Last Walk in Paris Continued

I'm almost done explaining this walk....

Anyway, after we passed the Louvre and the Tulleries we stopped and sat by a fountain for a little bit and then made our last walk down the Champs to the hotel. This was our view as we walked back to the hotel.

We are all packed and ready for our long trip home tomorrow. We don't have to get up too early though....flight not until 1:40 pm. We had a wonderful time and can't wait to return some day. Hope you enjoyed our trip!

Last Walk in Paris

We ended the day with one last walk starting from the Pont Neuf. This is a bridge next to the Louvre that has a lot of vendors selling souvenirs, but some nice things too....this was Joe's least favorite part of the walk. The bridge takes you from the right bank (Louvre) to the left bank (Latin Quarter area). We really liked the Latin Quarter....lots of shops and restaurants....a fun area to walk around. We had one of our best lunches the other day in this area at a little cafe that didn't have the best atmosphere, but a delicious sandwich. It is next door to a famous bakery (Poulaine Bakery), which is how we found it.

Anyway, back to our walk. We walked from the Pont Neuf (on the Louvre side) down the Seine for a little bit and then crossed over to the Jardin de Tulleries (beautiful garden area near the Louvre....see tulip photos). This area reminds me so much of the mall in DC. It lines up with the Champs and reminds me of the area between the Lincoln and Washington monuments.

Last Day in Paris

Today (Saturday 4-12-08) was our last day in Paris. We had such a wonderful time.....don't want it to end. Today, we spent most of the day walking around. I also was able to get Joe to go the Lafayette Galleries (Europe's largest department store). It reminded me of Macy's in NYC.....lots of crowds....not a place you can really do any serious shopping. The store was next to the Opera house, but we only took a photo. We didn't feel like going to any museums today....just wanted to walk around and take in all the beautiful views one more time.

This area was near a restaurant called Le Grand Colbert, where Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson had dinner towards the end of the movie "Somethings Got to Give". We were surprised to see several posters of the movie in the window....seemed out of place and made it look like a tourist trap (which I guess it now is), but it still seemed like a nice restaurant.

Other photos featured here are of a grocery store we frequented for water (Le Marche Franprix) and a sign of Avenue Mac Mahon....Joe took a picture in honor of Mike.

Some other thoughts on Paris.....we were surprised how easy we were able to get around without speaking French and despite what you always hear about the French, everyone was very nice, and even if they didn't speak English well....they knew more English than we knew French and we were able to get by.

We also really liked the metro. Other than walking, it was our primary means of transportation. We're happy to say we didn't take a cab once (only for the airport). It's amazing how many stops there are....come to think of it, I didn't notice any express train options, so perhaps a commute can be long. The frequency of trains was also impressive....they have a timer on each platform to display how many minutes until the next two trains...it seemed that a train came every 2 minutes, so if it was crowded we just waited for the next one.

We got a good amount of exercise underground too. When we had to change trains underground, there was often quite a long walk to get to our next train....there were times when we rounded a corner only to find more stairs.....lots of stairs. Overall though, we found the metro easy to navigate and it was always amazing that when you got out of the metro, you were often immediately at your destination.

d'Orsay Museum

Here's a photo of the outside of the d'Orsay Museum.

Musee d'Orsay

We actually went here on Wednesday. This museum houses art from the mid-19th century thru the mid-20th century. Heavy on impressionism and post-impressionism. The Louvre does not really get to this period, so if you are interested in Monet, Van Gogh, Degas, and Renoir, this is the museum for you.

Even if that art doesn't interest you -- the interior of the building is amazing. It is an old train station -- and is a site itself.

Other events on Friday

Some other activities for Friday. We began our day going to the Catacombes (see first photo here). The Catacombes are a series of underground tunnels that served as a burial ground for 6 million bones. These bones were taken from other burial sights due to overcrowding. The tunnels were also the headquarters of the French Resistance in WWII. We were so excited when the metro stop left us off directly across the street from the Catacombes, but as we got closer we realized it was closed! The man said it won't be open again until next week. Another American couple (from LA & Phoenix) was next to us and also disappointed.

We got back on the subway and went to the Picasso museum. The museum was interesting, but if you are not a Picasso fan (bean is not) then it might not be worth the trip. One interesting fact is that the reason there is a Picasso museum in Paris is because France acquired the art works in lieu of the Picasso family paying $50 million in inheritance taxes. The one thing that we liked about the museum was that for some of the art works, photos of the work as it was being created were also displayed. We also enjoyed seeing a series of photos of Picasso himself.

After Picasso, we headed back on the subway (the 3-day metro pass was worth it) to the Montmarte area. The highlight of this area is the Moulin Rouge (which is now next to a Quick Burger) and a walk to the top of a hill to see another view of the city. The neighborhood was really seedy (like the old Times Square) and we were feeling tired so we skipped the walk to the view and got back on the subway.

We ended this part of the day with lunch at a tourist trap (Georg V) on the Champs that I insisted on going to for the atmosphere, but Joe said would be a mistake. Joe was right.

After lunch, the day improved with our tours of the Eiffel Tower and Arc. We ended the day with dinner at the hotel restaurant because we were too tired to go elsewhere. We ended up having one of our best dinners yet though....just a burger and frittes, but it was delicious and the atmosphere in the restaurant is so cozy. We really love the hotel and would definitely stay here again. I'll end this blog with more photos of the view of the Arc and Eiffel Tower from our hotel room window. Just beautiful!

Arc de Triomphe

After the Eiffel Tower, we walked across a bridge to what seemed to be a palace (this is where the photo of Joe and me with the Eiffel Tower behind us was taken). Then we walked down a beautiful street (Kleber) to the Arc. We walked the 284 steps up a spiral staircase to the top....the best workout I (bean) have had in a long time! The view was also amazing.....not quite like the Eiffel, but very nice. The photos here show the view of the Champs and the Eiffel.

More Eiffel Tower

More photos...the tulips were near the base of the tower.

Eiffel Tower

Today (Friday 4/11/08) we went to the Eiffel Tower. The 2nd floor was high enough of for us, so we didn't go to the very top. The view was still amazing, especially because it was a clear, sunny day. So far, we are having great spring weather. See photos.

Louvre photos continued again

More Louvre photos.....you can only add 5 at a time.

Day at Louvre (continued)

This is a continuation of the previous entry to add the Louvre photos.

Day at Louvre

Today (Thurs 4-10-08) we walked to the Louve through the neighborhood along the Champs Elysees. The neighborhood is so pretty....very expensive shops...more for looking than shopping. The walk then took us along the Seine....so pretty. It was a beautiful day....around 55 degrees and sunny. We stopped at the Hotel Regina (across from the Louvre) to look at the lobby because it was in one of the Bourne movies. Then, we went to the Louvre....the museum pass is worth it.....no lines....you just walk right in. The Louvre was a little confusing to navigate, but it was very pleasant to walk through....it's so huge that you don't sense the crowds. We spent a few hours here. I mostly enjoyed seeing Napoleon's Apt, the decorative ceilings, and anything that displayed old furniture and clothing. Joe enjoyed seeing the real versions of paintings he had only seen in photos, but was a little disappointed that the Rembrandt wing was closed. The Mona Lisa drew the largest crowd, but my favorite was a painting by Diego Velasquez of L'infante Marie Marguerite in 1653 that looked liked a combination of Kritter and Catherine. See photos.

Lobby Views - Hotel Napoleon

Here are some views of the lobby in the Hotel Napoleon. We had dinner in the restaurant on Wed night and dessert in the lobby.