caroline//cutshall

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paris // 9

Musée d'Orsay: Absolutely my favorite museum in Paris. Oh how I would love to see the Monets and Degas and Manets every day. One of my favorite memories from the trip was walking through the museum wearing a long sleeve, breezy white dress (holding on to every bit of bridehood that I could, it seemed) as an older gentleman approached me. He spoke to me, hurriedly in French, and I apologized to him. Pardon, pardon, I said, trying to let him know I don't speak French. He stopped. He looked at me. "Oh! English." He stepped closer to me, with an almost bewildered look on his Face. "You should never come here again!" My heart stopped. "They will put you in the walls!" A moment of silence. And then laughter exploding from this older, French man. I joined him, a little confused, but happy to see him so elated. I'm hoping he meant "on the walls." Much less creepy.  Joe and I stopped for lunch at the museum's restaurant, Café de l'ours. Joe and I ate at least three baskets of bread. I accidentally drank water straight from the carafe, and both of us lost it a little. Right outside the cafe, we stepped out onto a balcony which overlooked the Reine and the Louvre. In the distance, we saw Sacre Coeur de Montmartre on the hill. I took a photo of Joe (we couldn't take any photos inside the museum), and headed downstairs to keep exploring. When we left, we stopped for an espresso (best ones we had, and I can't remember the name of the place... ugh!) and people watched.