Day 2 started with breakfast on the balcony served up by Dylan - one benefit of hostel living. It was good. I like bread and cheese and cured meat. I like it a lot.



We then set out on a four hour trip through the Centre Pompidou, Paris's modern art museum. I love the Pompidou and a stop at its doors was my only request the entire trip. I think Jack and Dylan liked it, too. The best part was the Gerhard Richter exhibit. That guy is the bee's knees.



After we left the Pompidou, we stopped at a shitty cafe for lunch. There was some confusion with our order and Jack was given a hot dog fromage rather than the sandwich he had requested. But no one felt like making a stink over a hot dog so he and Dylan shared the hot dog and whatever Dylan was eating - that's what brothers do, right?

I was also disappointed with my lunch. In the picture on the menu my sandwich came with basil but apparently not in real life. When I commented that my sandwich didn't look like the picture, Jack replied:

Yeah, and my sandwich didn't look like a fucking hot dog either. Oh well.

We took the train to the Avenue des Champes-Elyees and stopped for coffee before heading up the street to the Arc de Triomphe. Dylan thought it would be funny to button his shirt up all the way and it was - but I guess you had to be there. We also made a quick detour into H&M so that Jack could find something warmer than his stripped sweatshirt. He was unsuccessful.



Jack and Dylan weren't interested in paying to visit the top of the Arc, which was fine with me. Been there, done that. Instead, we read our Paris travel guide and bumbled around the circle taking silly pictures.



Dylan had his heart set on taking an evening boat tour down the Seine, which Jack and I were cool with. As we made our way back to the Left Bank, we stopped for a few drinks and some complementary pretzels. Jack and I had our hearts set on crossing the Pont des Arts after both having recently learned about the padlock craze. We managed to squeeze it all in before the boat tour.



We also managed to squeeze in some more picture taking at Notre Dame.



We finally made our way to the boat tours and found a 10 pm tour that let you bring along food and drinks. I stood in line for tickets while Dylan and Jack searched for a market. Fortunately, I made friends with the woman in line behind me. She was from Jersey and she saved us three seats in the very front of the boat in the open air right next to where the tour guide stood. This was very kind of her because Dylan and Jack showed up with our meat, cheese, bread, and wine just minutes before the boat launched and without my Jersey buddy and her husband, we would have been stuck down below with a bunch of French high school kids!




We never made it to the Tour Eiffel by day so we made certain to take lots of pictures of it all lit up at night. Except they didn't really turn out. Oh well. C'est la vie. The boat tour lasted about one hour and it was quite enjoyable. Jack sat behind me and Dylan so that we could act as a windbreaker. I don't think it worked. He looked chilly most of the ride. And the proper middle-aged English woman seated next to him did nothing to keep him warm either, although she did kiss him on the check - but only after he kissed her first!