A Frantic Tour de France, Part 2

Beautiful stained glass in the church

The next day we planned to visit Notre Dame. This time we beat the crowds into the church; we walked right in and took our time wandering around and taking photos. When we were ready to leave, the line to get in stretched all the way across the square! But our victory was short-lived. Our Museum pass allowed us free access to the towers of Notre Dame, and the kids were excited to go up there since we had watched Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame in preparation for the trip.

Offering candles

Unfortunately, the tower line stretched all the way down the side of the church, and the Museum Pass didn’t allow us to skip it. We learned that they let 30 people in every 10 minutes, and we waited in line about an hour and a half before we finally made it in. Once inside, our group of 30 had to mill about while everyone who didn’t already have a ticket bought one, so the Museum Pass really did us no good. The views from the tower were mildly interesting, but Paris was cloudy that day (as it was for our entire trip), so the scenery wasn’t terribly interesting. Besides that, there were so many people up there crowded onto the stairways and viewpoints that it was hard to move. The whole outing was, unfortunately, probably not worth our time.

Bored-looking gargoyle is not impressed with the foggy view

More gargoyles

Quasimodo's bell

Are we having fun yet?

I had planned this day to be a free exploration day: after the Notre Dame tour we were going to wander up and down the streets of the area, popping in and out of shops as we saw fit,  collecting cheese and bread and desserts for a picnic in one of the parks and possibly picking up some souvenirs. We would have a leisurely meal and play in the park, then find a nice gelato shop and treat ourselves. But it was noon by the time we left Notre Dame; people were starving and tired and grumpy.

Crepe man at work over steaming crepes

So instead we stopped at the first Creperie we found and got something yummy to raise our blood sugar.

Look at all that Nutella!

Then we just made a beeline for the Luxembourg gardens where we just sat and decompressed and recomposed ourselves. There were some pretty flowers there so we took turns taking each others’ portraits. Here are some of our photos:

Goofing in front of the sailboat pond

Carter the photographer

Once we were feeling better, we continued on to the park's really nice playground and let the kids play for a while. This playground, like the amusement park, was gated and charged an admission fee! I’ve never heard of that, but it was minimal and I was happy to pay it so the kids could have some kid time.

We left ourselves about 1/2 hour to stop by Rodin’s sculpture garden before we met the Rosario’s at a crowded and high-end mall where there were all sorts of fancy delicacies. Our mission was to get eclairs, and we were not disappointed - we returned to the house with a box full of lovely creations like salted caramel and chocolate pudding-topped chocolate-filled eclairs.

The thinker

Eclairs of all kinds!

Chocolate shoe!! 

Eiffel Tower at night

We went back to the Rosarios’ house, where we stopped long enough to eat a fabulous carbonara dinner before striking back out again. Everyone was tired but this was our last night in Paris and we were supposed to climb the Eiffel Tower. Based once again on my research, we had planned to take the stairs up to the second floor of the tower in order to skip the lines and also to appreciate “the feel” of the tower. But the lines for the elevator at the base of the tower were short and we could have taken it without much of a wait. We were divided on what to do; we had already climbed about 400 steps that morning for the Notre Dame tower…but we decided to climb anyway. Enthusiasm rose as we went up and up the steps, and then began to ebb again as we passed 500, 600, 700 steps.

Climbing the lit-up tower

Finally we reached the 2nd level and stopped to admire the view, then stepped into the line for the top of the tower, which was an elevator-only attraction. Here is where we joined the crowd. We waited and waited and waited as the line slowly switchbacked around the platform. Everyone was exhausted and ready for bed before we finally got into an elevator.

Paris from the very tip top of the Eiffel Tower

The view from the top was definitely cool, but I think we had passed our point of being able to appreciate it. We made the circuit, snapped a few photos, and got back in line for the elevator down. This one was shorter and it didn’t take us too long to get back to the second floor, then skip down the 750+ steps down to the ground.

Dan and the kids wanted nothing more the next day than to hang out at the house. Mia’s fall break was starting, so the kids spent the morning playing games and playing with the rabbits. I was determined not to leave Paris without seeing the Musee d’Orsay, my favorite part of Paris from my previous visit 20 years ago after college graduation. So I struck out on my own. First stop was the Orangerie, where Monet’s huge lily pond paintings are displayed. It took me much longer than expected to get there because, inexplicably, all the metro entrances to the station nearest the Rosarios’ house were blocked off. I tried to call Dan for guidance but our phone service was really spotty in Paris, so in the meantime I tried to follow other people who were also discovering their way cut off. Eventually I found a way in, but once again arrived at the museum about 1/2 hour after when I wanted to be there. And once again my Museum Pass was useless - I had to wait in the same security line with everyone else, and was only able to escape the ticket buying process once inside. I didn’t love the huge Monets - they were a little too abstract for my taste. I spent about 1/2 hour seeing what else was there - I found a couple of interesting things.

This painter, Maurice Utrillo, paints all women with enormous
butts. He had several paintings like this. Terribly unflattering.
The woman in blue in the center looks like she has a
horse butt with a tail because of the way he has shaded her skirt.

Henri Rousseau painted this picture called
"Child with a doll". I was kind of freaked out
by the man-head on this child.

This is more my style. I love the two girls studying the
music, and the blond girl's hair and the folds of her
dress and the pretty satin bow.

This is an artist I didn't know before named
Marie Laurencin. I really liked the grace and
movement in her work.

One of my favorites from years ago

Next, it was on to the main attraction, the Musee d'Orsay.

Finally, here my Museum Pass came in handy. Finally, the museum was set up so that pass holders had a separate security line and could truly skip the horde of people and go right in. Lucky thing, because after my late start I only had about an hour and a half to tour. I splurged for an audio guide and headed straight for the Impressionist floor. Ahhhhh. I really enjoyed strolling through, admiring the familiar masterpieces that I had loved on my previous visit, and some that weren’t as familiar. The audio guide was perfect - it wasn’t a chronological guide; instead there were numbers next to some of the works and you just punched in the number of any work that you were interested in hearing more about. 

Another of my favorites

Monet before he went totally abstract

I love Degas' dancers in blue

Haley's favorite because we have a book about her

 

Quintessential Impressionism: literally just flecks of color
creating the impression of a girl in the orchard

The audio guide told a few interesting stories, like this one about Manet's painting of a single stalk of asparagus. Manet had painted a bunch of asparagus as a commissioned painting for a client, presumably an asparagus lover. The client sent Manet 1000 francs as payment, which was more than the agreed-upon price. So Manet painted a second picture of this single piece of asparagus and sent it to the client with a note that said "This one was missing from your bunch."






This painting by Gustave Courbet, entitled "Un Enterrement à Ornans" ("A Burial at Ornans"), created quite a scandal. The enormous picture covers an entire wall; this grand scale of painting was previously reserved for historical or religious scenes, but here Courbet has simply painted a scene from everyday life and of common people, not noble ones. It was radical to "elevate" the common people by portraying them in a size previously reserved for French masterpieces. Also, the scene is dominated by the gaping hole of the empty grave in front, and the people in the painting aren't idealized in any way, but instead are somber and grieving, some of the women blowing their noses in handkerchiefs. The painting was almost universally criticized for its ugliness and ordinariness. My favorite part of this story is that one critic said (you can imagine the nose stuck high in the air), "One shudders at the very thought of being buried at Ornans."

The museum got more and more crowded as the day went on. On my way out I ducked onto one of the other floors, away from the Impressionist works. I found furniture on display and no people!

I stopped on my way home to buy some macaroons and “biscuits” (French cookies) for ourselves and to give as gifts, then quickly finished packing and we were off on the next phase of our vacation.