The Louvre, Haagen Daaz, and Operation Finding Pam

So we all woke up kind of hung over, but we managed to get ready in time to leave for the Louvre.

The Louvre! It was probably #2 or #3 on the list of things I had to see while in Paris, but we saved it for today because it was the first Sunday of the month. Aka, it was free! But knowing that it was peak tourist season, I was dreading the lines to get into the Louvre. I had read horror stories about waiting 2 hours just to get tickets- but we were in in a matter of seconds. It was literally POOF- you're in the Louvre. haha

Wow. The inverted pyramid was my first real sight within the Louvre, and it was one of those "I can't believe I'm seeing this" moments. And this was just the entrance! It's funny because the people at the Louvre know that 99% of the people there want to see 3 things: the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory, and Venus de Milo.

All throughout the museum they have little arrows directing you to those 3 sights and HERDS of people are pushing their way to get to them. The first we saw of the three was the Winged Victory and it was hauntingly beautiful. Definitely lived up to my expectations. The Mona Lisa, however.... meh. I mean, I knew very well going into it that it would be a disappointment. It's overhyped and ridiculously small, not to mention that it's not even really that aesthetically pleasing to me. But nevertheless, I was glad I saw it. Then we went to see Venus de Milo and it was absolutely amazing. It was surreal that I was staring at this huge piece of art history.

Since the Louvre was so crowded, it was unbearingly stuffy and just so uncomfortable. I wish I could have had more time at the Louvre, but we just didn't want to deal with the stuffiness anymore.

We looked around the Louvre's mall and we stopped by the Fragonard store. It was here that I finally found what to buy for my mom and sister: amazing perfume that I could steal every once in a while. haha Once we left, we made our way across the street to this little touristy square. It was here that Celeste realized that Pam hadn't returned the texts and phone calls she sent hours ago, and we all got a little worried. While we waited for her reply we went to the Haagen Daaz restaurant.

Yes, I said Haggen Daaz restaurant. And yes, it was every bit as delicious as you would expect. We all literally spent 20 minutes flipping through the menu indecisively, changing our minds about what to order because being the fatties that we are, we wanted everything.

I took pictures, and although the quality isn't that great, you should be jealous. haha

Well, still no sign of Pam. After we stuffed our bodies with wonderful, fatty carbs, we made our way to Fubar to see if Pam had lost her phone there. Well, we were stupid because it was only 5 and of course the bar wouldn't be open. Celeste tried calling everyone she knew and when everything failed, we just decided to go back to Celeste's apartment and wait. And 30 minutes later we got the call that she wasn't dead! Amen.

We all had a homemade dinner at the apartment and after we finished, we pondered what to do for our second-to-last night in Paris. Omar wanted to go to Montmartre and check out the area late at night (which I thought was a bit sketch).

So Celeste, Pam, and I went over to the Champs Elysees area to go to a bar where Leo (a guy we met the night before) worked. It was called The Freedom Bar and it's tucked away and was kind of hard to find. But once we got there Leo sat us down and offered some free drinks. Well, we were not at all in the mood to have alcohol so Celeste was like "Can you make Shirley Temples?" hahahaha He made this face like "WTF? Okay". The place was kind of dead, but had a good atmosphere to it, so it was a relaxing way to recover from the weekend.