Paris – Thursday March 26, 2009
We took our time getting ready in the morning as we were all pretty tired from our traveling day. Ate a nice breakfast in the hotel breakfast room – croissants, including pain au chocolat, with nutella and a variety of cheeses, jams, and butter; yogurt, fresh fruit (and a glass of orange juice each) and cereal.
First on the “to-do” list was to travel to the Hard Rock Café to pick up our Paris Passes. We’ve all decided that these passes could have easily been sent to our homes so we didn’t spend quite so much time going out of our way to pick them up. We took the Metro and had to transfer between lines. I’m pretty pleased with how much I understand about the metro already – we’re getting around without any problems at all other than Debbie’s walking difficulties. She is ok as long as we take it slow and avoid steps when possible. After we got the passes, we decided to go to the Louvre. Back on the metro, another trip with transfers but this time on our metro passes so no more tickets used from my carnet.
We were able to use the Richelieu entrance as we had the pass – so no waiting in line! I had to take off my jacket and my travel vest to take off my backpack with the computer. Security is a fact of life these days but it’s a pain when you are carrying lots of electronics and metal objects. (more on that later.)
We headed towards the Mona Lisa, but along the way we saw lots of statues and sculptures, and many paintings as well. These were the real thing, not just imitation! The Mona Lisa was a very popular painting – it was about six people deep in front of it, had to be patient and move forward as others left. We also saw the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, and many other beautiful and priceless pieces of art. We spent about two hours there.
After we left the Louvre, I went searching for the geocache that was supposed to be near the Louvre. I was able to find it, and it was FINALLY my #1500 find! Judy took my picture with the sign I’d made at home to commemorate the occasion.
The weather was somewhat blustery – but we decided to walk down through the Jardin des Tuileries anyway. For the first time, we saw a scam in progress – the gold ring one – multiple times from the same lady. It was pretty funny since we knew what was happening. I don’t think she appreciated us laughing at her, even from a short distance away. We found a certain statue so that I could complete a virtual cache, then came close to The Orangerie Museum where Debbie & Judy waited on a bench while I looked for a cache about 300 ft. away. Found it and it was a glass jar that had a broken hole in it. Still held together and people had still been signing the log, so I went ahead and did the same. When I came back, Debbie had about a dozen pigeons on her lap and arms – she had been feeding them crumbs and she sure became popular!
We went to the Orangerie after that. Security was the tightest it had been – I had to empty all the pockets of my vest, plus check my computer in at security (I couldn’t carry it around the museum. This is the museum that has the large room-sized pictures of water lilies by Monet. There was also quite a few Renoir paintings (my favorite artist) and others that, before now, had only been names in my art appreciation textbook many years ago.
Left the Orangerie and found a crepe stand so we each had one. Ooh La La! C’est delicioux! Walked from there to the metro station and took the metro to the Tour Eiffel (one transfer.)
We’d seen the tower a few times from afar, but this was the first close up look and it was wonderful! The lines weren’t all that long at the time we were there (about 6 p.m. I think) but it started to rain so out came the umbrellas. It was 12 euros to go all the way to the top, which we did. I wasn’t really looking forward to being up so high but I was fine once I was up there. Awesome views of all of Paris. I even used the restroom while at the top so now I can say I (you know) on top of the Eiffel Tower….
Our timing was great because we had the daylight to see the views. As we were coming down, the lights were starting to come on and by the time we were walking away from the tower back towards the metro, the tower was lit completely.
We took the metro back to Charles de Gaulle – Etoile and decided to see the Arc de Triomphe. We had some trouble figuring out where the underground passage was – finally went back through the metro and found the passage at the Champs Elyssee. Later, we saw the signs directing us that way. C’est la vie!
Debbie’s ankle was really beginning to ache again by now so we were able to take the elevator up to the museum. Judy and I walked up the remaining 45 steps to the observation platform at the top. We were treated to the sight of the Eiffel Tower’s light show since it was the top of the hour. Lots of great nighttime views of Paris.
After we left the Arc, it was past 9 p.m. actually headed towards 10, and we still hadn’t eaten dinner. We found a nice little place on Wagram (the street our hotel is on) which we wish we’d have found last night. Judy had an appetizer of onion soup, and I was brave enough to try escargot. They looked pretty green when they arrived, but that was just the sauce. They weren’t too bad. Judy tried one, too, but Debbie said “no thanks.” For dinner, Judy had veal, Debbie had chicken, and I went adventurous and had canard (duck.) We didn’t eat lunch other than the crepes so felt we could splurge just a little bit.
Tomorrow night is our last night together in Paris. Saturday morning, Debbie and Judy head for home and I head for my weekend alone in Paris! I’m already confident that I will do ok. My only concern is that I never heard back from my other hotel about my needing to change my reservation after I had sent them an e-mail. Hope I can get it straightened out, I don’t think it’ll be a problem though. I still haven’t decided exactly what to do for Saturday, guess it’ll depend somewhat on what we do tomorrow. (Plans are for Notre Dame and the Jardin du Luxembourg if the weather permits.) Sunday is definitely Versailles, and Monday afternoon I travel to Germany. Ready for me, Scott?
I’m hoping to finally get some “MacDo” wireless time tomorrow morning so I can get the last entry and this one posted. If you’re reading this, you will know I was successful.
