Our second day in Paris was a Sunday and we were very lucky to discover that it was the first Sunday of the month because many of the very famous museams have free entry on this day. Early in the morning we tried to catch the train to the biggest museam in the world called The Louvre. Some of the metros were down though and we ended up getting lost with a couple from Australia who had the same plan as us. By the time we finally got to the museam, the line up was already a kilometer long even though it was not even open yet. We did not mind because once it opened, the line up went by fast and we got to chat with some of the other people wating. They gave us some advice and warned us about the scammer gypsies that try to weazle money. They had fallen for it the day before so they were more aware of the way it works.
As I waited in line, Tyson walked around and took photos of the enourmous grounds and buildings. As mentioned, it is the largest museam on the planet housing numerous priceless works of art. The outside alone warrants a visit because it is elaborate, extravagant and unbelievable. There is the famous glass pyramid in the middle and large old buildings surrounding it with a ferris wheel and other rides in the corner. Once inside, you have to look at the photos I have posted on facebook because my vocabulary is not developed enough to describe the visuals. I remember understanding why so many European countries are in financial crisis while walking through the museam. There are thousands of huge paintings that take up entire walls in rooms to the tiniest works. There are sections with old structures on display from medieval times. There are Egyptian mummy tombs and many Greek sculptures of old scenes and nude figures. There was an African section that was fairly new to the museam as well as a few aboriginal pieces from Canada. There was a very large amount of religious art, mostly involving the prophet Jesus Christ and his crucifiction. There were different forms of art from around the world, the most famous by far of course, being the mona lisa painting. The crowd around the mona lisa was fierce and there was no space for being patient and waiting your turn. As soon as someone moved from the front, ten people were fighting their way to that tiny space. We took our time and tried to keep our elbows tucked in and managed to get a couple of good shots. The security was as expected surrounding this area. With large male staff standing everywhere with no-nonsense looks on their faces. The painting is behind bullet proof glass and there are laser beams covering every possible area. The temperature and humidity in the rooms are kept precisely to ensure the preservation of the paintings. We spent about five hours walking around before we thought we would absolutely vomit if we saw another painting or sculpture so we left.
From there we walked to another one of the most famous museams in the city called D` orsay. We had no idea what was inside but we waited in line to see anyway. While waiting, we ate lunch of cream cheese and potato chip sandwhiches. Once we got in, to our dismay, we realized that it was more art. So we napped in the reception area for a half hour to gather the energy to walk through. This museam is not nearly as large at the last one but that is not saying much, it was still big and we were inside for several more hours. There are works of Van Gogh as well as other world famous painters and artists. There were English explanations at this museam so we actually understood more of the history behind the artists and their work. This made it a lot more bearable and even enjoyable. The architecture of the building was again, very grand and a big part of the show.
Following this museam, we went to the Museam of the Invalids. This is the place built by Napolean because he wanted to make sure that his soldiers were all well taken care of and had a safe place to stay. At that time all the elderly, wounded, disabled or needy soldiers lived here. It is a very large and beautiful compound that is used to house several different museams today. We walked into the first museam of arms and weapons and we were asked for tickets. We had thought it was free but little did we know that these museams were not included in the first-Sunday-of-the-month deal. Since it was too late to purchase tickets, the staff at the front kindly let us in anyway. We quickly toured the comparitively small area and saw a large variation of weapons used in the wars. They had many examples of suits of armour, guns, swords, cannons and other forms of tools used to hurt other people. We tried to enter a second museam on the grounds that had to do with the world wars but we were denied entry with no sympathy. Since we could not buy tickets we moved on to the big church on the grounds that holds the tomb of Napolean. We were allowed to see the tomb from the door but we had to have a ticket to go inside further.
