(December 27th-29th, 2012) Despite being sick, Kim and I couldn't just stay in our apartment. We were in Paris, after all, and were determined to see as much of it as we could...albeit at a slower pace than normal. We did many of the standard things...museums, landmarks, walking through the parks. In retrospect, my advice to you would be to get the Paris museum pass...it will allow you to bypass many of the hour long lines and to save a bit of money on visiting all of the great art museums to be seen, my favorite of which was the Orangerie. The Orangerie contains a giant exhibit of Monet's water lillies in addition to a number of special exhibits that rotate from time to time. During our visit it was an exhibition of the work of Chaim Soutine.
Our next favorite museum was the Musee d'Orsay, which had a number of famous painting and sculptures, but nowhere near the line and overwhelming scale that the Louvre had.
The Musee d'Orsay felt almost like an old train station with it's towering halls; however, the dozens of sculptures by Rodin dispelled that illusion quickly.
Of course, as you can imagine, there's more to Paris than just art, such as the Arc de Triomphe:
Shown here are one of the massive legs holding it up. To get to the top, you have to take a series of elevators, which, like in Pittsburgh, go at a slight angle...
At the top, the winds were horrendous. In fact, we made it up just before they closed it off due to the high winds. It was extremely difficult to just stand still long enough to take a photo without being whipped around. Kim didn't even want to stay out there, so, instead, she spent most of her time at the top in the warm observation room below the observation platform.
But the views of the city were totally worth braving the cold and the wind...
By the time we got back down to the ground, it was late enough in the day that we decided to get a coffee and wait for the sun to set...
So that we could see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night
Here's Kim making the customary tourist pose with the Louvre's pyramid.
...to Napoleon's quarters...
...the architecture of the Louvre itself...
...and the masses that you have to fight your way through...
...just to see a painting.
Outside the Louvre, the Hotel de Louvre lit up at night. On the way between the Louvre and our apartment, there was a cooking store that we kept passing every day. So, finally, one day we decided to stop inside...
Oh wonders upon wonders! It turns out that this unassuming cutlery purveyor, Dehillerin, is a cooking store that stands above all others. In fact, it's where Julia Childs shopped. When we went to check out, the owner very matter of factly asked how we came about to find this place, which is how we learned that we should've been planning our trip around a chance to come here! We only ended up buying one item...a truffle mold that some of you have benefited from several times over already. Go check out there website because my words can't do it justice, and I was too awestruck to think to take a photo inside.
Another place between our apartment and the Louvre was the Place Vendôme, which is home to some pretty ritzy shops in addition to the above obelisk.
Of course, the one thing that they don't tell you, is be careful of the wild animals and lions in Paris...
And with this last picture of the moon rising over the street we were staying on, our trip to Paris came to it's brief end.
The Musee d'Orsay felt almost like an old train station with it's towering halls; however, the dozens of sculptures by Rodin dispelled that illusion quickly.
Of course, as you can imagine, there's more to Paris than just art, such as the Arc de Triomphe:
The Seine
Surprisingly, it's not that much fun to run along the Siene. Lot's of bridges that you have to stop and wait for the traffic from them to get a red light. I would've liked it so much better if there was a dedicated, traffic free bike/jogging path...
And, of course, the Eiffel Tower.
Shown here are one of the massive legs holding it up. To get to the top, you have to take a series of elevators, which, like in Pittsburgh, go at a slight angle...
At the top, the winds were horrendous. In fact, we made it up just before they closed it off due to the high winds. It was extremely difficult to just stand still long enough to take a photo without being whipped around. Kim didn't even want to stay out there, so, instead, she spent most of her time at the top in the warm observation room below the observation platform.
But the views of the city were totally worth braving the cold and the wind...
By the time we got back down to the ground, it was late enough in the day that we decided to get a coffee and wait for the sun to set...
So that we could see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night
And, of course, we also braved the lines to go to the Louvre
Here's Kim making the customary tourist pose with the Louvre's pyramid.
I think that spending an entire day in the Louvre (assuming that you're not sick), isn't enough to even passingly see everything. There's so much, from classical Greek sculptures...
...to Napoleon's quarters...
...the architecture of the Louvre itself...
...and the masses that you have to fight your way through...
...just to see a painting.
Outside the Louvre, the Hotel de Louvre lit up at night. On the way between the Louvre and our apartment, there was a cooking store that we kept passing every day. So, finally, one day we decided to stop inside...
Oh wonders upon wonders! It turns out that this unassuming cutlery purveyor, Dehillerin, is a cooking store that stands above all others. In fact, it's where Julia Childs shopped. When we went to check out, the owner very matter of factly asked how we came about to find this place, which is how we learned that we should've been planning our trip around a chance to come here! We only ended up buying one item...a truffle mold that some of you have benefited from several times over already. Go check out there website because my words can't do it justice, and I was too awestruck to think to take a photo inside.
Another place between our apartment and the Louvre was the Place Vendôme, which is home to some pretty ritzy shops in addition to the above obelisk.
Of course, the one thing that they don't tell you, is be careful of the wild animals and lions in Paris...
And with this last picture of the moon rising over the street we were staying on, our trip to Paris came to it's brief end.
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