We took our time getting ready in the morning as we were all pretty tired from our traveling day. Ate a nice breakfast in the hotel breakfast room – croissants, including pain au chocolat, with nutella and a variety of cheeses, jams, and butter; yogurt, fresh fruit (and a glass of orange juice each) and cereal.
First on the “to-do” list was to travel to the Hard Rock Café to pick up our Paris Passes. We’ve all decided that these passes could have easily been sent to our homes so we didn’t spend quite so much time going out of our way to pick them up. We took the Metro and had to transfer between lines. I’m pretty pleased with how much I understand about the metro already – we’re getting around without any problems at all other than Debbie’s walking difficulties. She is ok as long as we take it slow and avoid steps when possible. After we got the passes, we decided to go to the Louvre. Back on the metro, another trip with transfers but this time on our metro passes so no more tickets used from my carnet.
We were able to use the Richelieu entrance as we had the pass – so no waiting in line! I had to take off my jacket and my travel vest to take off my backpack with the computer. Security is a fact of life these days but it’s a pain when you are carrying lots of electronics and metal objects. (more on that later.)
We headed towards the Mona Lisa, but along the way we saw lots of statues and sculptures, and many paintings as well. These were the real thing, not just imitation! The Mona Lisa was a very popular painting – it was about six people deep in front of it, had to be patient and move forward as others left. We also saw the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, and many other beautiful and priceless pieces of art. We spent about two hours there.
After we left the Louvre, I went searching for the geocache that was supposed to be near the Louvre. I was able to find it, and it was FINALLY my #1500 find! Judy took my picture with the sign I’d made at home to commemorate the occasion.
The weather was somewhat blustery – but we decided to walk down through the Jardin des Tuileries anyway. For the first time, we saw a scam in progress – the gold ring one – multiple times from the same lady. It was pretty funny since we knew what was happening. I don’t think she appreciated us laughing at her, even from a short distance away. We found a certain statue so that I could complete a virtual cache, then came close to The Orangerie Museum where Debbie & Judy waited on a bench while I looked for a cache about 300 ft. away. Found it and it was a glass jar that had a broken hole in it. Still held together and people had still been signing the log, so I went ahead and did the same. When I came back, Debbie had about a dozen pigeons on her lap and arms – she had been feeding them crumbs and she sure became popular!
We went to the Orangerie after that. Security was the tightest it had been – I had to empty all the pockets of my vest, plus check my computer in at security (I couldn’t carry it around the museum. This is the museum that has the large room-sized pictures of water lilies by Monet. There was also quite a few Renoir paintings (my favorite artist) and others that, before now, had only been names in my art appreciation textbook many years ago.
Left the Orangerie and found a crepe stand so we each had one. Ooh La La! C’est delicioux! Walked from there to the metro station and took the metro to the Tour Eiffel (one transfer.)
We’d seen the tower a few times from afar, but this was the first close up look and it was wonderful! The lines weren’t all that long at the time we were there (about 6 p.m. I think) but it started to rain so out came the umbrellas. It was 12 euros to go all the way to the top, which we did. I wasn’t really looking forward to being up so high but I was fine once I was up there. Awesome views of all of Paris. I even used the restroom while at the top so now I can say I (you know) on top of the Eiffel Tower….
Our timing was great because we had the daylight to see the views. As we were coming down, the lights were starting to come on and by the time we were walking away from the tower back towards the metro, the tower was lit completely.
We took the metro back to Charles de Gaulle – Etoile and decided to see the Arc de Triomphe. We had some trouble figuring out where the underground passage was – finally went back through the metro and found the passage at the Champs Elyssee. Later, we saw the signs directing us that way. C’est la vie!
Debbie’s ankle was really beginning to ache again by now so we were able to take the elevator up to the museum. Judy and I walked up the remaining 45 steps to the observation platform at the top. We were treated to the sight of the Eiffel Tower’s light show since it was the top of the hour. Lots of great nighttime views of Paris.
After we left the Arc, it was past 9 p.m. actually headed towards 10, and we still hadn’t eaten dinner. We found a nice little place on Wagram (the street our hotel is on) which we wish we’d have found last night. Judy had an appetizer of onion soup, and I was brave enough to try escargot. They looked pretty green when they arrived, but that was just the sauce. They weren’t too bad. Judy tried one, too, but Debbie said “no thanks.” For dinner, Judy had veal, Debbie had chicken, and I went adventurous and had canard (duck.) We didn’t eat lunch other than the crepes so felt we could splurge just a little bit.
Tomorrow night is our last night together in Paris. Saturday morning, Debbie and Judy head for home and I head for my weekend alone in Paris! I’m already confident that I will do ok. My only concern is that I never heard back from my other hotel about my needing to change my reservation after I had sent them an e-mail. Hope I can get it straightened out, I don’t think it’ll be a problem though. I still haven’t decided exactly what to do for Saturday, guess it’ll depend somewhat on what we do tomorrow. (Plans are for Notre Dame and the Jardin du Luxembourg if the weather permits.) Sunday is definitely Versailles, and Monday afternoon I travel to Germany. Ready for me, Scott?
I’m hoping to finally get some “MacDo” wireless time tomorrow morning so I can get the last entry and this one posted. If you’re reading this, you will know I was successful.
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