Thursday, May 12, 2011: Paris
On our second day in Paris, Christina and I set out on a big adventure that would take us from our hotel through the Louvre (after a quick metro hop), along the banks of the Seine, through the Notre Dame Cathedral, and into Paris' Latin Quarter for lunch. We topped off the afternoon and evening with further meandering through the streets of Paris and meeting up with Christina's cousin Jenn who hopped a train in from Amsterdam.
The Louvre is quite an intimidating structure (several blocks long!) when you first step off of the Metro and see it. The night before, I read numerous stories about the long lines and crazy wait times to get in, but we entered through the famous (or infamous to some purists) glass pyramid structure and except for a ten to fifteen minute delay at the ticket counter, we got in without issue.
When someone (like myself) gets a hold of a map of the Louvre for the first time, you immediately wonder where to start and whether you can even see half of the exhibits in a full day. Because we only had a few days, we elected to go on an abbreviated tour and hit up the Italian / Spanish exhibits. That took us past the must-see Mona Lisa, and numerous other Da Vinci paintings. The Mona Lisa was great, but as one would expect, difficult to fight the crowds to get a good view. Just outside of that room, though, is a really long hallway with so many other incredible pieces, including several other Da Vinci's that I found just as rewarding as the ML. Overall, the Lourve is a really special place to go and see so many hundreds of years of art and getting a feel for what some of the geniuses of the respective time periods did with their talents (and also seeing the progression of styles over time).
After a few hours at the Louvre, we moved on to the Jardin des Tuileries, which is as described elsewhere herein, is a large, well-landscaped park just to the west of the Louvre. The highlight for us was a large fountain that was full of people (Parisians and tourists) lounging about on tons of chairs. Christina got some gelato and we parked it there and enjoyed some people watching for about 30 minutes (also a well-needed rest for our feet) before heading down the Seine a bit to the Notre Dame cathedral. A couple quick notes - 1) I wonder when people in Paris actually work as it seems everyone loves to hang out and take long lunches; and 2) I cannot give enough credit to the lounge chairs (angled back for maximum chillin') surrounding the fountain.
The Louvre is quite an intimidating structure (several blocks long!) when you first step off of the Metro and see it. The night before, I read numerous stories about the long lines and crazy wait times to get in, but we entered through the famous (or infamous to some purists) glass pyramid structure and except for a ten to fifteen minute delay at the ticket counter, we got in without issue.
When someone (like myself) gets a hold of a map of the Louvre for the first time, you immediately wonder where to start and whether you can even see half of the exhibits in a full day. Because we only had a few days, we elected to go on an abbreviated tour and hit up the Italian / Spanish exhibits. That took us past the must-see Mona Lisa, and numerous other Da Vinci paintings. The Mona Lisa was great, but as one would expect, difficult to fight the crowds to get a good view. Just outside of that room, though, is a really long hallway with so many other incredible pieces, including several other Da Vinci's that I found just as rewarding as the ML. Overall, the Lourve is a really special place to go and see so many hundreds of years of art and getting a feel for what some of the geniuses of the respective time periods did with their talents (and also seeing the progression of styles over time).
After a few hours at the Louvre, we moved on to the Jardin des Tuileries, which is as described elsewhere herein, is a large, well-landscaped park just to the west of the Louvre. The highlight for us was a large fountain that was full of people (Parisians and tourists) lounging about on tons of chairs. Christina got some gelato and we parked it there and enjoyed some people watching for about 30 minutes (also a well-needed rest for our feet) before heading down the Seine a bit to the Notre Dame cathedral. A couple quick notes - 1) I wonder when people in Paris actually work as it seems everyone loves to hang out and take long lunches; and 2) I cannot give enough credit to the lounge chairs (angled back for maximum chillin') surrounding the fountain.
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