April In Paris

As many of you know, we recently returned from Paris, "the most beautiful city in the world." We spent a lovely seven days there taking in great works of art, admiring beautiful buildings and monuments, shopping in wonderful little stores, attempting to speak and understand French and, of course, eating croissants, crepes and all sorts of fabulous French foods.


Here's an account of the highlights.



On the day we arrived, we did a bit of shopping and had lunch at a cafe where there were lots of locals (working men who wore jumpsuits and smoked a lot). Everybody we met so far was super friendly, and we got to speak a little bit of French with the waitress at the cafe. We then walked along the Seine (where we got our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower, visible in the background of the photo), visited Notre Dame (and admired a statue of Charlemagne), and ate dinner at a little cafe on the Isle de St Louis.









































































On our second day, I (Sara) went running around the Louvre and the Jardin de Tuileries (Tuileries Gardens). It was inspiring to see a ton of other runners out - something I have not been used to in Bahrain. After breakfast (croissants, coffee, etc.), we visited the Louvre - the crowds were astounding, and we only arrived about an hour after it opened. We teemed with the masses to see the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo - and then found ourselves strangely alone when we ventured into the "Greek and Roman Antiquities" wing. We also visited the Egyptian Antiquities, Apartments of Napoleon III, and Dutch Paintings, along with a couple of other small sections.



















After the Louvre, we visited the Arc de Triomphe and walked along the Champs-Elysees. Along the Champs-Elysees, we did a bit of shopping and stopped in a cafe to get out of the rain and have a snack. Due to my inability to speak French, I accidentally ordered our food "to go," so then we went to another cafe to get some drinks and get out of the rain.






















Paris has so many beautiful parks (gardens), that you end up walking through or past one everywhere you go. On our walk down the Champs-Elysees, back towards the Louvre and towards our hotel, we walked through two different park areas - the Elysees Palace Gardens and the Tuileries Gardens.

















On day three, we took the train to Giverny, where we saw Monet's house, gardens and water gardens. It was fun to visit the places that we have seen in so many of his paintings.












On Day 4, we went to the Eiffel Tower. Here are pictures from the bottom and from the top.




This photo is of the Peace Monument, with the Eiffel Tower in the background. The words on the glass are "peace" in all different languages.



We walked to the Jardin du Luxembourg after our visit to the Eiffel Tower, stopping for lunch at a cafe along the way. It was wonderful to eat outside in the sunshine and watch people go by.

The gardens were lovely - we spent a couple of hours there, sitting and reading and watching people walking in the sunshine.












On our fifth day, we visited the Musee d' Orsay - my favorite museum of the trip. The collection of Impressionist art there is amazing! After viewing the work of Sisley, Pissarro, and Caillebotte, we added these names to the top of our "favorite artists" list.






















After d'Orsay, we visited Sainte Chapelle - a beautiful cathedral with impressive stained-glass windows.
















































On Day 6, we took the train to Versailles. We were both impressed with how big and magnificent the palace is - everything is so lavish. It was interesting to observe how the aristocracy lived. We walked all through the inside of the palace, and walked outside around the grounds a little bit, but it was very windy and cold, so we didn't stay outside for too long.


















After our visit to Versailles, we took the train back to Paris, where we had a late lunch at Cafe Angelina - a cafe with wonderful food and the best hot chocolate in the world. Highly recommended!!!

We then went back to the Louvre - which is open late on Wednesdays - and saw Medieval Art Objects, some Renaissance Art Objects, and French Large Format paintings. "Raft of the Medusa" was my favorite painting that we saw. Here is a picture of it:








Our last full day in Paris - Thursday, April 5th - we walked north from our hotel to explore a different nearby neighborhood. We walked past St. Eustache cathedral, and admired all the little beautiful shops in the area. Also, there were a lot of fresh markets with lots of good-looking produce. Here is a picture of St. Eustache (taken on our first day in Paris) and another of the park area and some buildings nearby (taken on our last day).







We walked to Pompidou Centre (The Modern Art Museum) after exploring the St. Eustache area. We saw works by Picasso and Matisse, among others. Two of our favorites are pictured here (although we don't really "get" the electrical cord one):







After the Pompidou Centre, we took the metro back to Cafe Angelina for lunch. We had salad, French cheeses, wine, and bread. It was excellent.


We walked to the Rodin museum in the late afternoon, where we saw "The Thinker" and many other sculptures. I was really impressed with Rodin's work, and his house/gardens (which make up the Rodin museum) were beautiful to walk through.














After visiting Rodin's house, we walked back to our hotel, taking in as much as we could of our last afternoon in Paris. Here are a couple of photos that we thought were representative of many of the street fronts.












We ended our trip by taking one last walk across the Seine - the Eiffel Tower shines at night, as does the rest of Paris - "the most beautiful city in the world."