Today, I walked for hours through non-touristy parts of Paris to visit the Fondation Vuitton.

As anyone who has ever traveled knows, most of your trip is spent looking for a bathroom. During my two-hour walk, I needed a bathroom twice. It was early Sunday morning so nothing was open. First, I walked into this weird music auditorium that happened to have an open door. “Je suis touriste. Toilette?” I said to the toothless man sitting at the desk. “Ah, oui oui! Touriste!” and I went down to use a toilet that had no lid on the tank and I had to maneuver the actual plumbing to flush.

Then, I took a wrong turn (the first of three) and ended up on a big avenue. When I started to walk up the street, I saw the Arch de Triomphe! I was on L’avenue des Champs-Élysées! (And yes, I do always sing Joni Mitchell when I walk along des Champs-Élysées). And there, yay! was a McDonald’s! I found the toilettes, and they cost a euro (which was fine with me, but I only had two euro coins). So, all the women (American, Canadian, and Australian) kept the stall doors open for each other when they were finished so no one had to pay the euro. Also, I did not buy the macarons for sale in McDonalds (weird, eh?). The secret to a good vacation is being strategic about bathrooms.

The Andy Warhol x Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibit was enlightening. Even though I don’t love their work, it was some of their largest canvases and they did the work sometimes at the same time (which is why the show is called “Four Hands.” Some of the work was also by Clemente (I do like his work). It was fascinating, but not different from their own art; definitely a mash-up.

Also, today was Family Festival at the museum so 2,000 children were there with their families.

Later, I met some of the women in my travel group, and we had dinner. I drink more wine in France than I do the rest of the year.

Tomorrow, I’m interviewing someone for Bicycling, then I’m going to Louvre and my favorite bookstore.