Paris!

Thursday, May 8

I promised to post some pics of our Paris apartment....it is truly TINY.  But very functional and well decorated.

The living area

Living area and hall to bed/bath/kitchen

Bedroom - small bed, very uncomfortable...

Kitchen...yes, that's the whole kitchen, except there is a refrigerator on the wall next to me as I am taking this pic.

Bath - decent size considering the rest of the place

We walked around the local area a bit.  Found the tourist office and bought a “Paris Pass” – gets us into 60 museums/monuments over 4 days and also 5 days of transportation on the Metro, RER, and buses.  

We decided to walk to the Eiffel Tower, which is a good trek from our apartment near the Louvre.  We had a so-so lunch that took at least 2 hours -- very close to the Eiffel Tower, then walked back.  Both of us have been to the top of the tower before, and the weather was not good, so we bagged that excursion.  We got in a good 20K steps today!

We saw some great sights on the way there and on the way back, photos are below. 

Arne outside the Louvre

Me outside the Louvre

One of the wings of the Louvre.  I was particularly impressed by all that statues adorning the building.  Also, if you have never seen it, it's difficult to describe just how large it is.  We are going to the Louvre later this week and I know I will post more photos - stand by!

At the Louvre

On the wall of the Musee du Quai Branly

Musee du Quai Branly

The Eiffel Tower

The Grande Palais

The Eiffel Tower from the Seine

Friday, May 9

Went to the Musée du Louvre today.  We have both been to Paris before, but Arne had never been inside the Louvre.  It’s enormous...approximately 30,000 objects on display!

We got there about 9:30AM.  We had downloaded an audio guide to our iPhones which did a nice job of getting us to the “masterpieces” in the Sully and Denon wings of the museum.  At 11:30 we took a water break, and then went through the Richelieu wing, where we saw the apartments of Napoleon III, as well as several artifacts from the July Monarchy and the Renaissance.  We were impressed with the amount of ornamentation and artistry put on all things back then. The rooms themselves; frescos painted on walls and ceilings, larger than life paper mache 3D “statues” on the walls, etc.   Also the tapestries, the furniture, and the china (hand painted) and serving sets.

One of the masterpieces - Venus de Milo - one of the most famous ancient Greek statues.  The Venus de Milo is the statue of Aphrodite, and was carved by Alexandros, a sculptor of Antioch in about 150 BC.  It was found on the island of Melos on April 8, 1820.

One of the rooms in the Louvre

Looking out the window to the plaza

One of the frescos and ornamentation in the Louvre.

Crown of King Louis XV

The only shot I could get of the Mona Lisa.  I couldn't believe the crowds around this small painting.  I had to hold my camera above my head to get this. 

In Napolean's apartments

A crystal dressing table in the Louvre - sorry, I didn't get the details on this one.  It was pretty impressive though!

I loved the details on this table, but the pic doesn't do it justice.

A medieval knight's helmut

Carving of a young fisherman (child).

By 2pm we were beat, so we headed out and found a nice restaurant, not too far from the apartment.  Had a decent lunch, done around 4pm – went to the store for “essentials” and headed home.  Taking it easy tonight. Tomorrow the plan is to take the train to Versailles – weather permitting.

Saturday, May 10

Weather was not permitting, unfortunately rain.  We decided to see sights closer to the apartment.

We first headed to Sainte-Chapelle.  It’s a fairly small chapel inside the Palais de la Cite – which was the royal palace from the 10^th to the 14^th centuries and now functions as the Palace of Justice.

The chapel was built by Louis IX to house relics of the Passion of Christ, most notably the Crown of Thorns, which the King purchased in 1239, turning Paris into a “new Jerusalem” for the rest of the medieval world.  The cost paid for the Crown of Thorns greatly exceeded the cost of building the chapel itself!

