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Published: April 21st 2019
Arc de Triomphe
I love the Arc de Triomphe. After the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was placed at its base, all military parades go around, rather than through, it.After two days of long walks, we decided to try something a little different: the D’Orsay Museum. We got a bit of a late start so, by the time we had walked to the D’Orsay, the lineup to get in was very long. Hmmmmm. Maybe we should come back the next day and make a point of being there before the opening bell. Good idea. But what shall we do instead? How about going to the Louvre? Hmmmmm. The lineup there is probably even longer. Hmmmmm. How about going for a walk?
Third day of long walks The other monument we wanted to walk by was the Arc de Triomphe. Last time we were in Paris we went to the top to see the fabulous views of the city. This time, just walking around the base was all we wanted to do. And starting from the D’Orsay Museum meant we could walk through the Tuiliers Gardens at the Louvre AGAIN. They are pretty neat and we are constantly amazed by the number of chairs just sitting around for people to move where they want to better enjoy the gardens, the pools and the people watching. Of course, this day
Architecture
We love the shape of some buildings caused by the roads not being parallel. the wind was blowing pretty hard and not too many people were sitting around.
As you leave the gardens, you run into the Luxor Obelisk given to France by the Egyptian Pasha in 1833. Pretty impressive. From its location in the Place de la Concorde you can see all the way down the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe. Kill two birds with one walk. The Champs-Élysées was pretty crowded but flowed pretty well. We were interested to see what evidence there was of the Saturday protests that have been going on in France. Things looked pretty good except for financial institutions where there were a lot of boarded up windows. One business looked like it had replaced its windows with panels saying they were open for business. At least their windows couldn’t be broken again.
The Arc itself looked as spectacular as always. I was tempted to go back to the top but thought the better of it. Because it is in the centre of a place where six roads come together, it is fairly easy to plan another route home. The hard part is not walking by some other monumental place.
Today we passed the
Another Park
Paris is full of restful parks. Louvre again, the D’Orsay again and Notre Dame Cathedral again (this was before the fire; I am a little behind in my blogging). We didn’t manage to get by Notre Dame without going in for a quick visit. In light of future events, this was a lucky break. We wandered through the magnificent old building and I left a few minutes before Dianne. Suddenly there was an announcement that the building must be cleared. In several languages they told us “Not to panic” and the people poured out of the building in pretty good order. Quite a crowd stood around in the square in front of the Church and we were surprised to note a group of police on horses setting up in position in front of the Church. We decided to head home and never did find out what the cause of the clearance might be.
Le D’Orsay Musée The next day we hit the D’Orsay museum before opening time. It started out as a train station opened in 1900 for the Exposition Universelle. By 1939, the platforms were too short and it was reduced to suburban service. In a move we saw all over
Another sign
We did get a kick out of this one! France, in 1970 the plan was to tear it down and build a new hotel. The Minister of Cultural Affairs stepped in and it was added to the list of Historical Monuments. It later became a museum dedicated to mainly French art from 1848 to 1914. Lots of paintings, sculptures and photographs by famous names. I was mainly interested in the building itself which was pretty spectacular and the cappuccinos and goodies in the café. Dianne was intrigued by the number of students obviously taking art classes and sketching all kinds of interesting things. One American couple was sitting with their two daughters, 5 and 6, all with sketch pads, busy discussing the art they were observing.
The trip back to the apartment In keeping with our longstanding tradition, we walked back to the apartment via the Gare Austerlitz, the train station we would be using to make our way to the next stop. Paris has many stations; we hadn’t used this one and we don’t like surprises. Besides, we could walk through the Jardin des Plantes again. You can never walk through enough lovely gardens says Dianne.
What’s left in Paris? Well, we hadn’t been
Voltaire plaque
Google says "writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit". I share a birthday (OK, not the year) with him. What can I say? to the Louvre, the Canal St Michael, the Place de la Bastille and also the restaurant recommended by Isabelle, our guide from Montpellier. ToBeContinued!
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