Severe Weather and Metro Madness: Day 2

As we were only in Paris for about 3 days, we were hoping to fit as much in as possible in terms of sightseeing, and had put together a few ideas at last night's midnight dinner. The alarm was set for 8am but it turned out that the bells from the nearby church were far more effective. However, after that luck was not on our side. We got down into the métro to find that there were problems on the line we wanted to take due to weather conditions. So we waited for a bit... nothing changed. Went the other way, swapped lines... Somehow, all of this took about an hour and a half.

Then we went to the Pere Lachaise cemetery. I say'went to,' because we arrived to find the gates closed, and a sign saying it was closed due to bad weather.

So, we 'went to' the cemetery, but we didn't actually get to see anything more than the gates. But I guess it still counts. I'm still going to claim that "I've been".
After this, we headed back into town (with a greater degree of métro success, except for when we had to get off a couple of stops too early due to the discovery of a "colis suspect" -suspicious package- on one line) and wandered, hoping to find Nôtre Dame. We weren't having much luck with this, but we did find a crêperie for lunch. With a waiter who corrected our French. Lol.
Then we headed off to the Pompidou Centre: a modern art museum.It was even free entry! So we wandered for a bit, to do the cultured thing. There were some weird, weird things there. Eg a whole room full of sex-themed paintings, a room full of bizarre videos (1 example: a naked woman holding a chicken that was flapping its wings...?!). Personally, my favourite part of the Pompidou Centre was the views it offered over Paris.




We were then joined by Laurent (the nice young Frenchman from the taxi). With his help, we got our photo taken with a French soldier (must check whether he put that pic up on facebook), found Notre Dame and went for a walk-through (although we kept losing each other in the crowds!) and then went for a ride on the merry-go-round.
Rushed off back to the hostel to get ready for dinner, as I had a restaurant recommendation from a friend in Saint Gaudens: Bouillon Chartier. It opened in the 1890s some time, and used to be a canteen for 'blue-collar workers.' One review I read said that its food could be "politely described as unambitious," but it was very affordable! At the reception desk for the hostel, Nicole and Agnes ran into a couple of Americans that they'd met the previous night. Turns out that they'd also been thinking of going to a restaurant. They were immediately invited to join our party. What with them, a Kiwi friend Nicole's, and his friend, we ended up with a decent-sized group. Given that I was in charge of Métro navigation and finding the place, I was starting to feel the pressure! Lol.
Arrived to find a huge queue up to the restaurant, but those who had a look at the menu seemed convinced... once we translated it for them. So, we decided to at least get in the queue and see how fast it was moving. Then something miraculous happened. A waitress came down the line asking how many people were in each group. When Nicole said 7, we were promptly walked past many waiting customers, and into the restaurant.

At first, we got the impression that the waiter wasn't too impressed with us (possibly 'cos it took us an age to order due to French-only menu and only 2 French speakers in the group), but he was actually awesome...

Check out how they do the bill in this place though. Yes, this is our tablecloth. And, yes, he jotted down all the prices from memory. And, no, he did not use a calculator to add it up.


With everyone trying to pay in cash, we somehow ended up with more money than we needed in the middle (even taking a tip into account), so had 15E left and decided the best way to divide it between us was to convert it into alcohol! Mulled wine at Xmas market was looking like a serious option, until we got there and it was closed.
Alternative mission: Eiffel tower. Got to the edge of the Seine just as it started sparkling for midnight (and Nicole's bday) so had a bit of a photo mission.

Successful money to alcohol conversion at a corner store on the way back to the hostel.

A few drinks, and then us girls realised that we should really go to bed so we could make the most of Disneyland the next... uh, later on that day!