Paris: Day 2

We left the apartment at 8:15 to take the RER B and Metro 5 to La Villette for the Ramses II exhibit. We arrived right on time for the opening and were at the tail end of the first group in. I learned several new things from this exhibit. I was surprised to see heart shapes featured prominently in several pieces of jewelry. I hadn't realized it was such an old symbol. It was also interesting to see a quiver and part of a bow and to learn about their chariot-fighting battles. I hadn't realized the ancient Egyptians fought that way - I've always thought of chariots as a Roman thing. Ramses II fathered over 100 children and liked to prominently display them by order of age. His queen's name was Nefertari. She died in her 40s, but he reigned for over 60 years, into his eighties. I also learned that the ancient Egyptians raised animals for the purpose of making them into mummies to accompany the dead into the afterlife. My favorite piece was a jaguar-head belt. Maëva's was Ramses II's cedar coffin. Sylvain particularly enjoyed the virtual reality experience, as did we all. It was pretty cool. We were each seated in our own half-pod chair and fitted with VR goggles and a headset. The chair moved around a bit with the film. It lasted about ten minutes and took us inside the tombs of Ramses II and Nefertari in the Valley of the Kings. It was definitely worth paying the extra money to do this activity.

 

We had some time to kill before our lunch reservation, so we took the Metro to Anvers and walked up the Montmartre stairs to the Sacre Coeur to show the girls the view. It was unusually crowded, probably due to the fact that it was a holiday (the Assumption of Mary) and all the state museums were closed. It was quite unpleasant and we quickly sought out quieter neighborhoods, though we did see an accordion player with his cat sitting atop his instrument, which made the trip worthwhile.

We walked on to brunch at Café Bianca, near the Bourse. It was quiet and pleasant, perhaps due to the fact that it was in a business district and it was a holiday. The girls liked the chocolate fountain. The scrambled eggs with truffles were delightful. There were lots of delicious Italian choices including lasagna (Maeva's favorite), pizza, tortellini in cream sauce, gnocchi in white truffle sauce (also quite tasty) and tiramisu. We were the only patrons brunching and had the entire buffet to ourselves.

Afterwards, we walked to the Square Marcel Pagnol for a little down time. Sylvain rested his eyes. Maeva looked at her phone. Laureva and I played a game of Skip Bo. Following our rest, we crossed the street and visited the Eglise Saint-Augustin, an imposing 19th-century church with two pipe organs, three storeys of stained-glass windows and a large dome.

We then walked on to Miss Ko, a Japanese bar and restaurant on Avenue Georges V off the Champs Elysees decorated by Philippe Starck. Sylvain had been there several times before and enjoyed the cocktails. It has a vibrant but relaxing atmosphere. We sat at the bar for drinks. Sylvain and I had two cocktails each: a yuzu Martini with grapefruit infused gin for me (my favorite due to the slight bitter taste), followed by a London West End with Earl Grey infused gin; a Ja Mai Kai mai tai base with passion fruit and vanilla for Sylvain, followed by a Moscow Mule (his favorite due to the high ginger content). Maeva had apple juice and Laureva had a small pot of green tea with lemongrass, lemon and ginger.

From there, we walked north to The Coq and Bulldog pub where Sylvain was going to watch the 9:15pm OM game. We had some drinks and chips and the girls and I played a game of Skip Bo. Shortly before nine, the girls and I took our leave and left Sylvain to hang out with the OM fans. We took the Metro 2 and RER B home. We had been hoping to complete our evening meal, but nothing in our neighborhood was open, so we didn't have any dessert with our leftover pizza dinner. We watched three episodes of Young Sheldon before calling it a night. 

Some things of note from our various walks: the cat on the accordion; Rue Roy; half a dozen super fancy cars, including a gray Porsche Spider hybrid worth 150,000€ and a black Ferrari (which Sylvain insists is a rare color). We've also noticed that there are Poke and Bubble Tea places all over the place. That must be the current Paris food fad. 

Google Maps says all that makes 8.9km of walking for the girls. Sylvain did more as he walked all the way home from the bar (an hour-long walk) when the game ended at midnight. Unfortunately, OM lost during the penalty kicks.