Day 2: Louvre, Lovers Bridge, Tower Eiffel, Neighbours Day *Eurotrip*

Say bonjour to my little friend. A spider came to visit me this morning in my hotel. I've never met a French spider before. First time for everything.  

Buffet Breakfast. Sounds scrumptious hey. That's what I thought. This is what I got for 4.90€ :bread, jam, yogurt and coffee. Not really a nutritious meal, but you live and you learn.

My backpack takes long to pack. Noted for the rest of my trip. This extra red bag is where the sleeping bag goes. My backpack doesn't have 

straps to put it on it. I brought some ropes and will have to figure out how to put it on before I start the Camino. 

On the shuttle I jump again enroute to the airport so I can get in the train and get to Paris. 

I was lucky enough to meet a very nice French student on the train who gave me advice and answered all my queries. First I decided to go to the Louvre. I realised what Tourist attraction mean in the truest sense of the word. I don't think I've ever seen so many people in one place. Totes cray. Not my fav I must say. The rainy weather was to blame.

 I still had my backpack on my back which was getting heavy. Starting to get doubts about how I'm going to carry this backpack for a whole day on my back while I do the Camino. 11€ gets you in. Bonus: you can give your luggage in for free at the Bagagerie Centrale.

Queues queues and more queues.  1.) To get into the museum. 2.) To buy a ticket. 3.) to hand in luggage. 4.) To go to the toilet.

Enough moaning. There's amay may stuff to see in this museum. Went to the Egyptian stuff first. Saw some super old pornography on papyrus. Like Egyptians doing Kama sutra. Then I checked out marble sculptures, loads of antiques and the halls of Napoleon. 

As I entered the Denon section, the temperature picked up and I realised that this is the most popular section and even more hot bodied humans here. So I tried walking as quickly as I can to get to the Mona Lisa and was very surprised to see a massive crowd of people surrounding the painting. Man this is a popular painting. Everyone was pushing and shoving to get to the front to take a snapshot! It was cool to see and I'm glad I did.

I walked out the Louvre and was thinking plaeeeze can the bridge with the locks be close by and when I looked up, it was right there! Yayness! I heard that the locks shine in the sunlight, I would love to see that one day. There were two couples who wrote their initials on a lock and then threw the set of keys in the river. Was quite romantic. There was an entertaining mime that was making massive bubbles and just being a mime.

Then I jumped on the train and went to the Eiffel Tower. It is big and magical. I found a shop and bought some beer and parked off on the grass. Took some selfie shots of the Eiffel and I. Then I just wrote in my journal for a bit. There were two newly wed couples that got their photos taken. Paris is the most romantic city in the world after all.

I had some time to kill and found a grocery store, which really doesn't look like a grocery store from the outside. OMG I was in heaven. I was so excited to check out the meats, cheeses and other fresh goodies! I couldn't help myself and before I knew it I had a basket full of food. Salami, jarbon, crab sticks with cream & herbs inside, Gouda cheese with cumin seeds, vino and Pringles. I ate a lot of all of the above and then still bought a piece of quiche that I ate. I'm on holiday, so I'm going to eat loads!

Random fact: Paris doesn't have any malls; it's just stores on the street. Pretty cool cause I hate malls. 

My friend asked his friend if I could stay with him for the night in Paris. I met him at a train station. We went to his flat, I put my bags down and I got ready. Oh and we had some beer. He's friend invited us to his house party, so we picked up some ingredients for the gillet that he was making and some beer. This was my favourite time in France, as I was spoiled to have a French dinner cooked for me by a French dude. Also got to meet 15 other French people and made new friends. I'm going to get the recipe of the gillet soon and will post it. We had two different kinds. For those of you who don't know what gillet is: some of you might know it as crepes? Crepes are usually the sweet version which you can have with Nutella and banana. I've seen that they often sell these at markets in Cape Town. So it's like a pancake but thinner with a savoury filling. Where these guys are from, which is Brighton, the savoury version is called gillet. The host made us two versions: one was with egg, ham and cheese and the other with goat’s cheese, cashew nuts and honey. It's bloody delicious I tell you! And I definitely want to teach the Social Club ladies how to make it.  Or just have a dinner party and make these.