Sunday, August 2

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We slept in after our previous big day of walking across Paris and were well rested for our trip to the Pompidou Centre. This quirky building is located in a bustling part of the city in a neighborhood full of activity. It was here that we saw several of our iconic American food establishments including KFC, McDonald's and Burger King, all in the same block! It took several tries to figure out how to actually enter the Pompidou but we finally got in and took the escalators that hug the outside of the building up to the 6th floor. The view was worth the trip, as we were able to see all of Paris spread before us.

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We were able to get a table at the Georges restaurant on the 6th floor and to look out over the city while we ate. We had a birds eye view of the Kandinsky Fountain on the plaza, too. The decor was interesting and spare and very futuristic. We all loved the huge (at least 30" square) crisp linen napkins and wished they were available for purchase. Brunch was yummy and we all enjoyed another serving the the fat, crunchy frites that we had first discovered at Laduree.

The Centre offered an interesting exhibition, "elles@centrepompidou", which featured works by women artists from the 20th century until today. We enjoyed wandering around the exhibit which was thought and conversation provoking. We will remember for some time the dress made of slabs of beef, the video of the angry "housewife" demonstrating use of kitchen implements, and the photos of the bearded lady.

With no taxis yet to be found, we walked back to our hotel. Dinner was at a local brasserie just up the street. We were seated next to a couple from Orlando and had a nice conversation with them. Another memorable day spent in Paris was over!