Ladee's Travels

Paris - Orsay Museum

We were up and out of the apartment by 8:30 AM so that we could get to the museum right as it opened (in order to avoid the crowds). We walked to rue Etienne Marcel, around Place des Victoires, and continued on Rue des Petits Champs. We noticed that the traffic was very light this early on Saturday morning. We turned left and walked through Place Vendome, window shopping along the way. As I was taking photos, I walked past a group of four youth. I sensed something unusual. No sooner did I pass them, someone walked beside me and pulled on the zipper of my side pocket. They were trying to get my 2 euro red umbrella from Rome!!! NO!!! I turned quickly and they kept on walking. Good thing they didn't try the other pocket. I keep my kleenex in that pocket. I told Tina that we needed to walk the other way because there were THIEVES in the area.

We continued through rue de Castiglione and crossed rue de Rivoli to get to Jardin Des Tuileries. Joggers were out already, as well as us power walkers, so we cut through the garden and enjoyed the view of Louvre one more time. My goal was to cross the footbridge Passerelle Solferino. This brought us just one building away from Musee D'Orsay. We were there before the crowds!! We went through security without a whole lot of fuss. My ScottEVest is hard to "empty all of your (28) pockets". I just put the whole jacket through and they are happy.

Wow, the Orsay has been renovated. It's beautiful. We tried to use our Rick Steves guided tour, but paintings had been moved so it was hard. We stopped to listen as we found paintings that he describes. I had intended to stay about an hour...and we stayed for 3 hours. Tina got to see more of her new favorite artist Renoir, and I found my Monets and Van Goghs. No photography allowed inside the museum. Sorry. There was a lot of really great pieces of art. AND it started to get really crowded. Time to move on to the next stop on the tour...Rodin Museum (see the seperate post).

Enjoy the photo part of the tour!

Place Vendome, quiet at this time of the day.

Shiny things for sale

The windows are very "springy"
This is the photo I was taking when the pickpockets tried
to get in to my ScottEVest.

Really cool pedestrian bridge.

People hang locks on the bridge. I understand
that this is to indicate the solidity of a relationship.
Very romantic.

Signs of spring on the way to the museum.

We are thrilled. Up early and no long lines to start the day.

Another shot of those showy pink trees.

ANOTHER SCAM ATTEMPT: as we were leaving the Orsay Museum, a woman with a gold ring in her hand asked if we had lost it. The scam is to find the ring, then try to sell this jewelry marked 24K to the visitor. I told her that I knew her scam so leave us alone. World traveler...

Dinner at home

We decided to stop by our local boulangerie/patisierrie and see what we could find for dinner at home. Great call!

Baggette and butter, spinach and cheese pie, and
Provencial pie with ham, tomatoe and cheese with a
dash of faboulous. Quite satisfying and yummy.

Just enough room left for desert: Baba au Rhum and
what has been officially declared as the best ever
chocolate eclaire.

L'Imperial Salon de The and Rue di Rivoli Shopping

Time to begin our trek back to the apartment. We decided that we needed a cafe break and stopped for a drink. Then we continued down the street window (and scarf) shopping.

Tina found this cute black and gold themed cafe.

Two street side seats were waiting for us.

We had a double espresso (4.40 euro) and an iced tea (9 euro)
and our standard glasses of water. Nice people watching shop.
Lots of scarves, boots and fancy decorated tights.

Hand embroidered bath and bedroom accessories.

Make-up bags with the Eiffel Tower on them.

Fancy accessories.

Angelina's pastries

A Chanel book displayed in the front window of the book store.

Watches galore.

Glass decorations.

Golden Lalique

Musee de l'Orangerie - Monet!!

At the end of the Tuilleries Garden is a great museum. We sat and gazed at the huge paintings, watched children learning the fine arts, and were fortunate enough to view paintings by some great artists. And they had an elevator so we did not have steps (we were getting a little worn out by this time).

Beautiful summer reflection with willows and clouds.

A class of young artists quietly studied the work and
created a version of their own.

I'm not the only one who stands right in front of them to
take photos (no flash please).

Tina has a new best friend, Renoir. She fell in love with his work.

More Renoir.

And more!

The Rodin "The Kiss" is outside. We plan to see more
from this artist in a few days.

A walk through the Tuilleries in Spring

We walked through the Tuilleries garden and enjoyed the Spring planting and blooms. The fountains and ponds are under refurbishment. We sat at the one working one to watch the children playing with sail boats. At first, we thought that the boats were motorized, but realized that the children position them from the side of the pond and give them a push. They then watch its progress and run to the other side to turn the boat and give it another push. I can image that this can get to be quite fun with a pond full of boats.

Flowerbeds are blooming. The trees are just beginning to
turn brilliant colors. We noticed that the buds were
beginning and hope that they bloom while we are here.

Beautiful tulips, daffodils, and other flowers grow everywhere.

These trees are blooming in red and pink shades.

A sailboat on the pond.

The Grande Perspective
You can see the Concorde monument and the Arc de Triomphe.

Le Carrousel

While researching for the trip, I read that there was a mall underneath the Louvre. WHAT? How could I have missed this. So we decided to check it out.

There is an entrance on either side of the Arc.

Restaurants, cafes, shops...and an quick and easy entrance to the Louvre.
Avoid the lines on the surface!!

As we rounded the corner, we were shocked and
delighted to see the inverted pyramid.

There were a lot of both high end and fun shops.
Apple had a HUGE store.

This is a pay-to-potty. 1 euro. What an
adventure. They sold designer toilet paper,
fancy bathroom stuff, and a 100% guaranteed
sterile toilette.

Here is the list of stores. I had always wondered
where people shopped for regular mall stuff.
here is one of the underground malls.

Louvre

We started the day on time and reached the Louvre at 9:05, right after they opened. NO LINE!! It was awesome. We walked right in, right up to the ticket windows. I had intended to spend about 2 hours but we got into what we were doing and we stayed about 5 hours. And loved it all. I've been there when it was crowded and the light crowds made this day incredibly easy.

Our first view of the pyramid.

Tina was speechless from the time that she walked in to
\the first courtyard.

I am always grateful to be able to see Mona Lisa again.

My fave painting.

The ebb and flow of the crowd allowed for a moment
to capture Venus without a crowd gathered.

We went into the restaurant. I thought we were going to
have a "snack", but then discovered that it was 1PM
and time for lunch. Tina ordered Quiche Lorraine and salad.

I ordered a smoked salmon salad with avacado. It was very good.

Our fancy water carafe. I'm under strict orders from my
son to make sure and drink a lot of water. Here is proof!

To my surprise, I discovered that the restaurant was "Angelina's"

Of course, we had to order that wonderful thick hot chocolate.

We finished this Louvre tour by walking through
the Napolean Apartments.

Galerie Layfayette and Au Pied de Couchon

We stopped in to see "Paris Story" at a little movie house. This presented the history of Paris and was a good introduction. The presentation is in French, but each seat has a head set and you select your language of choice. One quick stop at Galerie Layfayettes (incredible inside) and went to the roof top to look over Paris. This is free and I recommend taking the time to do this. Our dinner was light and at Au Pied do Cochon. We were so exhausted by this time that we were nearly falling asleep at the table. We ate our dinner and went to the apartment, asleep soon after stepping foot inside the door.