Our second day in Paris was eventful... and uneventful, in different ways. On the way to do some sight-seeing we picked up chocolate croissants at a bakery. We hopped on a metro that took us to a shopping area. On the agenda for the day was seeing the two famous department stores. First, though, we got to see the opera house since it was right outside our metro stop. We decided not to do the tour of the inside, and continued on our way to Galeries Lafayette. This is a huge department store, that has... everything. They have a lot of high end merchandise and the interior design and architecture is all very pretty. After looking around for a while, we headed to the next famous department store: Le Bon Marché, which is sometimes regarded as the first department store in the world.
The Opera House
Inner dome of Galeries Lafayette
Interior of Le Bon Marché
After getting our fill of the department stores, we met Laura's friend who is studying abroad in Paris. It started to downpour so we had to grab some umbrellas while walking to the train station with her. We wanted to reserve our seats for the Sunday train ride from Paris to Nimes. While waiting on the massive line, it was then that I finally realized the awful truth... I had left my EuRail pass in Prague. Sitting inside my desk drawer, far far away... Mass chaos and hysteria ensued. We had to get this taken care of ASAP so we left the station and went back to the hotel (stopping by a bakery to pick up a baguette and pâté for lunch). Several phone calls and hours later, it was all settled. My building manager would overnight the pass to me Monday morning to my Nimes hotel. By then it was the afternoon, and we still hadn't reserved Laura's seat so we went back to the station to do that. Another massive line later, and the worker informed us that this wouldn't be possible for this particular journey. Odd, but oh well, at least we tried. By then it was late, dark, and still rainy. We were tired and hungry and it was too late to do any of the sight seeing we had planned on (Sacré-Coeur Basilica and some other place). We went back to the area our hotel was at and went to a local Italian restaurant for dinner. I had the penna alla norma (penne pasta with eggplants, tomatoes, coriander, and ricotta cheese). The pasta was made fresh, and the meal was probably my favorite out of all I had in Paris... ironic that it wasn't French food!
Lunch selection: pâté (mixture of ground meat and fat minced into a spreadable paste - may sound odd, but it's delicious!)
We called it a night shortly after. Our train to Nimes was leaving at 7 AM so we had to set our alarms for 5 AM in order to check out of the hotel and be at the station on time. It was unfortunate that we were unable to make better use of our limited time in Paris, but at least things were still kept interesting...
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