We then walked to the one and only eiffel tower. As we were walking up to it, I was quite dissappointed because it looked small, simple and unimpressive. As we walked closer to it however, the tower loomed over us and we could not help but be impressed. It looks simple but it is an engineering accomplishment and symbol of the country. There were thousands of people sitting in the grassy areas in front of the tower, there were a few basketball games going on in the nearby courts and some kind of ticketed show in the stage area. We took photos and had McDonalds french fries in the grass, a small boy kicked his ball to us and Tyson passed it back to him. He grabbed the ball and shouted `merci monsiuer`, it was the cutest thing ever and we both gushed. We then walked up to the structure for a closer look. We had heard that the line ups to get up the tower were long and it was true. The cue to take the elevator up was unreasonable but we happened to walk by as the walking line up changed positions and managed to get to the front of it. So we paid the small fee and walked the hundreds of steps to the second stage. It provided a lovely and thorough view of the city from all four sides. There were snack shops and souvenier stands in addition to a very fancy restaurant with a one hundred euro minimum bill that I am sure would not be difficult to hit because the cheapest meal was eighty five euros per person. There was a lot of displays of photos and information about the tower and process of building and maintaining it. From the top we could see thousands of people gathered near a stage screaming their heads off. We quickly guessed that there must be a soccor match going on. When we descended down the stairs we went to the stage to check it out. Of course, we could not get anywhere near the actual stage because of the crowd but we managed to confirm that it was in fact a soccor match. There were police officers patrolling the area in groups with full riot gear on. They had full shoulder pads, knee pads and the works, they looked very tough but there did not seem to be any problems. There were just lots of young people wearing flags of either Spain or Italy cheering and booing as the game went on. We stayed for some time even though we could not see the screen. We just watched the people and waited for the eiffel tower to light up. The sun here does not set until after ten thirty at night so we had a while to wait but it was worth it. The whole structure was lit with tens of thousands of gold lights and it was very beautiful. We took photos and then jumped on the metro to get back to the house. Tyson cooked us a great and filling pasta dinner while I went through the motions on the computer. After eating I passed out without warning but I am told that Tyson stayed up to do some more work.
In the morning we slept in and took our time leaving the house, we finally got it together by noon and got on the metro for free to Notre Dam. As usual there was a line up but it moved fast and there were some young people putting on a karate show for tips so we were entertained. We walked inside the cathedral that was the setting for The Hunchback of Notre Dam movie and it was large and beautiful like all the others. At this point in Europe, the cathdrals, castles and museams are starting to blend together. This one however, was exceptionally cheesy in my opinion because there were donation boxes everywhere on the walk through, in addition to snack shops, souvenier stands and the mind blowing medallion machines that look like slot machines at a casino. They were lit up and would give you a Notre Dam medallion coin if you inserted two euros, how very holy. Nevertheless, it was very nice with stained glass windows, extremely high cruved ceilings, a gigantic organ and large paintings. The lights were very dim and gothic and there was a talk while we were inside. After the speach, people lined up to take a holy chip from the hands of the holy man at the front into their mouths for a small fee.
We then walked towards the Ark de Triumphe but on the way we got very distracted by the McDonalds and clothes shopping. We saw a line up outside the very elaborate Abercrombie and Fitch store. You cannot see the store from the street, just a giant gold and black fence is visible. The line up is normal apparently and not just for some big sale. We waited in the line but do not ask me why. When it was our turn, we were welcomed through the gates by very attractive men in designer clothing. We walked the long perfect path to the actual store which was like walking into a very exclusive club. The music was loud and we were greeted by a shirtless guy endowed with a very nice six pack. The staff were all dancing while offering help with sizes. It was a surreal experience but we had to laugh and walk out quickly before being seen. As soon as we walked out I broke one of my sandal and it also broke my heart. The worn sandal has stood by me for the entire trip through days of long treks in the middle of no where. We have been together through a lot and my plans to frame them were in jeopardy. I limped through the streets with one good sandal until we reached the Ark. We even stopped at the bank where everyone stared at me with sympathy. At the ark, we were again impressed by the luxury of the structure. It was also built by Napolean to represent all the wars he had fought. There was a list of all the battles he had won and been involved in. There were the names of soldiers and some other words I could not understand. There were sculptured scenes of battles on the sides and the whole thing was very representative of the importance of war at that time in history. We sat underneath and I napped while Tyson expertly sewed my sandal back together and made me very happy.
From there we walked to Moulin Rouge which was a very far walk but also very exciting to see. The entrance fee into the burlesque show made popular by the movie was a whopping one hundred and eighty euros. The whole street however was full of porn shops and theaters that were not represented in the movie and therefore likely a lot cheaper but we did not check. We were stopped many times along the way by gypsy ladies (and one guy) who pretended to pick up a gold ring off the ground next to us and asked us if we had dropped it. We were made very aware of the scam by the Australian couple the day before so we just shook our heads and laughed. Knowing that we knew the scam, most of the short chubby ladies also giggled at their ridiculousness.
