Paris-Three Major Sites

There is plenty to see in Paris and today we tackled three big ones: the Arc de Triomphe, Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. We expected today to be rainy, but we caught a little break and decided to hurry and see a few outdoor locations. 

First was a stop along the Champs de Elysses and a walk to the Arc de Triumph. This area is familiar to anyone who has ever watched the last stage of the Tour de France. It's also a very upscale part of the city with lots of fancy places to shop. I was freezing so we made a quick stop at the Gap for a sweatshirt. (I know, the Gap!?!)  

The Arc de Tripmphe was built to honor those who fought for France. This amazing photo shows some of their names, engraved on the arch. 

Thanks to our handy Paris Museum Pass we were able to go to the top where there are incredible views of the city. 

  

   The rain started so we went to the Louvre. Above that door, I swear it says Louvre. 

Here's more of the building, including the I.M. Pei glass pyramid. 

At the Musee d'Orsay, the audio tour was on an iPod. The Louvre uses a 3-DS. We didn't do the audio tour but I took a picture because I thought the boys would be impressed. They weren't.

I have never been to the Louvre, but to be honest, I was a little burned out on museums. We used a Rick Steves' guidebook to navigate ourselves around to some of the major works of art. 

Venus de Milo:

Gallery of Statues:

Winged Victory of Samothrace:

Mona Lisa

Anti-climatic?-Yes!

Michelangelo's Slaves

Not identified in Rick's tour- cool ceiling

and neat hallway. 

We spent several hours at the museum and didn't even see half of it, but oh well. I guess that's a reason to go back to Paris. 

The weather was better so we went to the Eiffel Tower. This far anyway. We weren't really feeling like waiting in a long line and paying the money to go to the top. 

We missed out on pastries yesterday so we made up for it today. I actually picked out that little mouse to eat. And it was by far the best of them all. 

Paris- A Bit of Bad Luck

Potential bad weather=spending the day inside. This day was a great day to go to the Musee d'Orsay. We needed to purchase the Paris Museum Pass so that we could see a whole bunch of sights for cheap. We were trying to be savvy travelers and avoid waiting in the long lines of the museum so we took the train to a mall (which happens to be part of the train station) to find a FNAC (bookstore) that sells the pass. It took us awhile to get there and even longer to find the store only to discover that they quit selling the passes the day before. So much for that plan. We did run into a couple of Elders in the mall, so that was kind of fun. 

Along the way we walked by these Oblisks. I am not even sure we realized we were at the Place de la Concorde. We didn't even notice the Eiffel Tower in the background when we took this picture. Way to be observant travelers. 

In my humble opinion, the Musee d'Orsay is a better art museum to go to than the Louvre. The building is an old train station and has a better collection of paintings that interest me. They have works by Monet, Manet, Seurat, Van Gogh, Rodin just to name a few. There is also this really cool clock on the top floor. 

View from the clock:

Museums are very tiring. We spent several hours going through the audio tour and it's surprising how worn out you can get.  We left the Museum to find that it was pouring rain outside. We were hungry so we figured we could find a nearby cafe. We were also really indecisive and passed a lot of cafes thinking we could find better prices or better food. In the end, we made a bad choice and had not very good crepes for way too much money. 

There was still some time left in the day so we consulted our map and saw that the Hotel des Invalides wasn't too far off. Our previous experience with the map was that things that looked far away were actually really close. We figured we could walk. Not a good idea. Terrible idea. Probably the worst idea of the trip. It was so rainy! 

By the time we reached the museum we were completely soaked and it was about to close. 

I was thankful to have a little time out of the rain, no matter how small. The Hotel des Invalides is an army museum and the final resting spot of non other than Napoleon Bonaparte. 

The interior was very cool and most importantly, dry. 

We were walking so quickly with our heads down we didn't even notice what the building looked like. 

The doors look like this. Parisians know how to make fancy doors. 

The way home was a little complicated and involved several transfers on the Metro. Missy and I had the maps and had assumed most of the navigation responsibilities. We were coming home during a busy time and the trains were mostly full. We were a little confused about one train and Missy tried to ask about it just as the doors started to close. I pushed past the closing doors and looked back to see Rilie and Liz left on the platform.  

