My last real day of vacation. It was hard to believe that I had been living out of a small carry on for 3 1/2 weeks. My feet had brain felt the fatigue. So my day was in Paris alone. The kids had a birthday party to attend and I choose to explore the city instead.
I took the Metro into the heart of the city exiting at the Arch de Triomph. It sits at the top of a hill with streets radiating out from the monument. I didn't have enough time to go inside so I just took a few slanty photos and onward I went. As far as the slanty photos go, after looking at my photos I found that many of them have a slight tilt to them. My equilibrium must be off. Or the bag on my shoulder was pulling me off center a bit.
The Champs elysees is one of those streets which I always see as the final stage of the Tour de France. The shops down he street are very high end or places that you could find in any mall. Cartier to he Disney Store it's all there. It wasn't too busy as it was a Sunday morning.
Like other areas there were outdoor bistros full of people enjoying their first coffee of the day. The amazing thing on the street as at the base of the main shopping area was an Abercrombie store where there was a line 30 people deep. Crazy.
I had made it about half way to the end of the road before veering off the path for a moment. Alice and i had walked by this area the day before where two museums stood. I wanted to go into the larger of the two, the Grand Palace, because it had a beautiful glass ceiling that looked like a greenhouse.
Well it was closed. Looked like they where bringing in something new for a big event. Oh well. But the small museum was open across the way and it was freemen. And do I love free, why yes I do! Inside was a lot of French art. Many paintings and sculptures of French people by French artists. It was very different from what I had seen in the UK.
Because now I'm a professional art connoisseur of course. The petite museum walk had a beautiful almost overgrown looking, garden in the middle of the building. It was a nice short but sweet stop before moving towards the Louvre.
From there i crossed a roundabout, Place de la Concorde, with fountains inside into a large park on my way to the Louvre.
Same as the walkways in Versailles the pathways where not paved with concrete but white sand and gravel. The park, Tuileries garden, started as a very large open area with a fountain that moved into a more wooden and covered gardens.
I would have enjoyed a gelato but again I was short on cash. That's what I get for being to precise on money. No implies purchases for me. Well it was a hot day and I couldn't even afford water from the various vendors I passed by. Oh well. The park was very open and you could see that it was completely surrounded the city. And at the end of the park was the Louvre.
After my adventure down the Champs Elysees i had made it to my first real destination. It is certainly hard to miss with Louvre with the glass pyramid. I joined the line and descended into the museum directly under the pyramid, bought my ticket, and made my way inside one of the wings. The Louvre has three different parts, two wings and one open square I just happened to choose the wing that had the Mona Lisa in it. But before I made it to the Mona Lisa I explored the Greek history pieces. But not only the artifacts themselves but the rooms that they were in.
Alice told me that the Louvre was used as government buildings and palaces before Versailles. And boy did it show that. Again the ceilings were where my eyes spent the most time. Amazing paintings and appliqued pieces all over. Just amazing. But one of he odd things that I noticed where signs everywhere to be on the lookout for pick pockets. Even after you had entered the museum with admission. I suppose if you are picking pockets you would have enough money for admission.
I stumbled upon the Mona Lisa after the Greek area in the Italian area. Who knew, right. As I have heard before it is a lot smaller than you think it would be. Its almost realistic in scale to an actual face. There were quite a few people around but it was not too busy not get your photo with it. I was taking it myself with my own camera when another visitor took my camera and snapped a couple for me. I thought that was very nice of them. From there I looked around more galleries. The good thing about not being able to read much of anything was that my brain was already fried from the other museums that I visited that I could enjoy what was there and spent less time at each piece.
Well I looks around for a bit more until I stumbled upon the Venus de Milo. I don't think I knew or remembered it was here so it has a happy surprise. I will say, or write that is, that the background behind where she was standing was pretty ugly and took away from her. So some photos I took and on I went.
I ended in back in the entry area and traveled between wings. The next area had a lot of Asian and Egyptian artifacts. I had already seen so many spectacular Egyptian pieces that the Louvre just could not contend with. I walked around the square ring only to find that the exit signs where not in the least bit helpful because of construction for a new exhibit. Plus some of the floors were practically half floors so it was easy to get disoriented in that section.
After wandering around the same galleries once or twice I finally made it to the lobby to the last wing. The final wing had more French and Italian art. I enjoyed seeing he French pieces because I had not seen much of any of them on my entire trip. I had practically been around the world in the museums I visited but not France.
But the highlight of this part of the museum where Napoleon III's apartment. So I suppose I can confirm my cousin's knowledge that it was used for he government/royalty. The apartments were almost as over the top as Versailles. I guess it was perfectly natural to go over the top where you live.
And again there were art installations all around the apartments. And on the way out there was a small display of the Royal Jewelry. They where less embellished then the England and one of the crowns featured prominently pearls which I had not seen before.
After about 3 hours of looking around it was time to head onto my next adventure. I went out through some shops that where under the Louvre. I had looked at the macaroons the day before and found the shop again but his time with no line so I indulged. Oh my goodness those macaroons are so good. The caramel one was out of this world good. I could just eat those to sustain myself. Ok, side note finished I bought a ticket and into the metro I went.
Alice had sent me out with instructions and a map on how to get from one place to another. I followed her directions exactly to my next stop at the base of the Eiffel tower.
From the station the tower is about a quarter mile away. There were many people out on blankets sitting around enjoying the warm day outside with a picnic. Eiffel tower is bigger than you think it would be. It might look even bigger because there are no tall buildings anywhere close to it.
Well I walked underneath to find vendors selling food and a really long line to go up. There where two different ways to go up. You chose to go to the viewing platform about 1/3 of the way up by either stairs or elevator. You could pay a little extra to go up by elevator. Or you could choose to go to the top and pay a little bit more.
The lines were just too long to justify doing it. Plus I would have liked to do the stairs but my legs just couldn't stand anymore walking, let alone a ton of stairs. So I went off to the side to take some photos to find another Midwesterner looking for someone to take their photo. I can say that the picture I took for him was better than the one he took for me.
Fancy camera does not always mean a good photographer. I walked the park, snapped more photos and made my way to the last stop in Paris.
Alice sent me to a place that i had not heard of before. She sent me to the Sacred Heart Basilica. It's a white church at the top of a steep hillside. At first when I came out of the metro I was not sure which way to go but most people where heading to the right so I followed. After going through an alley of shops I saw it. There where tons of tourists all around, performers with different acts and more peddlers.
I climbed all the way up the steep stairs to be rewarded with fantastic views of the city. The city is so massive that you only see the city. The countryside is too far away to be seen, at least 5-7 miles would be my guess. I was thinking about not going to the last place Alice had suggested because I was tired but I am so glad that I did. It was beautiful.
I made my final trip on the metro for the day back to the apartment to find everyone back from the party and a meal for me of fajitas in Paris with champagne. I guess it was a little bit of home and a little bit of holiday. A wonderful last real day on vacation.
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