Friday, May 8, 2015

europe trip 2014, day 10.

The Marais: 1
The Krauses: 0

Enter the Marais Death March

This is the story of our lost day in Paris. We took it slow this morning, partly because I was pretty beat from all the travel, but probably more due to our stubbornness about walking everywhere so far in Paris. Meredith went off and had her Carrie Bradshaw moment on the Champs-Elysees, while I was doing some research on our plan for the day. Being a Monday, I figured everything would be open. That turned out to be a silly mistake. We finally took a subway to the Marais. As we rose from the dark depths onto the sunny street, I was turned around. First, I head us in the wrong direction (which never happens no matter what Mere says). We get back on track, but I got my museums mixed up and took us to the one I didn't want to see. That one is on me. Then, I decided to take her by Pretty Box, which is a cool store I thought she would love. It was cool for sure, but small and over priced for our taste. Next, I head us to the Carnavalet museum. This was my crown jewel. It's free, and it promised many paintings and antiques that sparked my interest. We arrive at the destination, me beaming, and Mere not looking forward to being in another museum. Bad news, it's closed on Monday. Son of a Marais! Aha, the day is not all lost. There is the cat cafe just down the block. How could we sweat a waste of 4 hours while hanging out with cats and drinking coffee? Not this couple. Somehow, I managed to probably triple the distance of our walk. I am blaming this on the Bermuda Triangle that is the Marais....definitely not my fault. We arrive, ready to pet as many cats as they will let us. Bad news strikes us down, and we basically cry in the streets. In a scheme with the museum, they are also closed on Mondays. At this point, I park Meredith at a cafe to take a break from my failures, and I check out the Centre George Pompidou. I dared not to go in for fear that I would get stuck (or lost) and leave Meredith much longer than anticipated. I took a bunch of pictures, and hung out for a bit by the Fountaine Stravinsky checking out the street art. Not appreciated by all, I still think the Pompidou is a fascinating building.







Kate Moss sighting

We decided to go back to Saint Germain, the savior of our day. We found a nice little side walk cafe and had a few drinks to drown our sorrows. I even let Mere purchase some cigarettes so that we could fight fire with fire coming from the surrounding tables. Neither of us are smokers, but when in Paris! That might be a true saying. We probably spent a few hours at that table, just people watching and talking about our trip. It ended up turning into a fun night, and that was much needed. We vowed to scrap our next day plans and battle the Marais again. We will win next time.  At least we were rewarded with this view on our walk back to the hotel.




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