Paris, long museum visits

After an uneventful train ride to Paris (on which I did in fact manage to get some sleep), I managed to locate my hotel with the aid of a taxi, since I stupidly believed Orbitz that it was in the middle of Paris.

It was actually near the Montparnasse train station, which is not anywhere near the middle of Paris. Ah, travel lessons.

Once that was settled, I immediately headed to the Louvre, where I engaged in the exercise of determining how much time I could spend there, and how much of it I would see in that time.

The answers turned out to be 5.5 hours and about 1/4 of the collection respectively.

A lot of people get "museum legs" and/or "museum fatigue" after 2 or 3 hours in a museum. I usually do too, but I decided the Louvre was special. I ignored the museum legs (I've been tramping around Spain for how long?). When I got tired of any particular area, I simply moved on to something different, and thus avoided the fatigue of "oh, not another gallery of X". Since the Louvre has such an incredible diversity of materials, this was not hard to do. I ended up seeing a fair amount of French and Dutch paintings, French sculpture, objects from the French Middle Ages, and Levantine antiquities. I didn't see plenty of other things, including Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. I'm reasonably certain they'll still be there the next time I'm in Paris.

I saw the Louvre on Monday August 22. Tuesdays in Paris are bad news -- most museums are closed. However, one that was open was the Marmottan, which has a very nice collection of Monets.

While in Paris I also rediscovered the need for long pants, and the existence of droplets of moisture falling from the sky, things that had seemed remote while in Spain. (Well, it DID rain on occasion in Spain, but it was usually short-lived.)

I left Paris on a late-afternoon train for Mannheim, finally getting to my brother's abode in Ludwigshafen around 11:30 at night. Eric called a little while later to report that he and Claire were stuck in traffic in Switzerland -- this due to flooding. They arrived sometime in the wee hours.

I'm almost home, but there's one more piece of adventure left: I have to fly British Airways to get home.

The Rodin and the Orsay

After descending the Eiffel Tower, I made my way towards the Rodin Museum, stopping to photograph a lovely fruit stand, and a few more pictures from ground level of the Hotel des Invalides.

Once at the Rodin Museum, I enjoyed the grounds, which of course have plenty of sculpture...



They even have an interesting flower garden.

I also took pictures inside, where there's also some very nice sculpture.



This one (The Tempest, I believe it is called) is just incredible.

From the Rodin, it was a relatively short walk to the Orsay.

The Orsay is an old train station that was saved from the wrecking ball in the 1970s and turned into the home of much of Paris' Impressionist collection. It also has some sculpture, in keeping with a theme in this blog. But the building is a star in its own right.



At the end of the day, I made my farewells from Eric and Claire, and hopped the Paris Metro to the Gare d'Austerlitz to catch an overnight train to Barcelona.

Next post may not be for a week or so -- the archaeology dig adventure begins today. Still in the queue: Barcelona, and three days of hiking in the Sierra Nevada. Stay tuned!

The Eiffel Tower

On the 22d, I described my itinerary in a note to Eric and Claire like this:

• Eiffel Tower


• Musée Rodin


• Musée d'Orsay (where the Impressionists are)


• The St. Chapelle church (known for stained glass)

Afterwards, Claire pointed out that this seemed might aggressive. The Orsay, in particular is easily a whole day by itself. But then I knew I wouldn't be seeing the whole thing...

I had a most enjoyable visit to the Eiffel Tower, since I got there fairly early (about 10). There was only a short line for tickets, and less than 30 minutes later, I was on top.

It was a hazy day, but I got some decent pictures anyway.

Arc de Triomphe

Hotel des Invalides

Place de la Concorde

Some guy

From further down the tower, I took a few more pictures.

Paris, ah Paris

So Eric and I drove down to Paris on the 21st, arriving in the late afternoon. We stayed at an apartment on the Left Bank right near the Musée Cluny belonging to the parents of Claire, Eric's, umm, err, mistress? Girlfriend? Perhaps she or Eric can help clear the terminology here. Discretion being the better part of valor, combined with the fact that I had 28 hours in Paris, I didn't stay long there, and headed out to see the city.

I started out by walking a short way to theGardens of the Luxembourg Palace, a somewhat quintessential non-touristy part of Paris. Beautiful gardens.



I wandered over towards the Seine, and caught a glimpse of the
Hôtel de Ville:



Since I wasn't far from Notre Dame, I took a few pictures there too.



I strolled more along the Right Bank, not taking pictures of the Pompidou Centre, which is a marked contrast to the more historic views of Paris.

I did encounter a carousel, which I did not ride, but it did have a rabbit on it.



On the way towards the Louvre, I passed the French Culture Ministry building, which has some funky exterior art:



And, of course, the Louvre:



This being quite enough for a few hours (and it nearing the agreed-upon meeting time for dinner with Eric and Claire), I made my way back, and we went out for a very nice Indian dinner.