The chapel has two sanctuaries, one on top of the other.  The lower chapel walls are decorated with frescos and 12 medallions featuring the apostles.  The upper chapel walls are made up of 15 stained glass windows containing 1113 scenes depicting the story of mankind from Genesis to Christ’s resurrection.  Fourteen of the windows depict stories from the Bible organized by book (i.e., Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, etc).  These are read “left to right, from the bottom up”.  The 15^th is the history of the relics of the Passion and is to be read “boustrophedonically” (ie – opposite directions, from the bottom up).  The window depictions are very detailed paintings on top of the stained glass.  It’s really stunning! 

The stained glass panels in the Sainte-Chapelle were breathtaking

One of the hundreds of Bible depictions

Another of the Bible depictions

In the lower chapel

Restoration of the stained glass that is going on.

Quite extensive restoration work has been done on the windows (2 of them were currently covered up and in the process of being renovated).  We watched a short video that showed the process of taking the windows apart and putting them back together – very interesting.  We were impressed by the amount of detail and time involved to either glue the broken glass back together, or choose equivalent glass, and also repaint the images as they originally were.

We then went to Cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris.  There was a long line, and it was a little confusing since it started next to a temporary tent holding a bakery show/competition in the square outside the cathedral.

Since the line looked long, we decided to visit the Archaeological Crypt housed under the Notre Dame square first.  It is a museum that displays archaeological remains discovered during excavations from Roman times to the 20^th century - of the Ile de la Cite (the historical heart of Paris – the island).  Interestingly for Arne, Dassault Systemes (his main supplier while working on 787 systems at Boeing) has partnered with a professor and used their 3DLive platform to develop a 3D interactive model of what Paris looked like when it was the Roman town of Lutetia.  Great use of the technology!

After the Crypt, we decided that while the line looked long, we were already there so we decided to wait and tour the Cathedral.  Surprisingly, it only took about 20 minutes to enter the cathedral.  It’s impressive from the outside, but even more so from the inside.

It is thought that the first stone was laid in 1163 and it underwent many transformations over the years with dedication in May 1864, but restoration work has continued.  In the 1960’s the windows were returned to stain glass (the original 13^th century glass had been replaced in the mid 1700’s).  In the 1990’s the “great organ", which had been modified many times throughout the centuries, was refurbished.

The inside was a zoo.  Tourists everywhere, and services and confessions going on at the same time.  We decided not to stand in line or pay to tour the “treasors” room, and spent about 30 minutes inside Notre Dame itself.

In Notre Dame Cathedral

In Notre Dame

The back side of the front altar

The central section

The organ

After touring the inside, we went around the corner and waited in line for a tour of the Towers.  About 45 minutes later, we climbed approximately 14 meters up a circular staircase in the North tower to the starting point.  From there, we continued up the North tower to the Chimura gallery which is 46 meters above the ground, but not the top of the tower.  We then moved across the front of the towers to the South tower and climbed up another set of circular stairs to the top.  From there, you have a great view of the entire city of Paris; notably to the west the Louvre and Arc de Triomphe, and to the north -- Montmarte and the Sacre-Coeur.  We didn’t count them, but according to the tour brochure, there are “400 steps, no lifts, no toilet facilities”.  By the time we got back down, our legs could feel it.  

Views from above:

From the top of the Notre Dame Tower

Looking back at Sainte-Chapelle and the Louvre

Looking the other way - down the Seine at the Cathedral spire

Notre Dame

This gives a little better view of the architecture

We found a Mexican restaurant that served “tapas” and stopped for a light lunch (and, of course, a margarita).  On the way back to the apartment, we spotted a Thai restaurant, so around 8pm we walked back there for dinner.  Thai food typically works well for “gluten intolerance” and we like the flavors.  The food was very good, and very reasonably priced compared to Paris/France standards (would not be reasonably priced at home).

Sunday, May 11

Another on-again off-again rainy day in Paris.  Made breakfast in the apartment this morning, and then headed to Musée D’Orsay.  We stopped for about 5 minutes under the trees by the river with umbrellas and waited for a squall to pass.

