Paris Day 4

Today we started off in the lowest pit of tourist hell, Versailles. We decided to go on Sunday because it is the only day that they turn the fountains on in the gardens. BIG mistake. There were at least 40000000000 people there, most were octogenarians. Luckily for us, errrrr luckier for us, we bought our museum passes online last month and didn't have to wait in the line that was at least 1500 people long to get tickets. We moved through there like the rest of the sheep in about 2 hours. It was interesting to see and we can check that off our list of things to see and never have to see again. The french are big on the statues and the gold foil... No wonder the people revolted against the french royalty - because they had gaudy tastes. So, we saved the gardens for last and when we went out there, it ironically was a separate ticket and was not included in our Museum Pass... We headed back to town to see the Pompidou Centre (Richard Rogers). It was.... interesting. There was also a museum inside that we wandered through. We have come to the decisive conclusion that modern art is mostly Bullshit. I mean, anyone can paint a black square on a grey rectangle. Right? Then we wandered around trying to find the Picasso museum for a long time. It was close to the Pompidou, but since the streets are not on a grid and constantly change names (and the names of all the streets were not on our map), we had a really hard time. We asked some frenchies for directions and they said some gibberish and made some motions with their arms. We tried to follow that and after going in circles for awhile we finally found it. A word to the wise, if you ever go to Paris, get a cherpa. We've been using the sun to get our bearings, especially when we come out of the subway, but some days have been overcast and the sun becomes ellusive. Anyhow, the picture explains the Picasso Museum. Then we got on the subway and headed towards the Cinematheque Francaise - a museum of cinema history that holds the largest collection of film and is renowned for film preservation. We're showing a picture of Scarlett O'Hara's dress from "Gone with the Wind". The building was designed by Frank Gehry - originally as the American Center. Then we went and had dinner at the place where Hemingway wrote "The Sun also Rises", as well as where the story takes place - La Closerie des Lilas. This would be the last picture in the sequence. I was originally going to try Steak Tartare and then I saw our neighbor eating it and decided to have a "cooked" steak instead - Davey
The foie gras was delicious! - Becky

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