Ten Days in Paris

After our 10 1/2 hour flight from Los Angeles, we arrived in Paris at about 12:00 PM. We took a taxi to where we are staying, Hotel d'Orsay, which is located near the Orsay Art Museum. After settling in, we took a stroll around the surrounding area and ate lunch/dinner at Laduree, a beautiful French tearoom. Next, we visited an art supplies store that is hundreds of years old- still in ownership by the original family. Finally, we headed back to the hotel to wind down and relax for the rest of the evening.

Sorry this took a while to post- our hotel internet was down. Anyway, on our second day here, we went to the Louvre in the morning to buy tickets for Bridget's school group that is coming in a few days. When we finished, we went to try and get tickets at the Petit Palace but the line was too long. From there, we took a taxi back to the hotel to rest for a little while and then went out to lunch at a very crowded restaurant. Next my mom and I went to go look at a ballet shop and then took the metro to the Notre Dame to get tickets to see a Gregorian Chant. Lastly, we went to the Musee d'Orsay which is open late on Thursdays. I really enjoyed the collection of art there, especially the Impressionist and Art Nouveau pieces.

Today we were gophers- we took the metro everywhere, popping up to visit museums and parks before returning to the darkness. We started out trying to go to the Musee d' Homme, or Museum of Man, because Bridget really likes ancient hominids. But, unfortunately, it was closed for reconstruction. Then we walked through a park to get to a museum called Nissam Camondo that is a house from the 18th century. Next we went to the Sacre Couer area where we had a picnic, went on the double-decker carousel, rode on the funiculaire, and went inside the church. Then we traveled to a doll museum (which I don't recommend, the SB one is better- we didn't feel like we got our money's worth for the 8 euro admission!) and a medical history museum (which I went in while my mom and sister went shopping). Finally, we went out to dinner at La Coupole, a fancy restaurant, with some friends.

We had an amazing day at Versailles today, it was as beautiful as we had imagined. Most of our time was spent walking around the Marie Antoinette gardens which were absolutely breathtaking. One thing I thought was weird about Versailles though, is that there are signs everywhere saying not to take any photos or video. But everyone was taking millions of pictures and the security guards didn't seem to care at all- they stood around texting on their cellphones and only looking up once it a while to scold people for using flash. Also when we came in in the beginning and they checked our bags, they weren't even paying attention and didn't care when the metal detector went off when people went through. So anyway, I don't really get what the deal was with them, it seemed a little weak to me.

This was a day of stairs. We started out going to a Yves Saint Laurent fashion exhibit at the Petit Palais. I thought it was interesting, but my mom was the one who truly enjoyed it. Then we went to the Paris Opera house, which was amazingly beautiful. The foyer reminded me exactly of the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. In the museum part of the Opera, there were miniature models of theater sets which are one of my favorite things to look at. Next we went to the Arc de Triomphe- that is where the stairs part comes in. We had to climb over 200 stairs to the top, but once we got there, the rain had just cleared, and there were spectacular views from all the sides. Finally, we headed to the Eiffel Tower to meet Bridget and her classmates for dinner halfway up the tower. The dinner was great and then we decided to try and get to the top before they closed it down for the night. By the time we got out, they had shut down the elevators so we rushed up over 300 steps to get to the next level. Unfortunately, when we got there, they had closed the stairs to get to the very top. It still was an amazing experience being close to the top, with the rain falling and shining in the spotlights. All over the city you could see little blinking lights go off at different points in time, facing our direction- they were people taking pictures of the Eiffel Tower. When we got back down to the middle level, the elevator going down was closed so we had to take another couple hundred stairs. We then took the metro home.

Today we went to the Louvre. We stayed mainly in the Oriental section and French & Dutch paintings section, and spent some time sketching in some of the rooms. At ten minutes to closing, we decided that it would be nice to see the Mona Lisa again (we had seen her when we went to Paris a few years ago, so she was not our top priority to see this time). We ran through the halls, the paintings along side us were all a blur. We passed piece after piece without pause. We finally arrived at the Mona Lisa with 2 minutes to spare. It was great because only about 10 people were standing around her and so we could look without obstruction to our view. We then left the museum, got food and shopped for a little while at the Carousel Mall by the Louvre, and went back to the hotel.

