It is Easter Sunday. We caught the metro to a stop near the Place De L’Opera. The opera building is a very large, beautiful building. We noticed on our map that there is a street named “Rue Milton”. Since this is the family name, we had to find it.
Opera House 06
Like in Brussels, the streets of Paris are a jumbled mess. They radiate from public centers like spokes on a wheel, then criss-cross each other. They can be very difficult to navigate. I wonder what kind of directions one of those GPS devices would give. Good luck!
We found Rue Milton, took some pictures, then stopped over at a Café for some coffee. This was our first coffee experience in France, so it was quite interesting. We ordered “deux coffee” at the counter. It was set up like a bar, except everyone was drinking coffee instead of liquor. We were each served a tiny cup of coffee (about the size of a shot glass) on a tiny saucer with a tiny spoon and two cubes of sugar. The coffee was very strong, more like espresso. It was actually quite fun stirring the tiny coffee with a tiny spoon and sipping from a tiny cup with a tiny handle. It was like a little tea party.
Tiny Coffee
We wandered around a bit more and came across this street along which were small vendors selling everything from meats and cheeses to bread and fruit. If I lived here I would just buy fresh food every day. No more mega grocery store chain.
Next we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower. By the way, the metro in Paris is great! There is a mix of local and commuter trains that basically criss-cross the entire metropolitan area. From my experience it is much better than NYC’s subway system.
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The Eiffel Tower was as expected. It was really beautiful though. Flowers and trees were blooming and the sky was clear blue. We wanted to go to the top, but the line looked like it would take several hours so we decided to skip it.
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We crossed the Seine (river) and passed through Palaise De Chaillot, then walked toward the Arc De Triomph. This too was as expected. The large turnaround surrounding the monument was pretty interesting. Something like 12 roads come together at this point.
Arc de Triomphe 01
From the Arc De Triomph we made our way down Ave Des Champs Elysees toward the Louvre. We stopped over in a park and sat in the grass. How beautiful! Flowers were blooming everywhere and people were either sunning themselves on the benches or taking a leisurely stroll. I like the pace of this city.
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We continued on toward the Louvre. On the way there were beautiful parks and lots of flowers (would you expect anything less?). As we approached the Louvre, its magnitude became more evident. It is huge!
Louvre 02
One thing I haven’t liked about Paris is that many of the walking paths in public areas are of crushed limestone or something similar. By this time, Darcy’s black shoes were white with dust and we both had film covering our entire bodies.
Louvre 05
We entered the Louvre at the main entrance (under the pyramid) and bought our tickets. There is no way anyone could see all the pieces of art in the Louvre in one day. We decided to focus on the paintings. Of course we had to see the Mona Lisa. The attendants prodded us through like cattle in order to facilitate the crowds. What a way to contemplate the beauty of a masterpiece.
Louvre 13 - Venus de Milo
I actually enjoyed The Fine Arts Museum of Lille much more than the Louvre. It contained great works of art, was surmountable, was less crowded, and had no children. I was not able to really enjoy any of the art at the Louvre because of the crowds.
By the time we were done at the Louvre we were wiped out. We grabbed some food, made a quick stop at the Notre Dame Cathedral and then started heading back to the hostel. On the way back, we stopped at Gare Du Nord and made reservations for our trip to Bordeaux in two days (since it is a high speed train, reservations are required). We also verified the train times to Giverny for the next day.
ND 04
When we got back to our hostel, I looked out the window and noticed that I could see the very top of the Eiffel Tower way off in the distance and behind some closer buildings. It was lit up and a spotlight was beaming from the top. A few minutes later it began to sparkle like fireworks. We slept well that night.
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