Put a hold on our Paris sight-seeing to do some laundry in the laverie across the street. We stuffed our clothes in the mini-looking washing machine - at first I was skeptical that it would all fit, but the next one up was double the price! And I waited for the clothes to wash while Pete grabbed us some breakfast. In about an hour, we had some nice clean and dried clothes and were on our way to Paris' historic core.

We got off at St. Michel metro stop and headed to the Notre Dame Cathedral. Because there was a long line going into the church, we went to the crypt first, where the original city was located.

Back on street level, we lined up to enter the Notre Dame and took a spin inside. Our visit was cut short b/c The tower was closed, so we walked over to the deportation memorial at the tip of the island for a quick and sombre visit of where the French remember those that died in the Holocaust - forgive, but never forget.

From there, we took a detour to Ile St. Louis for lunch at a nearby cafe and to have some ice cream at the famous Berthillon Glacier. It was spitting slightly, so we each just tried a small cone of fresh fruit ice cream. We continued on Rick Steve's tour of historic Paris at the Saint Chapelle, Palace of Justice and the Concergerie; however, these places wet on strike. Not to be deterred, we made our way over to the Pantheon, but then found out that it was in strike too!

With 2.5 hours to go until our reservations at Le Buisson Ardent (the burning bush restaurant), we decided to go back up to the right bank and see the famous Galeries Lafayette. What madness! There were so many Asian tourists buying things that even the sign for the washroom on the main floor was not written in French, but in Chinese! We felt so claustrophobic in the store that we didn't bother going up to the top floor to see the view, we just got out as soon as we could.

Since the Opera Garnier (Paris Opera House was nearby, but closed for tourists, we walked around it before hopping back onto the metro to the Pompidou Centre. This modern art museum was a little ghetto outside because it looks unfinished and is surrounded by a lot of 'artiste types' - aka potential hooligans, and scary for foreigners like us. We entered purely to take the escalators up to see the view of Paris from the bottom part of the right bank. Being a modern art museum, the escalators had an art installation imitating monks chanting. It sounded much like an Australian digideroo.

We hurried out of the Pompidou Centre and back down near the Pantheon to our dinner at Buisson Ardent. Nick recommended this place to us, and we both agree that this has been our best meal in France. The food was a steal for what it was and for what we paid (we didn't pay a ridiculous amount) and the servers were super nice and attentive - an excellent dining experience in all aspects.

Tummies full, we happily made our way back to the hotel and called it a day.