We rented bikes today and rode all around the St. Germain, Opera, and Cluny neighborhood. It was frightening but fun cycling around the city because there was lots of traffic, the streets were slippery and wet, the bike lane was also the bus lane, and we had no helmets. First we tried to go to the Musee Cluny, but it was closed on Tuesdays. Then we visited the Arenas de Lutece, an ancient Roman arena from the time when Paris was known as Lutetia. We then visited a kind of weird exhibit about Hermes travels which I didn't like very much. Next we went to the oldest planned square in Paris, which was also a disappointment because it was filled with lame modern art shops instead of interesting ones. Victor Hugo's (who wrote one of my favorite stories, Les Miserables)house was near the square, but we decided not to go in the museum for a reason I cannot recall now. Then we rode over to the Galeries Lafayette, a huge and famous department store with a domed ceiling. My mom looked around for a long time while I browsed around briefly and then played a game on my cellphone- I do not enjoy clothes shopping very much and avoid it when I can, especially when the store is crowded. Finally, we returned our bikes, dropped our stuff off at the hotel, and headed out to hear a Gregorian chant concert in the Notre Dame. I thought it was lovely and powerful- the acoustics of the church were absolutely amazing! We walked back to the hotel through the Latin quarter which was full of interesting sights and smells.

We got a pretty late start today because we both wanted to do some work before we left the hotel. The first stop on our journey when we departed was to an Italian restaurant which was ok but not great. Then we went to the Musee Cluny that was closed yesterday. I really loved the museum, especially the six Women with a Unicorn tapestries. The meaning behind each are debated, but it is generally agreed each represent one of the the five senses and the last represents a sixth sense- that of love and understanding. I also liked looking at the roman baths there. Next we tried to go to the Musee de Cinema, which we could not find- a park was in the place it should have been. Then we went to Lanvin for a few minutes and back to Galeries Lafayette so my mom could make a return. For some unknown reason nobody in the store knew how to take an item back, so it took about half an hour to undergo the process. Lastly we looked around for a little while at Printemps, another huge department store, and went back to the hotel.

Sorry how long it took to get this posted- Day 10 will be on its way soon. On Day 9 of Paris, we took a train to Giverny, the home of Monet. My mom and I rode bikes from the train stop up the four miles to his house. My bike had an incredibly flat tire the entire way- I think the tube inside the wheel must have been punctured- it had literally no air inside it. Luckily, the bike still worked alright, it just took some extra effort to pedal. It was wonderful walking around the gardens, you could really see how he drew inspiration for his paintings and style from his surroundings. My mom pointed out that the reflections in the pond looked like the brushstroke effect common in his work. It was really interesting because one tourist, at a certain angle, looked exactly like Monet- I included a picture in the slide show of him and his wife peering into the water. When we got back to the city, we decided to stroll around the Luxembourg Gardens, one of my favorite (and my mom's favorite) parks in the world. We saw someone playing a really weird instrument which I could only describe to you as a bell piano. The lady would hit a pedal and a corresponding church-like bell would ring on the rack attached. When we finished at the park, my mom and I went back to the hotel because it had been a pretty long day.

Today was the last day in Paris. I'll be sad to go, but I've had a great time and am beginning to miss home. We tried to go to a swap meet this morning on the outskirts of town but it was kind of a disappointment. We thought it was going to be a big lot filled with stands like most of them are, but it was a bunch of permanent stalls and only about 3% of them were open. We only hung out there for a little while, the stuff they were selling was for mega-collectors, way too overpriced for us. Then we took the Metro back to the St. Michel/Latin quarter section of town where we went to a cool bookshop I wanted to see called Shakespeare and Company. It has kind of a quirky atmosphere, and is run by young, upcoming writers, known as tumbleweeds. Almost all the books there are in English, so it was nice to browse around for a while. We then met up with Bridget's group at a store called Tara Jarmon on the Champs Elysee. The fashion designer for the store met us there and talked to us about her career. Finally, we took Bridget shopping for a little while and went back to the room to pack for tomorrow. Oh yes, sorry for the weird selection of photos today- I didn't take very many and most were of pigeons.