Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

We had big plans for our second full day in Paris, but I'm afraid to say we did not get around to all of them. That's not to say that we didn't have a great day, our plans were just slightly more ambitious than time permitted. Our original plan was to visit the Musee d'Art Moderne in the morning, ascend the Eiffel Tower in the afternoon and take in the ballet in the evening.

Andriana and I were both still feeling jet lagged today, as it was rather difficult to pull ourselves out of bed, which is something I am not used to. However, after a cup of espresso, I felt slight more alert, or at least alert enough to venture out into the city.

We caught the metro near our flat and got off near the Gardens of Trocadero in the 7th arrondissement (district) which was a short walk to the Museum of Modern Art. Neither of us was sure of what to expect, but as soon as we walked up from the train terminal we were greeted by two surprising sights; the Eiffel Tower and a protest.

After wandering around the garden for a while and grabbing a snack, we made our way to the Museum. I'll admit that we knew very little about the museum before we got there, but it had been recommended to us by several friends, so we decided to check it out. Our originally planned morning turned into a whole day, as we wondered from exhibit to exhibit completely forgetting about time. Our feet soon reminded us though, and had to stop midway through our tour for some refreshments and a few minutes rest.

We ended up leaving the Museum around 6 pm (when it closed) and decided to make our way to the Eiffel Tower. It was a short walk from the museum and we thought this would be the perfect time to go to the observation deck. The line to get on the lift was almost an hour long and we decided that food was more important at that point.

We started to walk east from the Eiffel Tower and happened upon a little restaurant called L'Ami Jean, and it smelled so inviting we went in. We didn't have reservations, but we must have looked hungry because they took pity on us and gave us a great seat by the window. Our servers were extremely patient with our poor french and an hour and a half later had enjoyed a delicious meal. Andriana ordered veal and I order fish, and we both had the same entree. The tricky thing about ordering from a menu that you can't read, is that you have to totally trust the person translating for you. Our first dish was great, but when we asked the hostess what it was she said it was best to ask after we finished. Once done she told us it was lobster on top of veal head. She was right. We were glad we found out after.

Our goal is to finally kick the jet lag tonight so we're going to bed in a few minutes. On a neat side note, Andriana just finished singing Batti, Batti in preparation for an audition this weekend and was joined by an unexpected duet partner outside our apartment window. Afterwards, I think he asked (in French) who her Masetto was. We had a good chuckle. What a great way to finish off the day. To see all of the pictures from today, click on the slide show in the upper right hand corner of the blog.