C'est ca, la jolie vie

Happy Bastille day!

Forget New York. Paris is the city that never sleeps. It's after 2:30am and people are still setting off firecrackers in front of our hostel. Earlier we went to the gardens in front of the Louvre and tous les petits chiens were running underfoot with their tails between their legs, trying to get away from the sound. From there we could see the firework show at the Eiffel Tower (unimpressive, but maybe it was just because we were so far away).

Today the Louvre was thankfully free and Sarah and I joined the crowds of rabid tourists making a beeline to the Mona Lisa. It really annoys me that most of the rest of the museum is quiet - people pass ancient sculptures, Corinthian war helmets, Albrecht Durer paintings, just to see a couple of the more well-known works like the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, and that biotch, Mona. Sarah and I remain unimpressed, especially once we saw the special "DiVinci Code" audio tours. We looked for the Virgin Mary's tomb, but it appears Dan Brown lied to us.

Our hostel is across the street from "un MacDo," but the local food here is AMAZING. Our hostel serves a huge free breakfast of croissants, bread, cereal, jam, hot chocolate, coffee, and orange juice. Delicious. French people must miss the cafe culture when they visit the states.

Apparently there is only a two week period that merchants can have sales here and it's now, so everything is 30-70% off. Tomorrow we might browse the "soldes" that line every street (I've never seen so many shoe stores in my life) and visit la tour eiffel. We're going to the top!