After waking up to a roommate blow drying her hair right by my bed at 7 am I was annoyed and eventually went downstairs for breakfast. Our hostel was basically useless except for the breakfast because it didn't have any wifi. Once Kathleen and I set out for the day we made our way to the Louvre. It was a slightly longer walk than we expected so we stopped in the jardin de tuileries for some ice cream to refuel. When we arrived in the Louvre we found out that we got in for free, so we walked into the Denon gallery to see the Mona Lisa. She was still the same unimpressive size as she was the last time I saw her, but still an obligation to see. After strolling through some more Renaissance art, we went into a different gallery to see some sculptures and Napoleon III's apartment. At this point we had done a lot of art seeing in this massive museum, so we decided to head over to the Musee d'Orsay. However, as we were leaving the gallery the doors were closed and security was not letting anyone into the galleries. A voice booming over the speakers said there was a situation occurring and for everyone to exit the museum. Confused, we left and walked across the river to the next museum.
Views along our walk to the Louvre
Nailed it!
Yum
Look! I'm at the Louvre
Some favorites from the Louvre
"Can you tell me how much the Grecian urn?"
Is that a sculpture?
You're not going to get far riding a turtle...
Napoleon III's Apartment, quite lavish
I don't even know where to begin
At the Musee d'Orsay I went directly to the Van Gogh exhibit, and couldn't believe I was in the presence of his work. We then ascended a few floors to walk through the impressionist gallery. It was breathtaking to glimpse at all this astounding artwork in these museums. After a while longer of looking through the museum we set off in search of a crepe. We found one from a vendor stand and ordered it with Nutella, except the worker was disappointed in us that we weren't from California. We sat and ate our crepes under the glory of Notre Dame de Paris, soaking up the patches of sunlight. Finished with our crepes, we went into the cathedral and admired it's beauty. As we were looking around mass started, so we decided to stay for it. The mass still felt sacred, even if it was in French and I couldn't understand it. When mass was finished it was still light out so we walked across the bridge to the Shakespeare and Co. Bookstore. I found a nook to read a book of poetry and a cat to pet upstairs. After a while we bought some books and strolled behind Notre Dame and then over to the lock bridge where Kathleen places a lock on the bridge. With the sun beginning to set behind the clouds we ambled next to river Seine, as groups of people ate dinner, smoked and chatted. We then popped into a few shops down Champs Élysées before turning in for the night.
Hey Vincent!
The museum used to be a train station
Watching the time fly in Paris
On the balcony of the museum
The lock bridge
Kathleen putting on her lock
Notre Dame de Paris
We left a note in the guest book
Looking through books
Behind Notre Dame
The next morning we woke up early to shower and catch the metro to meet Kathleen's family friends who lived in Paris. We met them in front of the opera house and then walked through the city, in gardens, along the river, and on sidewalks, just conversing. We talked about a variety of subjects from education systems to his life in Austria, until they had to depart for a meeting. After that we settled on getting lunch out of the way by eating at McDonald's and to use their wifi. We then decided to go to the Grand Palias, but it was far too expensive, so we opted for the free Petit Palias. We strolled through more art galleries, but this one by far had the oddest collection of art. After spending some time trying to figure out meanings of some of the pieces, we were done. As we got to the entrance we saw the rain pouring down, so we made a run for the nearest metro station and went to the Louvre. Since we got in free and we didn't get to see nearly everything and we got to dry off might as well go to the Louvre. This time we walked around the medieval Louvre, which was basically the stone bases of towers, ancient Egypt and then into Rococo art. By the time we reached the plates and rugs section we were goofing off, trying to keep our minds off of how tired we were. After visiting Marie Antoinette's stuff we decided we were museumed out for the day.
Like what is this?
Admiration of art
This confuses me so much. Did it break or is supposed to be like this?
These guys were all over the courtyard
Marie Antionette's decor
Trying to be as Parisian as possible we went to a store, bought some baguettes and salads to sit and eat them by the river bank while the rain held off. Although it was significantly cooler than earlier we enjoyed our French meal before taking a river cruise. We hopped on a boat after our dinner and went all along the river from the Eiffel tower to Notre Dame. We saw it all and went under every bridge. Even though we shivered in the cool wind we still were amazed by the city as we watched it go by from the top of the boat. After the river cruise , we took a metro up to Champs Elysées to do some shopping at H&M before heading back to the hostel in the darkness.
On a boat
Baguettes and boats
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