We'll always have Paris!

So my time in Lyon is coming to a close and I am not happy about it. It has legitimately been the best six weeks of my life and I do not want it to end. However, I have the best job in the world to return to in Baton Rouge, so I'm off.

We ended our trip in Paris, France, which is my favorite city in the world. Now, I've travelled to many awesome cities: Las Vegas for my friend's 21st birthday, Miami for the Saints' Super Bowl, New York during the Christmas holidays. I've seen a lot. And Paris, you take the cake. Congrats.

We browsed Trip Advisor for the most delicious restaurants for our first night, and settled on this super tiny one with only 4 tables. The meal was delicious, and it was so quiet and French-ish. :) Exactly the type of restaurant I want to end my trip with. 

After dinner, we took a quick ride to Buddha Bar. I've only read about this place; they have locations in Paris, New York, and Milan. I've heard about the expensive menus and interesting clientele, so of course, I was intrigued. 

Paris at night

 First, the restaurant is amazing. It's dimly lit, so you really can't see much. They have crazy music playing the entire time. A HUGE Buddha statue sits in the middle of the restaurant, overlooking everything. The bar is on the second floor, with plush couches overlooking the tables downstairs.

At 20 euros per drink, it's pricey. But well worth it. The guests are young and beautiful, or older men with young, beautiful girls. It was great for people watching and I would recommend anyone visiting Paris to check it out one night.

Big Buddha

The next morning, we rented another vespa. We just love these things. You really see the city much faster. You can park anywhere and drive anywhere, so don't worry about one ways or no parking signs. You're basically the boss while on a vespa. At 30 euros a day, this is worth it.

We checked out all the normal places again: Notre Dama, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre. It was just amazing this time as it was 6 weeks ago.

Notre Dame

 For lunch, we looked at Trip Advisor again and found Au Petit Sud-Ouest, rated one of the top restaurants in Paris. Of course, we had to check it out

And it was marvelous. Literally, the most delicious foie gras I've ever had. As foie gras will soon be illegal in the USA, I had to get my fill in Paris. THe restaurant was, again, very tiny and quiet. They had toasters at each table to toast your bread. I enjoyed a HUGE duck and foie gras salad, with a chocolate mousse for dessert. Definitely worth a meal here for Parisian visitors.

Next, we decided to actually visit the Louvre. The Louvre is 8 miles of walking through 350,000 sculptures and 75,000 works of art. Serious exercise. Well, you know we had to. 

Hanging out with Hammurabi's Code, one of the oldest recorded codes in the history of mankind. 

Napoleon's chair

 We saw famous art, sculptures, and the apartments of Napoleon. Also good Louvre advice? Do not go through the main entrance (featured in the movie, Da Vinci's Code). Go down the stairs behind the winged angels next to the arc across from the Louvre. As opposed to waiting 4 hours in the main line, we walked down these stairs, and were in the Louvre within 5 minutes. Trust me.

Self-portrait of Durer

The Sisters

The Lacemaker

 The following picture is underneath the Louvre. To the left, you see a huge wall of bricks. This used to be the WALLS that surrounding the city of Paris and protected it from outsiders. To the right, were the fortress/castle walls. Before the Louvre was a museum, yes, it was a fortress. AMAZING.

Venus de Milo

Egyptian statue 

One of the oldest statues of man

 We learned about the Winged Victory in my Stolen Art class. While the Louvre was being looted, the soldiers wanted to get the Winged Victory out. They had to carry this massive thing down the two flights of stairs in the Louvre. The stairs are extremely narrow, and this statue is HUGE. You have to see the stairways to actually comprehend how difficult it was to carry this thing safely down.

The Winged Victory, also known as, Nike

Coronation of Napoleon, where he crowned his first wife

 Finally, we got to see the Mona Lisa. Not to be a hipster, but I find this painting extremely overrated. The mystery behind it is what attracts everyone, I am sure. Other than that, it was relatively tiny compared to most other paintings. Hundreds of tourists gathered around the extremely secured painting to capture pictures. It really was a sight. The painting is behind 8-inch thick glass walls, totally bullet proof. On top of that, it is humidity controlled, and set back about 10 feet from people by a metal rail. Talk about security.

Mona Lisa

After, we checked out a few Michelangelo sculptures, including the Captured Slaves. 

 It really was an amazing trip. My advice to those wanting to see the Louvre in double time, is to pick up their maps at the front desk and only see the "Famous Works." There's about 30 of them, and takes about 4 hours. Definitely a better idea.

Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss

 After the Louvre, it was time to make our last visits. We vespaed everywhere and for hours. It truly was amazing. I cannot wait to get back to Paris as soon as possible.

Oh, Paris

I'm cheesy, I know.

Well, readers. This is my last picture-inspired blog post for a while. Maybe something awesome will happen soon and give me another reason to blog. Someone asked me to do an "Itinerary" for each major city, based on our experience. I will get to this soon.

Thanks for reading.