Makeup Artist Blog: Travel| EuroTrippin: Paris Day 2

Different money I had on me: pounds and euro...so confusing compared to American currency

I woke up the next day refreshed and excited to take on Paris.

After all, it was my birthday!

I took the Metro to the Louvre. When I walked outside, my mouth dropped. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. Compared to the cramped feeling where you have so many buildings all together, the Louvre was wide and gorgeous.

I walked all around and took pictures of all the sculptures. I walked across to the park across from the Louvre and got breakfast from the truck. I spoke my order French and the man responded to me in Spanish. He asked if I was Dominican. I told him in English that I'm American Black.
In London, the sightseeing bus driver asked me if I was Indian. I thought it funny that with the large population of Africans in both London and Paris that they wouldn't see me as African-American.

un cafe et un pain au chocolat

I walked through the park and noted all the sculptures remembering a joke a comedian made about how all the art in France was of women with their breasts out.

I watched a woman pick something off the ground and she tried to offer it to some tourists as they walked by...just as a young woman approached me asking for donations for a school for the deaf and dumb. She asked me to sign my name and write how much I'd give. I wrote down 1€ and she became visibly upset. "Look at how much other people gave," she demanded. Others had given 20 and 30€. I got upset. I knew that it was a scam; one that I'd seen many times in the States and refused any more. She could take it or leave it. She took it.The woman from earlier came at me with a gold ring that she so happened to "find" on the ground. She told me in French. "Ooh look! So pretty!" I just shook my head and walked away. There were African men selling Eiffel Towers and kept saying, "My sista...my sista!" I was disgusted. Couldn't I just enjoy the sights without being hustled?
I walked through the bridge at the Pont des Arts where lovers "lock their love." The sadness began to creep up again. I let it go, refusing to allow it to ruin my day. I rode around the city on Les Cars Rouges and was in awe of Paris' beauty.

museum

Paris Opera

on the side of the Arc de Triomphe

birds at the Jardin de Tuileries - real life angry birds!

gorgeous macaroons

I ended up at Cour St Emilion for a birthday drink and dessert.

Parisian uniform

Chai 33 was gorgeous and decorated in my favorite colors: black, pink and purple.

I was coming down with a cold. I figured the best thing for it would be red wine. I HATE red wine but this one was bearable. The creme brulee was fab but I felt nauseous in the middle of it...the cold won out.