8/12/16
Paris
We started out our morning in Paris!! How perfect. We had a tour this morning with Gate 1. They brought along a local guide, Nicholas. He was very funny and so entertaining! We did a driving tour in our bus, again... so un-Paris-romantic. He gave us many stops and plenty of opportunities for photo-ops. I got some really great pictures at the Eiffel Tower!
What's pretty interesting about Europe right now- everyone is on vacation. It's like everyone abandons the city for the month of August. So many shops and places to eat are closed. For the whole month.. some longer. How can I sign up??
After our tour with Nick, some of the group signed up to go to Versailles. I actually spent a whole day there last time I went to Paris so we opted to do our own thing for the day.
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| Place de la Revolution where Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI were executed. |
So we spent the day museum exploring. We walked across the river to the Musee de Orsay. This was my favorite museum when I studied abroad in Paris. We studied so many of these works in elementary school. I loved it!!
But I went too far too fast-- once we crossed the river, we grabbed a sandwich and ate it along the river. It was perfect.
But I went too far too fast-- once we crossed the river, we grabbed a sandwich and ate it along the river. It was perfect.
So we bought museum passes online the night before. Smarty pants. We didn't have to wait in line. Walked straight in and directly to the 5th floor. The Impressionism floor. My very, very favorite.
So many beautiful and perfect works of art. Like I mentioned, we studied these at Southside. Even painted ;) some of them. We probably spent a little over 3 hours touring. This museum is different from most in that there is SO much light. So happy. It use to be an old train station.
We left and headed to the Pompidou Centre. Which was a long walk! I think we actually stopped and made a coffee/crepe break. Again, love these perfect little bistros.
We spent about 2 hours at the Pompidou Centre. Brian loves modern art, I love impressionism. So it was our day!
Cool fact about the Pompidou: the exposed skeleton of the building is made up of brightly colored tubes. Originally they stood for: green pipes are plumbing, blue ducts are for climate control, electrical wires are encased in yellow, and circulation elements and devices for safety are red.
We basically sprinted back to the hotel to meet Scott and Holly for dinner. We had dinner at Le Chateaubriand-- Brian read an article somewhere (so vauge, I know) that named it #11 out of 50 places to eat in the world! It was really good but after our experience at Daalder, it wasn't the same!
We skipped the wine pairing tonight and ordered a bottle instead. Which was interesting because Scott and Holly did do the pairings and there were lots of liquors instead.
I think I got every course of this meal captured. Although I don't remember what most are. The dessert had to be the strangest thing I've ever had in my life. Of course I didn't get a picture of this-- they said it was some kind of green tomato ice cream?? AND that thing on the bottom left-- so weird!
After dinner we rode the metro to Montmarte. We stopped for a drink before making the climb to the top.. then we climbed the very steep stairs! Burn! It was totally worth it. I just love Sacre Coeur. It's beautiful and you can see the whole city!
Back up a bit-- as soon as we started climbing the steps, a man asked Brian if he would like to buy a heineken-- 6 euro for ONE! Brian said no. He immediately started following us... 5 euro, 1 beer. No. Kept going and going and going. Finally, Scott and Brian worked out a deal, 2 beers for 5 euro. Only minutes later another guy came along-- 3 beer for 5 euro. It was so crazy. They were everywhere and they wouldn't leave us alone. It got really annoying.
So we stayed for a while, drank our maybe beers and sat on the steps. It was wild how many people were there. People everywhere. We took the long walk down the hill, made a photo stop by the Moulin Rouge and then ubered home.
I did some laundry when we got back to hotel, Brian is officially out of pants! I'll share that fun picture with you tomorrow ;)
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