Today was an extremely long day - we walked 14.8 km during the day!
Due to jet lag, we once woke up during the night around 2:30 am but then managed to sleep again after an hour or so. We woke up with our 7:30 am alarm and got ready to leave for a sightseeing day of the historical Paris.
We left our hotel around 8:30 am and had breakfast at a French cafe not too far from our hotel. It was a typical French breakfast with croissant, coffee and baguette with jam. To supplement it with our usual items, we also ordered a cheese omelette and orange juice. The French are famous for a light working breakfast (usually just a croissant and coffee), a heavy lunch and then a late dinner of moderate quantity. In the spirit of light breakfast, our portions were very small - everything was mini sized and the orange juice was actually served half glass full whereas the coffee cup and water glasses were around 100-125 ml. Oh and everything tasted great! Just like you can get a good egg and cheese bagel from virtually any corner cafe in New York, similarly you can get a good butter croissant anywhere in Paris.
We bought the subway day pass and used it liberally through the day. We must've used it close to a dozen times.
Our first stop was Sainte Chapelle. It's an old chapel that was built by the French king Louis the 10th in 1248 and took 5 years to complete. The reason to build it was that he had purchased a Christian relic called the Crown the Thorns that was supposedly worn by Jesus at the time of his crucifixion and the king wanted to showcase the crown in a grand chapel. The chapel's architectural marvel are its 15 m long stained glass panels that run around the whole building and have the whole biblical Christian history painted on them in vibrant colors in over 1100 scenes. If that wasn't enough, they reflect sunlight in such a way that the chapel is illuminated in all the colors making it look majestic. These stained glass panels are in the upper floor chapel that was used by the nobility and rich people of Paris. The lower floor chapel was used by the common people and is majestic in its own right.
Our next stop was the next door Conciergarie. It used to be a prison for criminals waiting to be executed that has now been converted to a museum. We saw some recreated cells of prisoners. According to records, 2780 French citizens were executed in this prison. This list included the last king of France King Louis the 16th and his wife Queen Marie Antoinette who famously allegedly said "let them eat cake" when informed about the peasants' complaints of having no bread to eat. Of course, she never said that but it makes for a good catchy story. They were executed after the French Revolution of 1789. The museum had on display the actual cell where Marie Antoinette spent her last days.
Our third stop of the day was supposed to be Notre Dame (literally meaning "Our Lady") that is the finest example of Gothic architecture in Europe. It took about 200 years to complete after construction started in 1163 and completed in 1345. This cathedral has been witness to various periods of religious rise and fall in French history. The actual site of the cathedral has had religious significance for over 2300 years and initially had a pagan temple at the site of the current cathedral. During the age when France was moving towards its secular values, the cathedral was converted to a church of logic and reason. There was an extremely long line with perhaps more than 500 people in line so we decided to skip going inside and just took pictures of the detailed outer facades containing dozens of sculptures and listened to our Rick Steves' audio guide that we had downloaded for free for walking tours of different sites in our current trip. We might go there again tomorrow if we have time.
Then we grabbed a quick Nutella crepe from a nearby cafe and walked around Ile de la Cite - its an island on River Seine where all three of today's sightseeing sites are located. We also got one scoop of ice cream from a shop that was highly recommended in our guide.
Then we took the subway to Musee d'Orsay (Orsay Museum). As soon as we got out of the station at our destination, we walked into pouring rain and got soaked. We ran into the closest bakery. While waiting for the rain to subside, we decided that we would skip lunch since we're quite full after the crepe and ice cream and instead decided to get a palm-sized quiche (like a little pizza). It was fresh and the combination of tomatoes and mushroom with cheese was exactly what we needed while drying ourselves. When the rain got lighter and we had finished our quiche, we took out our umbrellas and walked to Musee d'Orsay. There were long lines outside and utter confusion as to which line was for whom (Museum
Pass holders like us, non-pass holders and then both these categorized in individuals versus groups). We changed lines at least 4 times due to confusion and then finally waited in the correct line in start-stop rain for almost two hours before we were able to get inside. This museum is housed in a building that used to be a railway station. It's a remarkable building with a central platform area and then galleries on several floors bordering the platform. The museum's prime collection are statues and paintings. The majority of exhibits date between 1848 and 1914. Paintings include neoclassical and impressionist styles and the statues also exhibit various styles like naturalism and symbolism. Perhaps the most fascinating technique that we saw on display was the neoclassical style of painting that was inspired by science and involves complimentary colors painted as dots or pixels next to each other that make the painting look whole from afar and granulated when looked from a few feet. In statues, we were amazed by the skill on display specially in the details of human bodies - the muscles stretched and strained exactly as how they would with a real body - and the use of different types of marble and stone to get different textures/colors. We had to wait a long time to get into the second most famous museum in Paris but it was worth the wait!
