Paris is one of my favorite cities, so I was excited that Alicia would be seeing it for the first time.
While in Paris we saw the major sites such as...
...the Catedral de Notre Dame...
...the Eiffel Tower...
...the Arc de Triomphe...
...the Chateau de Versailles, only a 30 minute train ride away...
...Napoleon's Tomb, which is hidden in...
...the Hospital de Invalides...
There are no signs anywhere that might point where the tomb is and asking a museum employee wasn't much help either. We finally managed to stumble down the right hallway and then saw the stream of people walking from the tour buses.
And, of course, while in Paris you must visit the small cafès and soak up the atmosphere. In one we even saw a resident cat settled in for a long nap.
And I amused Alicia by repeatedly murdering the pronunciation of Les Champs-Elysees. For some reason I am incapable of saying the name, even if someone says it slowly for me first. Although I will admit by the end of our three days I was making it even worse just for fun until Alicia also was no longer able to pronounce it. Am I good or what?
But the highlight of Paris are the museums.
Early Wednesday morning we headed for the Louvre, where we purchased our two-day museum passes. The passes are an absolute must in Paris. Over 60 museums and other attractions and no waiting in line to buy tickets at every place!
Although Alicia was disappointed in the Louvre. Mostly because she is vertically challenged (i.e. very short) and she couldn't really see the artwork anyway. This photo of the Mona Lisa was taken BEFORE the museum "got busy." See what I mean?
That little tiny picture way far away is the Mona Lisa. As I hate wading through masses of humanity, that is about as close as I got to it.
However, she was happier with the other art museums we visited.
The Musee de Orsay has a wonderful collection well displayed in an old train station.
And the Rodin Museum is one of the best designed museums I have ever seen.So after three days in Paris I asked Alicia what she thought.
Her response? "Eh, it's o.k. Can we go to Venice now?"
2 comments:
Most people find the Mona Lisa to be a bit disappointing when seen in person. It's such a famous piece of artwork , yet the painting itself is so small (and putting it in such a grand hall I think dwarfs it even further). I much preferred most of the other artwork we saw at the Louvre... like the huge painting of the wedding a Caana(sp?) where Jesus turned water into wine-- it's HUGE, and sits across the room from the Mona Lisa.
The arc de triumph photo was incredible!! lol... that is too funny... Alicia thoughts.. My thoughts, feel lucky you are traveling! I miss it soooo much!
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