Erica here. There is something weird going on with me dermally. So weird that I had to buy some fancy cream at a pharmacy. Fancy because it's French. Cream because I am covered in what looks like itty bitty bug bites. It looks like chiggers or sand fleas or something and I do NOT know why I have them and Chris does not. They itch. They are on my arms and legs and seem to be spreading. Bed bugs maybe? I just don't know. Ideas?
Oh, I totally forgot to mention that I told my mother that Chris and I didn't take our cameras to the Louvre because we didn't think they would allow photography. I was totally putting her on. Of course we took our cameras. We took over 1,100 photos today. Hahaha. She's always wanted to go to the Louvre.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
A Day at the Louvre
Erica here. We got up this morning a bit earlier than usual - 7:15 - so that we could catch breakfast (if you can call it that) and get a good start on our very busy day. Breakfast consists of ONE roll, ONE jelly packet, ONE cup of juice OR tea, ONE bowl of corn flakes, and ONE package of biscotti (melba toast). I don't usually have bread for breakfast so I've been starting out the days here feeling very heavy. There is a lady who eyes everyone at the breakfast counter to make sure that no one takes off with an extra roll or tries to get away with a juice refill. It's sort of funny. She was questioned about it this morning. Some guy wanted two of something because he wasn't going to eat one of the other items. "I'm just doing what I'm told, sir" was her response. Chris and I thought it was a lame excuse ("the oldest one in the book") and I fervently believe that she enjoys being a bread Nazi.
After breakfast, we headed out to Sacre Coeur, a basilica not far from where we are staying. Sacre-Coeur is still in use and so photography is not permitted and appropriate attire is required. I actually had a bit of fun watching the basilica bouncer kick people out for wearing over-baring outfits or for having to be told repeatedly that photography is not allowed. The church itself was also gorgeous. Chris and I were way more impressed with it than with Notre Dame. Even the view from the church was spectacular. It sits at the very, very top of Montmartre. Did I mention climbing Mount Doom to get there? Well, we did. And it is all stairs. We were hoping to catch a concert rehearsal this morning inside but the rehearsal didn't happen. Unfortunately the crypt was closed, so we didn't get to run around with the crypt keeper. :( But stay tuned tomorrow and the next day...
After Sacre-Couer, we headed out to this like, really big art museum. The Loo? No wait - the LOUVRE. Yeah, that's the one. The Louvre is not doable in one day. And we knew this. But now we have the experience to back that up. We spent our first few hours on one floor. And they flew by. We made sure to catch the obvious favorites: Monna Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory. We also had a list of other things we wanted to be sure to see. Luckily, a lot of the items on our list were on the same floor as the Monna Lisa. Most of the other items on the list we managed to just happen upon while roaming, like the sleeping Hermaphrodite and the dying slave. We spent hours roaming halls filled with sculptures and then hours in the Egyptian antiquities halls. We accidently happened upon a moat (from the Medieval Louvre) and we accidently got turned around quite a bit. Two hours before closing, we decided we'd better go ahead and find the rest of our items on our list to make sure that we got to them before being kicked out. We located and appreciated the horses of Marley and then finally made our way to the second floor of paintings (which we had not even explored) to go see Vermeer's Lacemaker. Unfortunately, when we made our way to the spot that our museum map said the Lacemaker would be...
...we did not find the Lacemaker. Instead, we found a sign that basically said that the painting was going to be on exhibit in Tokyo until mid-June. AYFKM?!! So yeah...Big Bummer. After this let-down, we headed to Napoleon's Apartments, where our spirits were once again lifted (for the time being) as we explored rooms that we both thought were WAY more impressive than the rooms we had seen in Versailles.
Great things about the Louvre: Everyone was allowed to take pictures, which must be a new thing because I remember reading on the web that you have to make a formal request weeks ahead of time if you want to take pictures. Also, we were hardly in line for more than 15 minutes. Everything was really well organized as far as the business side goes and we were able to start enjoying the museum almost as soon as we got there. Fabulous. And a nice change from the way things went yesterday and the day before.
Bad things about the Louvre: I hate to say it but...a certain...group of people was in the museum and each individual in that group felt the need to have their pictures taken in front of just about every single large or famous piece of art. And there are a lot of large and famous pieces of art in the Louvre. Made it difficult to get your own pictures of the art ... you know, pictures free from people making wacky poses in front of your subject.
