Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Day 5: Notre Dame, Latin Quarter Revisited, Pompidou


Today we decided to keep it close to home and limit our train rides. As convenient as the trains are, in this heat, Heather and I have taken to calling them “sweat boxes”. It’s more tolerable to walk in the shade during most hours of the day than subjecting yourself to the timely and frequent, but crowded, stuffy, and unair-conditioned trains.

We set off for the Notre Dame. You’ve heard of it, you know what it is, I won’t bore you with the details. Well, okay, one. Notre Dam is located at what is called Point Zero – the absolute center of Paris.  Okay, now for the pretty pictures:




After touring the church, we decided to skip the stairs to the top and opted instead for the crypt beneath the Notre Dame – it was like an entire other city down there. Feeling the call for an early lunch, we stumbled back to the Latin Quarter, only to find the fun, charming part that we somehow missed the last time. At the Tunisian bakery, I found the Indian sweet jalebi (zalabi in Tunisian):



Then I found the tackiest Indian restaurant on the planet: 



After lunch, we headed to the Pompidou, Paris’ MOMA. Again, I’m not a huge art buff and as far as modern art goes, I usually just don’t get it. But it does amuse me endlessly, and the Pompidou had some interesting pieces and spaces:





As late afternoon wore on, we retreated back to the apartment for our usual break – rest, showering, avoidance of the heat, and preparation for the evening.  We headed out to dinner at Frenchie and were not disappointed. Mortadella on a bed of greens, squid cole slaw, it was all amazing. We called it a night to prepare for our last full day in Paris. 


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