We bought groceries and then found all the same things for fractions of the price at a different store accross the street. So we bought more of the same puddings, bread, fruit, vegetables, pasta and corn chips from the carfour and walked to the big white bascillica church that sits atop a hill in the outskirts of the city. By the time we got there it was around nine pm but we climbed the many stairs and enjoyed the view. The church is surrounded by green space filled with hundreds of young people and tourists drinking the night away. We walked through the church that was a toned down version of some of the others we had seen. It was a lot quieter than the Notre Dam but it still had candles for sale and tacky medallion machines.
We relaxed on the grass outside the church eating bananas and watching the drunk crowds for a while. We were disturbed by people selling beers and bracelets but it has become very normal for us. Hunger got the better of us again and so we walked home to eat pasta and chocolate. We had thought our host was getting home the next morning but he showed up late at night. We were still up on the computer so we all chatted with him for a while. His place is very small with no bedrooms and a small living area, small kitchen and one bathroom. So we slid our small foamy over and he slept next to us. In the morning, he was gone to work before we woke up. We meant to leave the house early but after a couple showers and eating breakfast, we left at twelve thirty. Our plan for the day was very simple, picnic at the eiffel tower. We had to take all of our bags with us because we were switching hosts. We left the comfortable central apartment and took the free metro to the eiffel tower. We passed the big line ups of people excited to see the top of the tower and found a nice spot in the grass where we set up shop. We ate nutella and cream cheese sandwhiches, chilli corn chips, chocolate puddings and nectarines to start off our picnic. Tyson slept while I blogged and then we passed the hours by playing cards, eating ice cream, reading and sleeping. We actually passed out and woke up at seven when we were supposed to be at our new host's house.
We got lost in the crazy metro system and by the time we got near their place it was nine thirty and we remembered that we did not have the address with us. So we wandered around, asked strangers for help and finally gave up. We sat with all our bags on the side walk and Tyson looked at our notes again and realized we did in fact have the address all along. So we went inside the one bedroom apartment and met our host. She was from Peru and her husband was French but he was travelling at the time so we did not meet him. We hung out with her chatting about life and love. She prepared authentic guacomole and chips for us and then we ate bowls of real strawberry ice cream. It was great, we slept in the living room with the cat and prepared for the next day when we were to go to Versailles.
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
As I waited in line, Tyson walked around and took photos of the enourmous grounds and buildings. As mentioned, it is the largest museam on the planet housing numerous priceless works of art. The outside alone warrants a visit because it is elaborate, extravagant and unbelievable. There is the famous glass pyramid in the middle and large old buildings surrounding it with a ferris wheel and other rides in the corner. Once inside, you have to look at the photos I have posted on facebook because my vocabulary is not developed enough to describe the visuals. I remember understanding why so many European countries are in financial crisis while walking through the museam. There are thousands of huge paintings that take up entire walls in rooms to the tiniest works. There are sections with old structures on display from medieval times. There are Egyptian mummy tombs and many Greek sculptures of old scenes and nude figures. There was an African section that was fairly new to the museam as well as a few aboriginal pieces from Canada. There was a very large amount of religious art, mostly involving the prophet Jesus Christ and his crucifiction. There were different forms of art from around the world, the most famous by far of course, being the mona lisa painting. The crowd around the mona lisa was fierce and there was no space for being patient and waiting your turn. As soon as someone moved from the front, ten people were fighting their way to that tiny space. We took our time and tried to keep our elbows tucked in and managed to get a couple of good shots. The security was as expected surrounding this area. With large male staff standing everywhere with no-nonsense looks on their faces. The painting is behind bullet proof glass and there are laser beams covering every possible area. The temperature and humidity in the rooms are kept precisely to ensure the preservation of the paintings. We spent about five hours walking around before we thought we would absolutely vomit if we saw another painting or sculpture so we left.
