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Saturday, February 26, 2011

Paris - Day 3

Ok, so obviously, I did not do such a good job keeping up with the blog while we were in Paris. I am going to try my hardest to complete these postings this weekend!

Day 3 - Valentine's Day! We had a 4 day museum pass so we decided to go to the Cluny Museum, which has a ton of stained glass and religious artifacts. It was pretty interesting! After that, we walked to the Marais district (kind of on accident) and ending up eating at this fantastic little crepe place, Creperie Beaubourg. I had never had a crepe before and surprisingly I went for a savory one first! It had cheese, onions, potatoes, tomatoes and mushrooms in it and it was fantastic! This meal was also the first one where I had to order completely in French (and order for Justin) and I managed to pull it off! After lunch, we went to the Pompidou Center (or the Museum of Modern Art). There was so much to see and we only got to 2 floors before we gave up. I just don't get some modern art.....like the whole floor on feminism. Naked women hoola hooping in barbed wire....yeah, I don't get it. We did see the Picaso exhibits and there were some cool works of art on that floor. But overall, modern art = not my thing.

We wrapped site seeing up early to go on a Valentine's Day dinner cruise on the Seine! The boat took off from right underneath the Eiffel Tower which was really close to our hotel. When we got on the boat, I was a little disappointed to find that the seating was much like a typical Parisian bistro - very crammed with little personal space. I kind of expected more from such a nice cruise line - we paid in advance for a 5 course meal, 2 bottles of wine and a glass of champagne with dessert. We were seated in the middle of 2 couples - both French - and immediately served a Kir (champagne with cherry juice). But, once the waiter realized we didn't speak fluent French, he definitely started treating us differently then the other couples. For example, he let the French couples taste their wines before he poured it (like you would see at an upscale restaurant). The waiter actually made us share the bottle with one of the couples when there was a perfectly good bottle all for us chilling tableside and didn't let us taste anything. He left our appetizer (foie gras; which we hated btw) in front of us while everyone else on the boat was being served their next course, didn't refill our wine glasses or open up the red wine for us when it came time for that course. Finally, his boss came by and noticed we had no wine and still had our appetizers and things took a turn for the better....hmmm wonder what happened? :) The food (minus the foie gras) was great and the view was awesome! But if you're in the market for a Parisian dinner cruise, I would not recommend Bateaux Parisiens because I think for the price you pay for this type of thing, the service was not up to par. There are definitely other dinner cruises in Paris and I am sure at least one of them is much better!




3 comments:

cheryl said...

I agree with the modern art thing. Ive never understood it. Give me an impressionist any day!

Jen said...

Mmmm. I want crepes!

Brightbill is the last name of my dog breeder. Any dog breeders in your family?

Rachel said...

Jen - No we don't have any breeders in our family that I know of! That's funny though that you know someone with that last name, it's not very common.

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