Picnic in the Park
Our first stop today was the Orsay Museum, about a 20-min walk from our hotel.
The museum has several pieces of art from the 19th-century, including a hugely popular collection of Impressionist paintings. Karen's primary interest is the work of Claude Monet. There are also works by Renoir, Van Gogh, Rodin and many others.
There are also several sculptures scattered about the ground level floors dated between 1848 to 1870.
Our next stop was the Luxembourg Gardens. Along the way the smell from a patisserie got our attention, so a stop for a couple of macaroons was required.
As we approached the building where the French senate meets near the gardens, Karen received her official welcome to Paris.
After cleaning off her top, next stop was the Luxembourg Gardens. This park covers several acres with beautiful trees, flowers, grass, places to sit and a large fountain.
Orsay Museum across the river Seine.
The first floor.
The museum has several pieces of art from the 19th-century, including a hugely popular collection of Impressionist paintings. Karen's primary interest is the work of Claude Monet. There are also works by Renoir, Van Gogh, Rodin and many others.
Monet.
There are also several sculptures scattered about the ground level floors dated between 1848 to 1870.
David and Goliath.
Our next stop was the Luxembourg Gardens. Along the way the smell from a patisserie got our attention, so a stop for a couple of macaroons was required.
Great snack before lunch. They were yummy.
As we approached the building where the French senate meets near the gardens, Karen received her official welcome to Paris.
Karen's welcome present (yuck).
After cleaning off her top, next stop was the Luxembourg Gardens. This park covers several acres with beautiful trees, flowers, grass, places to sit and a large fountain.
Tree lined walking paths.
Beautiful flowers.
Back side of the senate building.
For lunch we grabbed a baguette and chips and enjoyed the 70 degree weather while watching kids sail boats on the fountain pond. You can rent a small sail boat and a stick to push it for 4 euros for 30-min, and the kids were having a blast. Only propulsion was the wind.
Picnic lunch.
Kids and their sail boats.
Next stop, the Pantheon which has served as a mausoleum to the key men and women of French history, such as Joan of Arc, Marie Curie and Voltaire.
The Pantheon.
By now it was 2:30 pm, so we began our walk home. We could have hailed a taxi or called Uber, but decided to walk instead and enjoy the streets of Paris. It's hard to tell how far things are, but we soon realized our walk was maybe a little further than we estimated. We got back, walking non stop for over an hour and with sore feet.
Typical street with lots of sidewalk cafe's.
Paris is preparing for 3 big events and we will be out of town for all of them. The first is Bastile day on Saturday. We are taking a train to Colmar on Saturday morning. The second big event is the World cup soccer finals on Sunday in which France is playing and if they win the cup, things will be crazy here. Also, the end of the Tour de France comes into town in a few weeks and bleachers are set up along the Champs de Elysees. We enjoyed watching an aerial parade of French aircraft along the Seine this afternoon and we assumed they were practicing for Bastile Day.
Tonight we ate dinner at Entracte Opera, across the street from the opera house. Great meal and great view of the Opera House.
Our view.
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