From there we walked to another one of the most famous museams in the city called D` orsay. We had no idea what was inside but we waited in line to see anyway. While waiting, we ate lunch of cream cheese and potato chip sandwhiches. Once we got in, to our dismay, we realized that it was more art. So we napped in the reception area for a half hour to gather the energy to walk through. This museam is not nearly as large at the last one but that is not saying much, it was still big and we were inside for several more hours. There are works of Van Gogh as well as other world famous painters and artists. There were English explanations at this museam so we actually understood more of the history behind the artists and their work. This made it a lot more bearable and even enjoyable. The architecture of the building was again, very grand and a big part of the show.
Following this museam, we went to the Museam of the Invalids. This is the place built by Napolean because he wanted to make sure that his soldiers were all well taken care of and had a safe place to stay. At that time all the elderly, wounded, disabled or needy soldiers lived here. It is a very large and beautiful compound that is used to house several different museams today. We walked into the first museam of arms and weapons and we were asked for tickets. We had thought it was free but little did we know that these museams were not included in the first-Sunday-of-the-month deal. Since it was too late to purchase tickets, the staff at the front kindly let us in anyway. We quickly toured the comparitively small area and saw a large variation of weapons used in the wars. They had many examples of suits of armour, guns, swords, cannons and other forms of tools used to hurt other people. We tried to enter a second museam on the grounds that had to do with the world wars but we were denied entry with no sympathy. Since we could not buy tickets we moved on to the big church on the grounds that holds the tomb of Napolean. We were allowed to see the tomb from the door but we had to have a ticket to go inside further.
We then walked to the one and only eiffel tower. As we were walking up to it, I was quite dissappointed because it looked small, simple and unimpressive. As we walked closer to it however, the tower loomed over us and we could not help but be impressed. It looks simple but it is an engineering accomplishment and symbol of the country. There were thousands of people sitting in the grassy areas in front of the tower, there were a few basketball games going on in the nearby courts and some kind of ticketed show in the stage area. We took photos and had McDonalds french fries in the grass, a small boy kicked his ball to us and Tyson passed it back to him. He grabbed the ball and shouted `merci monsiuer`, it was the cutest thing ever and we both gushed. We then walked up to the structure for a closer look. We had heard that the line ups to get up the tower were long and it was true. The cue to take the elevator up was unreasonable but we happened to walk by as the walking line up changed positions and managed to get to the front of it. So we paid the small fee and walked the hundreds of steps to the second stage. It provided a lovely and thorough view of the city from all four sides. There were snack shops and souvenier stands in addition to a very fancy restaurant with a one hundred euro minimum bill that I am sure would not be difficult to hit because the cheapest meal was eighty five euros per person. There was a lot of displays of photos and information about the tower and process of building and maintaining it. From the top we could see thousands of people gathered near a stage screaming their heads off. We quickly guessed that there must be a soccor match going on. When we descended down the stairs we went to the stage to check it out. Of course, we could not get anywhere near the actual stage because of the crowd but we managed to confirm that it was in fact a soccor match. There were police officers patrolling the area in groups with full riot gear on. They had full shoulder pads, knee pads and the works, they looked very tough but there did not seem to be any problems. There were just lots of young people wearing flags of either Spain or Italy cheering and booing as the game went on. We stayed for some time even though we could not see the screen. We just watched the people and waited for the eiffel tower to light up. The sun here does not set until after ten thirty at night so we had a while to wait but it was worth it. The whole structure was lit with tens of thousands of gold lights and it was very beautiful. We took photos and then jumped on the metro to get back to the house. Tyson cooked us a great and filling pasta dinner while I went through the motions on the computer. After eating I passed out without warning but I am told that Tyson stayed up to do some more work.
In the morning we slept in and took our time leaving the house, we finally got it together by noon and got on the metro for free to Notre Dam. As usual there was a line up but it moved fast and there were some young people putting on a karate show for tips so we were entertained. We walked inside the cathedral that was the setting for The Hunchback of Notre Dam movie and it was large and beautiful like all the others. At this point in Europe, the cathdrals, castles and museams are starting to blend together. This one however, was exceptionally cheesy in my opinion because there were donation boxes everywhere on the walk through, in addition to snack shops, souvenier stands and the mind blowing medallion machines that look like slot machines at a casino. They were lit up and would give you a Notre Dam medallion coin if you inserted two euros, how very holy. Nevertheless, it was very nice with stained glass windows, extremely high cruved ceilings, a gigantic organ and large paintings. The lights were very dim and gothic and there was a talk while we were inside. After the speach, people lined up to take a holy chip from the hands of the holy man at the front into their mouths for a small fee.