Our next stop was the most famous museum of Paris, The Lourve (and one of the top 3 in the world with the other two being Prado Museum in Madrid that we'll see later in this trip and The MET in New York City that we've already seen once). This museum has featured in the movie The Da Vinci Code as well. It used to be a palace and houses some of the masterpiece paintings of French and Italian artists in addition to some rare Greek and Roman statues. The museum's most identifiable exhibit is The Mona Lisa, the most famous work of Leonardo da Vinci and perhaps the single most famous painting in the world. We followed our downloaded Rick Steves' audio guide again that highlighted about 20 selected gems from this museum containing over 3000 items. Every single one of them had a story to tell. Just a quick word about Mona Lisa, it's smaller than you'd expect and it's hidden behind a protective glass frame and it's incredibly hard to get to see it from front. There's always a crowd in front of it, all of them wanting to take a few dozen pictures with the painting! The painting's artistic claim to fame is its mysterious nature where Mona Lisa's smile or lack of it can be perceived in different ways depending on what one wants to see. This changeability with a fixed work of art is evident for all to see but hard to explain. The painting is seen by 6 million people every year at The Lourve and is the most photographed piece of art in the world, leading Van Gogh's The Starry Night by some distance. A quick mention of the glass pyramid that was built on top of the museum reception area: it was built relatively recently in 1989 and has now become the highly identifiable symbol of The Lourve so much so that with every "Sorte" (exit) sign inside the museum, there was no translation in any language and just a symbol of a pyramid.
After that, we were extremely tired so we wanted to have dinner and go back to our hotel. In trying to find the closest subway station, we ended up walking to another item on our list - the Pont Nuef bridge that is the oldest of the 37 bridges on Seine river. We ate a decent meal (not quite as exceptional as yesterday's dinner) at a local cafe. Our subway train on the way back to our hotel passed through Arc de Triomphe so we made a quick stop there. Arc de Triomphe is virtually the center of Paris. It's a roundabout where twelve avenues from all around the city open into it and there is a huge memorial building that was built on Napoleon's orders to celebrate the victory of French soldiers in a war. We also got our very first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower in the far away skyline. We'll explore both these (Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower) tomorrow, in addition to Notre Dame. Other things left on our list are the Seine River cruise and a tour to the Palace of Versailles that is on the outskirts of Paris.
I got excited about our 15 km long day so shared a lot more detail than I usually do. But Paris deserves it. We love the city so far. It's a very refined version of New York with similarities yet very marked differences too - more on that tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed the update.
Due to jet lag, we once woke up during the night around 2:30 am but then managed to sleep again after an hour or so. We woke up with our 7:30 am alarm and got ready to leave for a sightseeing day of the historical Paris.
We left our hotel around 8:30 am and had breakfast at a French cafe not too far from our hotel. It was a typical French breakfast with croissant, coffee and baguette with jam. To supplement it with our usual items, we also ordered a cheese omelette and orange juice. The French are famous for a light working breakfast (usually just a croissant and coffee), a heavy lunch and then a late dinner of moderate quantity. In the spirit of light breakfast, our portions were very small - everything was mini sized and the orange juice was actually served half glass full whereas the coffee cup and water glasses were around 100-125 ml. Oh and everything tasted great! Just like you can get a good egg and cheese bagel from virtually any corner cafe in New York, similarly you can get a good butter croissant anywhere in Paris.
We bought the subway day pass and used it liberally through the day. We must've used it close to a dozen times.
Our first stop was Sainte Chapelle. It's an old chapel that was built by the French king Louis the 10th in 1248 and took 5 years to complete. The reason to build it was that he had purchased a Christian relic called the Crown the Thorns that was supposedly worn by Jesus at the time of his crucifixion and the king wanted to showcase the crown in a grand chapel. The chapel's architectural marvel are its 15 m long stained glass panels that run around the whole building and have the whole biblical Christian history painted on them in vibrant colors in over 1100 scenes. If that wasn't enough, they reflect sunlight in such a way that the chapel is illuminated in all the colors making it look majestic. These stained glass panels are in the upper floor chapel that was used by the nobility and rich people of Paris. The lower floor chapel was used by the common people and is majestic in its own right.
Our next stop was the next door Conciergarie. It used to be a prison for criminals waiting to be executed that has now been converted to a museum. We saw some recreated cells of prisoners. According to records, 2780 French citizens were executed in this prison. This list included the last king of France King Louis the 16th and his wife Queen Marie Antoinette who famously allegedly said "let them eat cake" when informed about the peasants' complaints of having no bread to eat. Of course, she never said that but it makes for a good catchy story. They were executed after the French Revolution of 1789. The museum had on display the actual cell where Marie Antoinette spent her last days.