"Waitin' out the rain..."

Spent about 3 hours in the Musée D'Orsay, primarily focusing on paintings.  Started with the beginning of the Realism movement (Courbet, Millet, Daumier) and early works of Manet, Degas, and Monet.  Then moved into works by the Impressionists (Monet, Renoir, Pissaro, Sisley, Manet, Degas, Cezanne, Van Gogh, and others).  No pictures allowed.

From there went to Musée de L’Orangerie to continue the focus on impressionist and post-impressionist paintings.  This museum hosts the collection of Paul Guillaume who was an art dealer and collector in the early 1900’s.  Other artists included: Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse, and Picasso. 

After looking at all this art - My favorite artists are Van Gogh, Monet, Cezanne and Matisse.  Arne likes Matisse and Monet.  We actually have a print of a Monet in our house! 

We had now reached our “museum saturation point” and headed for lunch.  Found La Rotonde de Tuileries and had a nice lunch.  On the way back to the apartment, we made the requisite stop at a bakery for Arne’s “baguette”.  We had been to this boulangerie before and they have gluten-free stuff, so I got a piece of chocolate cake/bread!

Monday, May 12

Our plan to go to Versailles today had to be ditched….turns out, it’s closed on Mondays.  It was just as well, since the weather was dicey again.  Instead, we hopped on the Metro and went to Montmartre – Sacré-Cœur . 

The Sacré-Coeur Basilica is relatively young by French standards, considering it was built in late 19th and early 20th century.  Instead of being a Neo-classical or a Gothic church like Notre Dame de Paris, the Sacré-Cœur was inspired by eastern Byzantine architecture.  The most obvious sign of this is the fact the Sacré-Coeur Basilica is dominated by three large domes.  It was built between 1875 and 1914, but because of WWI, it was not dedicated until 1919.  It is a beautiful monument, inside and out, and I took many photos from outside, but there were no photos allowed inside (although, there were plenty of tourists ignoring the ‘no photos’ sign!).  We toured the inside of the cathedral and then decided to hike up the tower (It was 300 steps) – fantastic views from the highest point in Paris.

Sacre-Coeur

View from the top of the tower - in the center of the photo is Notre Dame

The Eiffel Tower from Sacre-Coeur

The grounds leading up the hill to Sacre-Coeur

When we finished our tour of Sacré-Cœur , we walked toward Moulin Rouge – but got to a certain place (Pigale) and decided we didn’t want to go down that street (not a great neighborhood).  We hopped on the metro and rode over to the Arc de Triomphe. 

The construction of the Arc de Triomphe was ordered in 1806 by Napoleon, the French Emperor.  Napoleon wanted to honor the Grande Armee, the name of the French army at that time.  Unfortunately, construction of the Arc was not completed until 1836, long after Napolean’s death in 1821.  The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I rests beneath the Arc.  Many famous victory marches have led past the Arc de Triomphe including the Germans in 1871, the French in 1918, the Germans again in 1940 and the French and the Allies in 1944 and 1945.

We hiked up to the top of the Arc (284 steps!).  Below are a few of the photos from our visit to the Arc de Triomphe.

Looking down the Champs Elysees from the top of the Arc de Triomphe

Me on the Champs Elysees

Arne in front of the Arc de Triomphe

From the top - Champs Elysees on the right.

Sacre-Coeur from the Arc

The Eiffel Tower

Arne

Sorry for a repeat...I really loved this view!

The tomb of the unknown soldier

We really lucked out with the weather for both our visits today (Sacré-Cœur and the Arc).  As soon as we got down from the Arc, we started walking down the Champs-Elysees and found a spot to have lunch (Café George V).  Shortly after we ordered, it started to pour down rain!  It continued the rest of the afternoon.  We managed to duck into the metro between downpours and made it back to the apartment fairly dry.

Tomorrow, we really are going to Versailles – weather or no weather.