Day Six - Forced Change of Plans

If Aaron and I thought our first day in France was kind of crappy, it doesn't even hold a candle to today. Of course, if my wallet hadn't been stolen, then we wouldn't have been in the mess we were in today. We went to Budget today to pick up our rental car so that we could head up to Normandy and then later to the Loire Valley. But since we had to cancel our credit cards, we couldn't take a car because they wouldn't accept a debit card. Needless to say the employess at Budget here in France weren't very nice or helpful. We tried calling the bank to see if they could authorize this one transaction, but they said they couldn't do that. We called other car rental agencies, but were told the same thing. We went back to our apartment rental to try and get internet access to figure out our next move, but we get there and of course the internet is no longer working. The cleaning lady was there and was trying to help us, and even offered to have us stay at her house. She was giving us all the help which she could, and I have to say she was one of the bright spots in our day. She was so nice and helpful and let us stay in the apartment while she was trying to clean it. She was from Kenya and it was really hard to understand her, but Aaron seemed to have an easier time talking with her than I did. Unfortunately, but this time, hours had passed and the next renters were coming in less than an hour and we had no way to get on the internet to find a place to stay. We ended up getting a very expensive hotel room just a few doors down. All in all, it was a very discouraging day. By the time we got checked into our hotel, I was starving and in desperate need of food. By this time, I was disguisted by everything in France, and was wanting to embrace my American roots. Yes, we went to McDonald's, sad I know, but I have to say I have never enjoyed a Big Mac and Fries more than I did today. I'm not sure if it was the hunger, the stress relief that came from eating, or what, but it was very good. After this, Aaron and I went to the Musee D'Orsay. We had an enjoyable time there. I quite liked the art in this museum, and more of it made sense to me. After our trip to the museum, both Aaron and I were so exhausted that we decided to come back and spend as much time in our expensive hotel as is possible. Might as well enjoy it since it is costing so much huh?


The interesting thing about Musee D'Orsay was that it used to be a train station. It has a very open and airy atmosphere.



This was my favorite painting inside the museum. It is a picture of Peter and John on their way to see the resurrected Christ. You can't tell from the picture here, but I thought that the painter did a very good job catching the human emotions of hope, disbelief, awe, excitement and reverence in their faces. In my opinion, it was a moving painting, and was probably the first piece of art that has touched me that I have seen here in France.