After the Louvre, we relaxed in the Tuilleries garden for a bit. I enjoyed some mango juice and Chris had some ice cream and soda. We pulled up some chairs and sat by a large fountain where we took in the sun.
This is Chris. Erica got tired of writing, so I'm going to take over! As she mentioned, we spent a good deal of time just relaxing in front of a fountain in the Tuilleries, the gardens that extend out in front of the Louvre. This was awesome, especially after the rather long day we had exploring the museum. I had coffee ice cream (my favorite, incidentally) in a cone and a diet coke, and this perfected the afternoon.
After we sat for a while and regained our energy, we began to stroll down the Avenue de Champs-Élysées toward the Arc du Triomphe. It was late in the afternoon, but the sun doesn't set here until around 10:00 at this time of year, so we had a while to go before sunset. The first thing we came across was the Place du Concorde (Concord Square). This is a rather small square, but it is interesting because of two large matching fountains and a huge Ancient Egyptian obelisk that stand in the center. The obelisk was a gift to the French from the viceroy of Egypt; it's made of granite and is over 2800 years old! It's covered in hieroglyphics and sits on a large stone slab, which has the details of how the obelisk was erected engraved on it. According to our guidebook, it is the oldest monument in Paris.
After the Place du Concorde, the Champs-Élysées turns into a kind of commercial zone, with high-end shops and cafés. There wasn't much here in our price range, but we walked down the street anyway just to get a feel for the area. We wanted to reach the Arc du Triomphe at dusk so that we could get some pictures of it at night when it is all lit up, but we arrived way too early for that. So, since we had time to kill, we (that is, I) decided to eat at McDonald's.
Now, before you go judging me, you have to hear the reasoning behind this decision! I had seen these McDonalds in both Berlin and Paris, and I was curious if their food is exactly the same as ours, or if it tastes different. And the only way to find out is to eat there! Also, we had time to kill, and all the other restaurants in the area would have been much too expensive. So, I got a "Royal Cheese" (for you Americans, that's a cheeseburger at a French McDonald's) with a side of "deluxe potatoes" (basically seasoned wedge potatoes). The food was actually pretty much the same as in the US, but I thought a regular french fry that was in with my "deluxe potatoes" tasted a bit different than McDonald's US fries.
After our detour to McDonald's, the sun had begun to set, and we got some good (and more bad) pictures of the Arc du Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower in the distance, and we took the metro back to the Louvre to get some night pictures of it as well. We got back pretty late, so we'll probably sleep in a bit tomorrow!
Tomorrow we're visiting Père Lachaise, a world-famous cemetary where tons of famous people are buried (including Jim Morrison and several famous composers--Rossini, Chopin, Bizet, etc.). After that, we're going to take a guided tour of the Crypte Archeologique, which is the remains of an ancient Roman town that was discovered near to Notre Dame during some excavation for construction. Then, if the weather holds (it's supposed to rain), we're going to head for the Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens), which is supposed to be one of those "can't-miss" Paris experiences.
After breakfast, we headed out to Sacre Coeur, a basilica not far from where we are staying. Sacre-Coeur is still in use and so photography is not permitted and appropriate attire is required. I actually had a bit of fun watching the basilica bouncer kick people out for wearing over-baring outfits or for having to be told repeatedly that photography is not allowed. The church itself was also gorgeous. Chris and I were way more impressed with it than with Notre Dame. Even the view from the church was spectacular. It sits at the very, very top of Montmartre. Did I mention climbing Mount Doom to get there? Well, we did. And it is all stairs. We were hoping to catch a concert rehearsal this morning inside but the rehearsal didn't happen. Unfortunately the crypt was closed, so we didn't get to run around with the crypt keeper. :( But stay tuned tomorrow and the next day...
After Sacre-Couer, we headed out to this like, really big art museum. The Loo? No wait - the LOUVRE. Yeah, that's the one. The Louvre is not doable in one day. And we knew this. But now we have the experience to back that up. We spent our first few hours on one floor. And they flew by. We made sure to catch the obvious favorites: Monna Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory. We also had a list of other things we wanted to be sure to see. Luckily, a lot of the items on our list were on the same floor as the Monna Lisa. Most of the other items on the list we managed to just happen upon while roaming, like the sleeping Hermaphrodite and the dying slave. We spent hours roaming halls filled with sculptures and then hours in the Egyptian antiquities halls. We accidently happened upon a moat (from the Medieval Louvre) and we accidently got turned around quite a bit. Two hours before closing, we decided we'd better go ahead and find the rest of our items on our list to make sure that we got to them before being kicked out. We located and appreciated the horses of Marley and then finally made our way to the second floor of paintings (which we had not even explored) to go see Vermeer's Lacemaker. Unfortunately, when we made our way to the spot that our museum map said the Lacemaker would be...