We then walked towards the Ark de Triumphe but on the way we got very distracted by the McDonalds and clothes shopping. We saw a line up outside the very elaborate Abercrombie and Fitch store. You cannot see the store from the street, just a giant gold and black fence is visible. The line up is normal apparently and not just for some big sale. We waited in the line but do not ask me why. When it was our turn, we were welcomed through the gates by very attractive men in designer clothing. We walked the long perfect path to the actual store which was like walking into a very exclusive club. The music was loud and we were greeted by a shirtless guy endowed with a very nice six pack. The staff were all dancing while offering help with sizes. It was a surreal experience but we had to laugh and walk out quickly before being seen. As soon as we walked out I broke one of my sandal and it also broke my heart. The worn sandal has stood by me for the entire trip through days of long treks in the middle of no where. We have been together through a lot and my plans to frame them were in jeopardy. I limped through the streets with one good sandal until we reached the Ark. We even stopped at the bank where everyone stared at me with sympathy. At the ark, we were again impressed by the luxury of the structure. It was also built by Napolean to represent all the wars he had fought. There was a list of all the battles he had won and been involved in. There were the names of soldiers and some other words I could not understand. There were sculptured scenes of battles on the sides and the whole thing was very representative of the importance of war at that time in history. We sat underneath and I napped while Tyson expertly sewed my sandal back together and made me very happy.
From there we walked to Moulin Rouge which was a very far walk but also very exciting to see. The entrance fee into the burlesque show made popular by the movie was a whopping one hundred and eighty euros. The whole street however was full of porn shops and theaters that were not represented in the movie and therefore likely a lot cheaper but we did not check. We were stopped many times along the way by gypsy ladies (and one guy) who pretended to pick up a gold ring off the ground next to us and asked us if we had dropped it. We were made very aware of the scam by the Australian couple the day before so we just shook our heads and laughed. Knowing that we knew the scam, most of the short chubby ladies also giggled at their ridiculousness.
We bought groceries and then found all the same things for fractions of the price at a different store accross the street. So we bought more of the same puddings, bread, fruit, vegetables, pasta and corn chips from the carfour and walked to the big white bascillica church that sits atop a hill in the outskirts of the city. By the time we got there it was around nine pm but we climbed the many stairs and enjoyed the view. The church is surrounded by green space filled with hundreds of young people and tourists drinking the night away. We walked through the church that was a toned down version of some of the others we had seen. It was a lot quieter than the Notre Dam but it still had candles for sale and tacky medallion machines.
We relaxed on the grass outside the church eating bananas and watching the drunk crowds for a while. We were disturbed by people selling beers and bracelets but it has become very normal for us. Hunger got the better of us again and so we walked home to eat pasta and chocolate. We had thought our host was getting home the next morning but he showed up late at night. We were still up on the computer so we all chatted with him for a while. His place is very small with no bedrooms and a small living area, small kitchen and one bathroom. So we slid our small foamy over and he slept next to us. In the morning, he was gone to work before we woke up. We meant to leave the house early but after a couple showers and eating breakfast, we left at twelve thirty. Our plan for the day was very simple, picnic at the eiffel tower. We had to take all of our bags with us because we were switching hosts. We left the comfortable central apartment and took the free metro to the eiffel tower. We passed the big line ups of people excited to see the top of the tower and found a nice spot in the grass where we set up shop. We ate nutella and cream cheese sandwhiches, chilli corn chips, chocolate puddings and nectarines to start off our picnic. Tyson slept while I blogged and then we passed the hours by playing cards, eating ice cream, reading and sleeping. We actually passed out and woke up at seven when we were supposed to be at our new host's house.
We got lost in the crazy metro system and by the time we got near their place it was nine thirty and we remembered that we did not have the address with us. So we wandered around, asked strangers for help and finally gave up. We sat with all our bags on the side walk and Tyson looked at our notes again and realized we did in fact have the address all along. So we went inside the one bedroom apartment and met our host. She was from Peru and her husband was French but he was travelling at the time so we did not meet him. We hung out with her chatting about life and love. She prepared authentic guacomole and chips for us and then we ate bowls of real strawberry ice cream. It was great, we slept in the living room with the cat and prepared for the next day when we were to go to Versailles.
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
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