So, day 2 arrives and we find ourselves coffee deprived and on the move. To the advice of every Youtube travel blogger on the planet, I bought my tickets to the Louvre in advance for 9am since at any other time apparently the only art I'll be witnessing is "Sea of standees wasting their day". So, after a 6am RER ride I need coffee....but where is coffee? It's not on the Rue de Opera I can tell you that much. Not on a sunday at least. Starbucks to the rescue? Anyway, no worries when you wander aimlessly and end up accidently in places like Place Vendome or in front of the Palais Gardner. Paris loves seeing you get lost.
The staircase part comes from the fact that apparently maps lie. The louvre gives you a handy guide in every language on the planet that fails to mention that in order to get from one wing to the next one must go up, then down, then back up, then do the hustle, then turn right and go across the hall to get to a room that is obstensibly right next door. No bother, when the art in your establishment is this georgous you can make people do cartwheels if you want to.
(For the record, I *love* the Louvre and would go back in a heartbeat).
Enough talking. Pics or it didn't happen:
Modesty
Next, it's on to the 17th arrondissment. I wanted to explore some of the lesser known areas of Paris and the 17th isn't really mentioned as much. Definetly a posh yet vibrant area especally around Parc Morceau and Porte de Clichy:
I capped off my day at La Defense. I was impressed with how many people were hanging out at what to my understanding is basically Paris's Canary Wharf which is to say office-world. I actually quite liked the modernist architecture since it offers such a striking juxtaposition to the overall aesthetic of Greater Paris
As a bonus, I took two photos around where I was staying. I stayed in a town called Serris which is next to Val d' Europe shopping centre. It seemed like American suburbia with a French accent but I found it to be quite charming in certain respects: