|
Day 15 Tuesday, July 25, I got up about 7:30 to the noise of a jack-hammer at the end of my street. It wasn't the same kind of sound as in the U.S. It sounded like a big truck that someone was trying to start...Blub..Blub...BlubBlubBlubBlub I tried out the shower in my room. The shower doors joined at the corner when you closed them. I think this hotel must have been remodeled fairly recently because all the fixtures looked new. The shower design, however, was a bad idea because it leaked like a sieve and the floor was covered with water when I got out. There was a floor drain there though, like all European hotel bathrooms seem to have. After mopping up a little. I finished getting ready. It was nice to be able to use the hotel provided hair dryer on the wall since it seemed like the weather was getting more humid. The clothes I washed and hung up the night before were still quite wet. I moved them over to the windows of my room, overlooking rue des Recollets. The buffet breakfast in the main floor dining room was very similar to the breakfasts I had had throughout Germany and France. The fare included orange juice, coffee, milk, hard rolls, French bread baguettes, cereals, sliced breads, jellies, sliced cheeses and sliced meats (the best salami I have ever tasted). Back up in my room, I studied my Paris map again to see if I could
arrange an itinerary in my mind. I decided to take the tourist bus again
and to continue the overview of Paris that way. I jumped on the Metro a
little after 9:00 and it took me to a stop close to the tour bus route. Since I was also close to Notre Dame Cathedral, I decided to walk around it again just to be sure I hadn't missed anything.
The line was very long for this attraction. There must be some pretty good stuff here, I thought. "pretty good" is a gross understatement. I know I shall never again see the sheer volume and quality of the artwork displayed at the Museum d'Orsay. The museum was once a train station and was converted to it's present use, I believe, in the last 20 years or so. The museum has sections of sculpture, painting, decorative arts, architecture and other exhibits, such as photography, but the category that blew me away was paintings. The paintings are arranged in chronological order, so you can compare an artist's work with the work of his contemporaries. If you only have a passing knowledge of art, I am sure you have heard of some of these names, whose works are displayed in quantity at d'Orsay: Daumier, Delacroix, Millet, Rousseau, Courbet, Degas, Manet, Monet, Bazille, Renoir, Pissaro, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Gauguin, Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, Whistler (Whistler's Mother), and many more, Needless to say I spent a long time in the d'Orsay. What a feast for the
eyes to have actually seen the original paintings that I had seen
photographs of all my life. I could have spent the whole day there.
The bus came by and I hopped on. It went back over the same route and
continued till I got off at the Eiffel Tower. This is the number one
tourist attraction in Paris and the lines to go to the top bore that
statistic out. I didn't go to the top, but I walked all around the base.
watching the shady looking characters selling their souvenirs. I walked
out from the Tower and got several perspectives of the massive edifice.
Another bus came by and I jumped on till it stopped by the Arc de Triomphe, which is also huge. I didn't go inside or to the top (I wasn't aware you could do that before.), but I walked all around it. The main deal about this landmark is more it's historical significance than it's size or beauty. Back on the bus, I rode till I exited at the Louvre Museum stop. The place is huge, and the pyramid entrance is in the middle of a courtyard surrounded on three sides by the museum. Oops, how could I have forgotten that the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays? RATS and DOUBLE RATS!! I checked to see what time the Museum opened on Wednesday. I could not miss my train to London at 1:00pm on Wednesday. Back on the bus I traveled to the Opera district, with it's chic shops and department stores. This was a bustling part of Paris. (Well, it really seemed like all the areas of Paris I visited were bustling.) I walked around quite a bit and trudged up to the Hard Rock Cafe just so I could say I had been there. The Metro took me back to my hotel area and I went up to my room for a pit stop and a little rest. I turned on the tv to CNN World and they were discussing the breaking news of the Concord crash at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. I flipped channels, but, ironically, there were no other stations reporting this important news story. I wanted to visit the Bastille area of the city, so I went back to the Metro station and rode to the Bastille station. The actual Bastille is no longer standing, but there is a monument where it once stood. I at least wanted to see where it once stood because it played such a historic role in the French revolution. I walked quite a bit in the neighborhood, first down the streets with businesses, then through the residential areas. The old homes with formal French gardens were interesting and beautiful. I found another Metro station and headed back to my hotel area. I decided on the La Taverne l'Est, a typical French street restaurant, in which to have dinner. I had roast duck (Ok, so I like duck.), fried sliced potatoes, romaine salad with a glass of red house wine. The dessert was the best creme brulee I have ever had, with just the right amount of caramelization on top of the custard, and it went great with the coffee. The meal was very good. I went back to my room and watched some tv. All the French stations were now reporting on the Concorde crash. I figured I had time to do the Louvre the next morning if I could get in close to opening time at 9:00am. I went to bed about 11:00. End Day 15
|