Our third stop of the day was supposed to be Notre Dame (literally meaning "Our Lady") that is the finest example of Gothic architecture in Europe. It took about 200 years to complete after construction started in 1163 and completed in 1345. This cathedral has been witness to various periods of religious rise and fall in French history. The actual site of the cathedral has had religious significance for over 2300 years and initially had a pagan temple at the site of the current cathedral. During the age when France was moving towards its secular values, the cathedral was converted to a church of logic and reason. There was an extremely long line with perhaps more than 500 people in line so we decided to skip going inside and just took pictures of the detailed outer facades containing dozens of sculptures and listened to our Rick Steves' audio guide that we had downloaded for free for walking tours of different sites in our current trip. We might go there again tomorrow if we have time.
Then we grabbed a quick Nutella crepe from a nearby cafe and walked around Ile de la Cite - its an island on River Seine where all three of today's sightseeing sites are located. We also got one scoop of ice cream from a shop that was highly recommended in our guide.
Then we took the subway to Musee d'Orsay (Orsay Museum). As soon as we got out of the station at our destination, we walked into pouring rain and got soaked. We ran into the closest bakery. While waiting for the rain to subside, we decided that we would skip lunch since we're quite full after the crepe and ice cream and instead decided to get a palm-sized quiche (like a little pizza). It was fresh and the combination of tomatoes and mushroom with cheese was exactly what we needed while drying ourselves. When the rain got lighter and we had finished our quiche, we took out our umbrellas and walked to Musee d'Orsay. There were long lines outside and utter confusion as to which line was for whom (Museum
Pass holders like us, non-pass holders and then both these categorized in individuals versus groups). We changed lines at least 4 times due to confusion and then finally waited in the correct line in start-stop rain for almost two hours before we were able to get inside. This museum is housed in a building that used to be a railway station. It's a remarkable building with a central platform area and then galleries on several floors bordering the platform. The museum's prime collection are statues and paintings. The majority of exhibits date between 1848 and 1914. Paintings include neoclassical and impressionist styles and the statues also exhibit various styles like naturalism and symbolism. Perhaps the most fascinating technique that we saw on display was the neoclassical style of painting that was inspired by science and involves complimentary colors painted as dots or pixels next to each other that make the painting look whole from afar and granulated when looked from a few feet. In statues, we were amazed by the skill on display specially in the details of human bodies - the muscles stretched and strained exactly as how they would with a real body - and the use of different types of marble and stone to get different textures/colors. We had to wait a long time to get into the second most famous museum in Paris but it was worth the wait!
Our next stop was the most famous museum of Paris, The Lourve (and one of the top 3 in the world with the other two being Prado Museum in Madrid that we'll see later in this trip and The MET in New York City that we've already seen once). This museum has featured in the movie The Da Vinci Code as well. It used to be a palace and houses some of the masterpiece paintings of French and Italian artists in addition to some rare Greek and Roman statues. The museum's most identifiable exhibit is The Mona Lisa, the most famous work of Leonardo da Vinci and perhaps the single most famous painting in the world. We followed our downloaded Rick Steves' audio guide again that highlighted about 20 selected gems from this museum containing over 3000 items. Every single one of them had a story to tell. Just a quick word about Mona Lisa, it's smaller than you'd expect and it's hidden behind a protective glass frame and it's incredibly hard to get to see it from front. There's always a crowd in front of it, all of them wanting to take a few dozen pictures with the painting! The painting's artistic claim to fame is its mysterious nature where Mona Lisa's smile or lack of it can be perceived in different ways depending on what one wants to see. This changeability with a fixed work of art is evident for all to see but hard to explain. The painting is seen by 6 million people every year at The Lourve and is the most photographed piece of art in the world, leading Van Gogh's The Starry Night by some distance. A quick mention of the glass pyramid that was built on top of the museum reception area: it was built relatively recently in 1989 and has now become the highly identifiable symbol of The Lourve so much so that with every "Sorte" (exit) sign inside the museum, there was no translation in any language and just a symbol of a pyramid.
After that, we were extremely tired so we wanted to have dinner and go back to our hotel. In trying to find the closest subway station, we ended up walking to another item on our list - the Pont Nuef bridge that is the oldest of the 37 bridges on Seine river. We ate a decent meal (not quite as exceptional as yesterday's dinner) at a local cafe. Our subway train on the way back to our hotel passed through Arc de Triomphe so we made a quick stop there. Arc de Triomphe is virtually the center of Paris. It's a roundabout where twelve avenues from all around the city open into it and there is a huge memorial building that was built on Napoleon's orders to celebrate the victory of French soldiers in a war. We also got our very first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower in the far away skyline. We'll explore both these (Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower) tomorrow, in addition to Notre Dame. Other things left on our list are the Seine River cruise and a tour to the Palace of Versailles that is on the outskirts of Paris.
I got excited about our 15 km long day so shared a lot more detail than I usually do. But Paris deserves it. We love the city so far. It's a very refined version of New York with similarities yet very marked differences too - more on that tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed the update.
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