Paris - The City of Light

Before Amsterdam, we were in Paris. But I forgot to show you one of the funniest Amsterdam pictures. This needs to go on my next Xmas card:

It was pretty windy, don't you think?

We left London, and rode the Eurostar to Paris. This was also a 3 hour ride that took us through the countryside and the country of Belgium. Here are some views of the city of Brussels:

The countryside was so peaceful and bucolic, with cows, horses, and sheep grazing. Brussels was quite developed, with airplanes taking flight above our train.

Here are some views of the city of Antwerp:

Then we arrived at the station, The Gare Du Nord, and were taken to our hotel, the Hotel Le Lavoisier. It was fairly rustic, but very French. Here is the view from our wood shuttered window:

The stay included a continental breakfast - yogurt, compote (applesauce) , cheese, pastries, meusli, croissants, crepes, madeleines, juice, coffee and tea. They gave us a brochure to welcome us, and we found it funny that it said in the "Les Services de l'Hotel" to not flush the toilet unless necessary - only when you did a "task". Oooh la la!!! The hotel had a spiral staircase and a honor bar - if you took a drink, you just told the receptionist. There was a market and a bank less than a block away.

We rode the HopOn HopOff bus for two solid days. We saw every area of Paris, since there are four routes you can take. We also had unlimited Metro rides, but we didn't want to do that, unlike the other two cities we visited, mostly due to the language barrier. A lot of French do not speak any English.

Here are some of the sites we passed by :

These two pictures show L'Opera Garnier.

These two pictures are of the Place De La Concorde - the stele depicts the life of Ramses 2.

Here is a view up the Seine towards the Champs-Elysee. The bus played a song when we passed the three stops on this shopping street, and boy does it stick with you !!

And we saw the famous Arc de Triomphe - the guide told us that planes have flown through it. Hard to believe.

We also saw the Place de la Republique:

And the statue of Ferdinand Foch, a famous French general :

The National Ballet was housed in the Musee d'Orsay:

The Assemblie Nationale was closed for renovation:

Here is a convent that was converted to be a part of the Hotel des Invalides, which was a hospital during the World Wars.

And this is the Palais de la Decouverte:

Sunset in Paris !!!

Of course, we saw the Eiffel Tower, built in 1900 for the World's Fair. It was funny - Doc noticed that it wasn't grey - it was khaki colored.

We spent a lot of time changing buses at the Ecole Militaire, the military school - this was where we changed lines to see other areas of Paris.

And of course, the beautiful dome of the Pantheon:

We also passed this golden gilded Orthodox Cathedral a few times - in person, it was very pretty.

So what did we eat? The first night, we stopped at a typical Paris Brasserie and had a nice French meal. I had Onion Soup Gratinee and Doc had a cheeseburger with a fried egg on it and pommes frites (aka French Fries).

I indulged in a Porn Star Martini - it had a half Passion fruit in it and a side car of champagne:

The next night, we found ourselves outside a McDonald's. Doc needed his fix. He had a Big Mac, and I had a 280 Original  - it was on a fluffy brioche roll and had a lot of mayonnaise:

We also stopped at the Cathedrale-Notre Dame de Paris. Admission was free of charge.

We left a candle and offering for my mom.

The Rose Window did not photograph well due to the sunlight streaming through it.

There was a crazy model of the cathedral - I had to look twice to be sure it wasn't made of popsicle sticks.

There were many beautiful altars - the second one is for the Virgin of Guadalupe. My MIL is Mexican, so she enjoyed this photo.

At the entrance, there was the biggest crucifix that I have ever seen:

 Here I am, on the banks of the Seine:

There were a lot of pop-up book sellers, who also had various artworks. Unfortunately for Doc, all the antique books were in French. Go figure.

We did look in this charming bookstore, called Shakespeare and Company. A sleeping cat called Agnes guarded all the books.

We also saw the other side of Gay Paree:

The famous Moulin Rouge !!

And La Diva, offering table and lap dances.

There was also an extensive flea market,

The next day, we went to the Musee de Louvre - the famous Louvre!!

The glass pyramid is the entrance - it was crowded, with a wait of approximately 1.5 hours. We had a fast pass, so we didn't wait.

There was also a smaller arch there, with a chariot and driver on top.

The halls were made of marble and were very quiet.

The first part was entirely statuary:

Then I saw some antiquities:

Compare the helmet of the royalty with the helmet of the soldier in the back. And the gem encrusted sword as well.

There were many religious relics - this jeweled Bible was particularly sparkly.

I enjoyed this display of ancient earrings.

This is the crown of Charlemagne .

This is the Louis crown.

Even the water ewers were ornate and beautiful.

The main attraction is Da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

Here I am, in front of her.

And this is the crowd I worked my way through to see her, clutching my purse as I struggled forward.

There were a lot of portraits of royalty:

One of the Elizabeths of England, and a fabulous coronation scene that covered an entire wall.

And the famous Cardinal Richelieu.

The king of his era, Louis XIII.

There were several of these nipple pinching portraits. It turns out that these were designed to depict women who had illegitimate children of royalty.

I love realism in paintings. The gold ribbon on this one looked absolutely real !!!

This dog and monkey were so cute.

There were also a lot of scenes of the hunt, with hanging game and birds.

I also loved the pasture scenes - they were so peaceful.

This creepy tree with crows was also outstanding to me. Look at the sky !!

I had a poster of this still life in our sun room for many years - I got it at the Chicago Museum of Art. I adore the realistic still life pictures.

This one was entitled "Love". It was one of a series of pictures on a black background, all so pretty.

And I loved these heads made of seasonal fruit - the first is summer, and the second winter.

There were a lot of naked gods and goddesses flitting around. This one is Cupid.

Venus and Mars were also a popular couple.

This is Melusine, who conquered a serpent.

And the super creepy head of John the Baptist on a plate.

And we cannot forget David and Goliath !!

So did I buy any souvenirs at the Louvre?? Of course !!

I got a figurine of a unicorn. I named her Chesed, who represents mercy, kindness and understanding. I hope to meditate on those qualities when I look at her. I also got a sword letter opener. Once I realized that I could not carry this knife in my luggage through Europe, I raced down the streets of Paris to La Poste to mail it home. It arrived in 6 days.

We left for Amsterdam at the Gare Du Nord.

And that was our wonderful visit to Paris - we both loved the ornate, artful city and found the French to be actually very friendly, despite the language barrier and the reputation for animosity. Stay tuned for our adventures in Amsterdam  !!