it was the best Tuesday.

Tuesday we headed to the Rodin Museum, where I saw The Kiss.   DIED.  The way he puts such movement into marble and bronze is unfathomable. 

Napoleon's MASSIVE tomb.

Next stop: Museé de Orsay. IT IS DIVINE. Like, Celestial kingdom on earth.  At least the fifth floor is.  I was taking my time in every room, enjoying myself, when I saw the arrow: IMPRESSIONNISME.  Do you think I wasted another 2 seconds? No. I couldn't even wait for the elevator. I ran up over 120 stairs to the fifth floor.  I turned the corner and about passed out when I saw Manet's Le déjeuner sur l'herbe, screamed inside upon seeing Renoir's "Bal du Moulin de la Galette,"  giggled with glee at Degas' Damseuses Bleues, and, yeah, cried when I saw FIVE of Monet's Rouen Cathedral.  (He painted 31 canvases of the same facade in different light and weather conditions, FYI.)    I saw works by Courbet, Pissarro, Cézanne, Morisot, Rousseau....and yes, 27 Monet paintings. I counted.

Just playing card games on the step of a cathedral after school.
It's the life.



The Pantheon.

The crypt was neat-o. I paid my respects to our very own Mr. Hugo.   THANK YOU MR. HUGO FOR YOUR BEAUTIFUL LES MIS STORY THAT TOUCHES OUR SOULS. 

Next we ducked into a beautiful, unmarked cathedral. Because they have tons of those here, just chillin on the corner.  Like a freaking bank. NBD, just another ancient stone monument with stunning stained glass windows.  A dime a dozen.

Amy's birthday was Tuesday, so I orchestrated a birthday dinner: found an affordable place, mapped the metro, etc.   22 of us went and it was wonderful! We had to wait in line for an hour even to get in; it was THAT trendy.   

+5 cool points for me for picking a good French restaurant.  

Ordering in French is one of my favorite things....none of us know what we're getting.  This place was off the beaten path, which meant the workers there weren't all fluent in English (for the first time).  So we just order blindly and hope it's good, basically. It always is.  Cassie ordered dessert and was given just....a bowl of whipped cream.  

It feels like I've been here weeks, with everything we fit into a day.  We wake up at 8:00am and get back to the hotel usually around 10pm.  It's insanity.