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Published: September 7th 2017
Geo: 48.8566, 2.35097
Thanks to everyone that has posted a comment! It's so fun to hear from you while I'm over here. Well, the brain cells are working a bit better today, I was hardly functioning during the last post...I know what some of you are thinking, just stop.... 😊 So yesterday we took two free tours from --------, the first started in the Latin quarter at Place St. Michel, we met at a great fountain of Michael the archangel, throwing Satan from Heaven. We then went on with a group of about 30 and walked over and past the following with commentary from our tour guide: Pont Neuf! (oldest bridge in Paris walked over and under, some very strange smells under!), Pont des Arts, Louvre courtyard!!, Palais Royal / Comedie Francaise, Jardin du Palais Royale, stopped for lunch at a place that I'm wondering if someone gets a kickback from (just wondering???) then on to Place de la Concorde (where Louis 16 and Marie got their heads taken from them at, walked down the Champs Elysee, Wow, have wanted to do that since HS French class, Grand and Petite Palais, and stopped at Champs Elysee Clemenceau. We gave our tips and
then continued over the amazing, ornate, gaudy, fancy, get the idea? Pont Alexander III, Wow, what a bridge, look it up on the internet, it probably won't do it justice, very impressive. We then took the Metro back by way of Invalides to Tour Maubourg walked back on Rue de Grenelle. Got more food on Rue Cler (of Rick Steves fame). Back to apt. After a bite to eat and a bit of whining about sore feet we dragged our sorry selves to the Ecole Militaire metro stop and proceeded to find our way to the north of Paris to Montmartre, we had to transfer 3 times so felt like Napolean must have when he conquered something! Montmartre is the red light district of Paris and we learned more than we needed to about some things.... An interesting tidbit that the guide told was that Van Gogh instead of using soap and water to clean his brushes decided the best way to clean the lead infused paint off was to use his own mouth! I wonder why he had problems, hmm........? We walked up and down hills in this part of town, this used to be the hill outside of
Paris that looked over it and was a little village that the artists stayed in, Paris has now grown all around it. When I say we climbed hills I don't mean little knolls, the guide mentioned it was akin to a 'forced march' and he wasn't that far off! We ended at Sacre Cour which was amazing, we'll see if we make it back there. We only had about 10 minutes to wander through the church and would have liked to stay a little longer. We made our way back to the apartment about 9 pm and got into bed about 11:30 very tired!
Friday: Today we found our way to the office to pick up our tickets to Normandy that I had bought on the internet at home but had to pick up here. We ended up walking to La Orangerie, which has Monet's famous 6 foot tall and I don't know how long, Water Lilies. Wonderful to see them in person! we then walked over to the d'Orsay. This was an old and very fancy train station that has been turned into an Impressionist (for the most part) Art Museum. We had downloaded the Rick Steves free podcast audio
Pont Neuf
This was the first bridge in Paris! Called the "New Bridge" !tour for this and several other museums. So GLAD I didn't pay to hear his leftist infused opinions on art! Amazing how he can give his thoughts on politics even when he may not be trying to.... then again maybe he is trying to.... I think I'll just pay for the official audio tours at the other museums, I can only handle so much!
After this, we again found our neighborhood grocer and bought some real Parisian frozen dinners! we're really getting uptown here..... actually pretty good and in the comfort of our own apt with the shoes off it tastes even better! Mom and dad are taking a break and I thought I'd catch up on my blog. This is about a 15- 20-minute walk from the apt, was able to pass through the park at the base of the Eiffel Tower ( Champs de Mars) and enjoy the families and many kids playing soccer and other games. So will be going back and we might be making another foray into the museum world yet tonight. Sorry for any spelling, punctuation errors.... am paying by the minute here :-)
'See' you all later!
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