Day 4 (24 May) - Recap

As mentioned, our trip to Versailles has been pushed back a smidge, which gave us a free day to explore Paris some more. As an added bonus, we were actually up and out the door early (though not early enough) so the whole day was at our feet. Speaking of feet, I accidentally stepped on Merri's toe and so we had to pop into a pharmacy for some band-aids and tylenol (or possibly some other drug - I don't really speak French, so we can't really be sure). We got Merri in some closed-toed shoes (travel tip - leave the flippity-flops at home!) and went on our way. We decided to head down to the Marais which was once the money area of Paris (before the revolution) and also contains the Jewish quarter. Being the terrible Jews that we are, we didn't realize that Saturday is not the best day to visit the Jewish area - so we'll head back there at some point. What we did see was great: the Place de la Bastille (not really much to see since the prison was torn down in 1789); the Hotel de Sully (huge old mansion); place des Vosges (bog square full o' mansions); Victor Hugo's house (where he penned 'Les Miserables,' maybe); the Carnavalet museum (in depth treatment of the French revolution); and the Jewish quarter (some stuff was actually open). Along the way we managed to keep ourselves fed on the likes of apple tart, p'tit baguette, onion soup, quiche Lorraine (I know I know - real men shouldn't eat it) and, of course, plenty of cafe to keep us energized. The thing de resistance, though, was our picnic dinner of tiny appetizers, cheese, meat, some pastry stuffed with duck, chocolate mousse, and, of course, plenty of wine (Chateau Bretheaux - 2001 Premier Cotes de Bordeaux) to keep us energized. Oh, if you were wondering which country won the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, it was Russia with "Believe."