before entry, but once inside, I found the museum's holdings fascinating. There were ancient icons of sexuality and fertility on the lower levels; higher up one finds erotic material from the past couple of centuries (mostly the most recent), all of it fairly riveting. On several levels, video screens displayed erotic films of past times (and varying degrees of hilarity). One of my favorite installations was a collection of drawings that was found in a cardboard suitcase, its owner/artist long forgotten.
After a brief crepe break, it was back on the train and to the hotel for a short nap before dinner and Tour Eiffel.
Visiting the Eiffel Tower was like the trip my family took to see Virginia's Natural Bridge; pictures don't serve the object of admiration at all and it must be experienced in person. The massive scale of the tower is at once humbling, awe-inspiring, terrifying, and breathtakingly stunning. Regrettably, by the time we arrived at the tower, the third level was just closing, but I was able to secure tickets to the second level, which is still dizzyingly high. Upon reaching the observation deck, I was like a kid in a candy store. Several photos were snapped, and kisses were had, but then stomachs began to grumble, so we descended the tower in search of dinner.
Once we had our fill (cheeseburger for Chocolate, roast duck for me) we got back on the train, but realized quickly (thankfully) that we were headed in the wrong direction. That meant a 30-ish minute wait on the platform at the Av du Pdt Kennedy station, but the ride back across the river afforded us the chance to see Tour Eiffel glittering, the jewel in Paris' crown, capping the evening.