...we did not find the Lacemaker. Instead, we found a sign that basically said that the painting was going to be on exhibit in Tokyo until mid-June. AYFKM?!! So yeah...Big Bummer. After this let-down, we headed to Napoleon's Apartments, where our spirits were once again lifted (for the time being) as we explored rooms that we both thought were WAY more impressive than the rooms we had seen in Versailles.
Great things about the Louvre: Everyone was allowed to take pictures, which must be a new thing because I remember reading on the web that you have to make a formal request weeks ahead of time if you want to take pictures. Also, we were hardly in line for more than 15 minutes. Everything was really well organized as far as the business side goes and we were able to start enjoying the museum almost as soon as we got there. Fabulous. And a nice change from the way things went yesterday and the day before.
Bad things about the Louvre: I hate to say it but...a certain...group of people was in the museum and each individual in that group felt the need to have their pictures taken in front of just about every single large or famous piece of art. And there are a lot of large and famous pieces of art in the Louvre. Made it difficult to get your own pictures of the art ... you know, pictures free from people making wacky poses in front of your subject.
After the Louvre, we relaxed in the Tuilleries garden for a bit. I enjoyed some mango juice and Chris had some ice cream and soda. We pulled up some chairs and sat by a large fountain where we took in the sun.
This is Chris. Erica got tired of writing, so I'm going to take over! As she mentioned, we spent a good deal of time just relaxing in front of a fountain in the Tuilleries, the gardens that extend out in front of the Louvre. This was awesome, especially after the rather long day we had exploring the museum. I had coffee ice cream (my favorite, incidentally) in a cone and a diet coke, and this perfected the afternoon.
After we sat for a while and regained our energy, we began to stroll down the Avenue de Champs-Élysées toward the Arc du Triomphe. It was late in the afternoon, but the sun doesn't set here until around 10:00 at this time of year, so we had a while to go before sunset. The first thing we came across was the Place du Concorde (Concord Square). This is a rather small square, but it is interesting because of two large matching fountains and a huge Ancient Egyptian obelisk that stand in the center. The obelisk was a gift to the French from the viceroy of Egypt; it's made of granite and is over 2800 years old! It's covered in hieroglyphics and sits on a large stone slab, which has the details of how the obelisk was erected engraved on it. According to our guidebook, it is the oldest monument in Paris.
After the Place du Concorde, the Champs-Élysées turns into a kind of commercial zone, with high-end shops and cafés. There wasn't much here in our price range, but we walked down the street anyway just to get a feel for the area. We wanted to reach the Arc du Triomphe at dusk so that we could get some pictures of it at night when it is all lit up, but we arrived way too early for that. So, since we had time to kill, we (that is, I) decided to eat at McDonald's.
Now, before you go judging me, you have to hear the reasoning behind this decision! I had seen these McDonalds in both Berlin and Paris, and I was curious if their food is exactly the same as ours, or if it tastes different. And the only way to find out is to eat there! Also, we had time to kill, and all the other restaurants in the area would have been much too expensive. So, I got a "Royal Cheese" (for you Americans, that's a cheeseburger at a French McDonald's) with a side of "deluxe potatoes" (basically seasoned wedge potatoes). The food was actually pretty much the same as in the US, but I thought a regular french fry that was in with my "deluxe potatoes" tasted a bit different than McDonald's US fries.
After our detour to McDonald's, the sun had begun to set, and we got some good (and more bad) pictures of the Arc du Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower in the distance, and we took the metro back to the Louvre to get some night pictures of it as well. We got back pretty late, so we'll probably sleep in a bit tomorrow!
Tomorrow we're visiting Père Lachaise, a world-famous cemetary where tons of famous people are buried (including Jim Morrison and several famous composers--Rossini, Chopin, Bizet, etc.). After that, we're going to take a guided tour of the Crypte Archeologique, which is the remains of an ancient Roman town that was discovered near to Notre Dame during some excavation for construction. Then, if the weather holds (it's supposed to rain), we're going to head for the Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens), which is supposed to be one of those "can't-miss" Paris experiences.
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