Missy and I had all the maps and no way to contact them. We hoped they'd get on the next train and get off at the next stop. We waited as several trains passed with no Liz or Rilie. They had hoped we would get off and go back to get them. We had decided not to do that because of the time it would take for us to get from our platform to the other platform. In the end the only thing we could do was go to the apartment and hope they figured out how to get home. Which they eventually did. Thank goodness. But in our worry, we didn't stop to get any pastries for the night.... 

Paris--History, Hugo and Hands Off!!

We started the day with a solid plan. We'd visit the Musee Carnavalet so we could get a good background on the history of Paris and it was nearby.  Once we got there, we learned that not all of the musee was open and we'd have to come back later. 

We decided to see Victor Hugo's apartment, which just so happens to be located at the Place des Vosges. 

It is really cool to think that we were walking on the same streets, climbing the same stairs and visiting the same rooms that he did. 

If I remember correctly, not much of the furnishings were actually his. But it's decorated in the style of the times. In this case, Oriental Art was in. It makes me anxious just to look at this room. There is way too much going on. 

This ink thing is cool. There are several other famous authors whose names are on it too. 

 Not surprisingly, Les Miserables items were prominent.  

 I have to say, that my admiration for him declined when I read about his extensive traveling with his lover. Shame on you Victor Hugo! 

Carnavalet was worth going back to. I enjoyed learning more about Paris. My knowledge of the city was very limited and now I feel like I only know just a little bit more. It is a fascinating city especially after visiting London. London has a very proud history of the monarchy whereas Paris has struggled trying to decide what it wanted to be. So many Revolutions!! 

Our final destination took us clear across the city to a Roman Catholic church, Sacre-Coeur.  This is in the Montmartre area of Paris, known as a night club district. Moulin Rouge is here, so it's an interesting dichotomy. 

Montmartre is the hill on which Sacre-Coeur is built and it really is spectacular to see. We trudged up the hill from the metro stop. Up until this point, we'd spent all of our trip in non-sketchy places, so we were ill prepared for what awaited us. 

As we were crossing the street I was approached by a smiling, happy man who just wanted to talk to me and tie a little string around my finger. I resisted and continued to walk but he was a persistent fellow and continued to bother and try to get that stupid string on my finger. I was trying to get away from him as politely as possible, but he just wouldn't leave me alone. Missy finally had to yell at him to get him to go away. Once I was free, we looked back an saw poor Rilie with a different guy...string on her finger. He got her! Once the string is on your finger, he makes you a bracelet which you now get to pay for.  Rilie had to dish out 10 (about $16) euro for a bracelet made out of string, just to get rid of the guy. 

There were plenty of additional opportunities for the rest of us to get bracelets just like Rilie. But we were more streetwise--lots of fast walking and, above all, no eye contact!  

There are beautiful views of the city from the church steps. 

We couldn't take pictures inside. The doors are really neat. 

Originally, we thought we might check out the Moulin Rouge, but we were all a little freaked out from our encounters on the street and it was getting dark so we went back home. As would become habit, we stopped for some dinner supplies at the Monoprix and picked out a couple of pastries to try. The raspberry one was super yummy!

We Saw London, Let's See France

You can take a boat, train or plane from London to Paris. When Missy said we would be driving, I figured we would take the car on a ferry. I didn't know there is a cooler way to go: the Chunnel. Not a typo, it's a real thing. The Eurostar train travels below the English channel in a tunnel and can also take a car the same way. Super cool. We got up early, drove to the station, loaded the car and sat in it for the 30 minute ride UNDER the channel. We arrived in Calais, France and drove the rest of the way to Versailles. We parked the Mitt Mobile in a parking garage and caught a train into Paris. 

Our apartment rental was in the Marais district of Paris. When we first arrived, I was a little nervous. Let's be honest--this looks a little sketchy. 

But once you enter the giant wooden door

it's a really neat place. 

We spent our 5 days in this lovely Paris apartment. It was just perfect. 

By the time we were settled in our apartment we didn't have much time for any real exploring. But we did pass a few interesting places on our way to find the Monoprix (the Super Target of France--it's nicer than a Wal-mart). 

This is the Place des Vosges. We passed this frequently during our stay. It was built in the 1600s. This square is lined with the same style buildings on all four sides. 

 Each side has these cool entrance arches. 

To finish off they day, we decided on this French cafe to sit outside and enjoy crepes and hot chocolate. I can't think of a better way to celebrate my birthday.