Great bus rides we have taken ... and taken...

Included are pictures of the Petit and Grand Palais, from the outside and the inside, as well as me and one of my buddies at the Louvre!

Monday, May 18, 2009

Bonjour!

Woke up about 6 to another wonderful day in Paris! Up and out fairly early, as we wanted to be at the Louvre when it opened at 9 a.m. Made our way first to the Luxembourg RER station, and were (surprise!) unable to use the automatic ticket booth inside the torn-out (renovation project) station. However, a sign posted nearby indicated that a temporary ticket booth was outside in front of the Luxembourg Gardens! Ha! So, upstairs and voila! There it was, across Blvd. St. Michel, facing the station! Got two Mobili passes for the day, which enables us to hop on and off all metro, RER and buses within zones 1 and 2. With tickets now in hand, we found our old friend, the #21 bus just down the street from the flat at Rue Royer Collard, and headed to the Louvre. Made it quickly, and got to the Carousel du Louvre (the shopping complex underneath the Louvre, connecting to the museum) by 8:15 a.m.! R had coffee and two croissants; I had two pain au chocolate. Found also, that – SURPRISE! – they’re doing a HUGE renovation at what was formerly the food court at the Carousel! (It looked like half of the food stations had been taken out, and we’re not exactly sure if the plan is to redo them or to put in something else!) Ah, progress!!

Were in line for the Louvre at 9, and headed in to see the special Egyptian exhibit. Excellent! It was a fairly philosophical piece concerning “doors” and “gates” between this world and the underworld, according to the Egyptians, and there were examples not only from the Louvre’s collection, but also the British Museum and other European galleries. Had the place pretty much to ourselves, so that was nice! Some of the pieces credited to the Louvre look to be new to us; I imagine that they have so many pieces that not all of them are out at any one time. At any rate, very good exhibit. Visited a few other old friends – Winged Victory, the Apollo Gallery and the Mesopotamian collection. Very impressive, as always! By this time, truth be told, we were both starting to drag … missing an entire night’s sleep on the flight over does tend to catch up with one eventually – even me! So, we decided to head back to the hotel for a bit of a rest. Great idea, as we were able to have a nice 2-hour nap!

Up and out again around 2 p.m., this time heading over to the Grand Palais. I have to say that as many times as we have been in Paris, and as many times as we have walked past both the Petit and Grand Palais’ we’ve never been inside! So – that was our goal for the afternoon! First, however, we were enjoying our bus ride so much – the #72 that runs along the right bank side of the Seine, past Radio France and the almost-life-size model of the Statue of Liberty on the Isle in the Seine – that we rode all the way to the end and the Parc St. Cloud. Got off, took a look around – absolutely BEAUTIFUL day! Weather cool and pleasant – probably in the high 60’s; comfortable with a light jacket; downright hot sitting in the sun! (Oh! And while we were traveling along the Seine, R’s phone rang! He figured it was either his mother-in-law or Graciela, but no! It was Sixt Rental car, calling about our reservation on Wednesday! Turns out the location we’d booked wouldn’t be open yet, so they moved us elsewhere in the 7th arr. No big problem, but, boy, is it hard to hear on a cell phone while the bus is cruising along!)

On the route back, got off at Grand Palais and headed inside. They’re hosting an exhibit of contemporary French art by young(er) artists – very reminiscent of some of the installations from Art Center. We really, though, wanted to get into the building to look at the structure itself – and it is magical; huge, wrought iron and glass, built in 1900 for an international exposition. Robert and I are both fans of Gustav Eiffel (and la tour Eiffel, the bridge at Briare, Le Semaritaine department store, etc…) and really like most structures built out of iron (like I.K. Brunell’s bridges in England) – so this was incredibly impressive! Great fun! At this point, although quite late, we each had a baguette avec jambon et fromage (ham/cheese sandwich); excellent. Not sure that the French can make a bad meal – or anything inedible for that matter! Not sure why a ham/cheese sandwich in France tastes so much better than anywhere else; it just does!

From here, we decided to head to 13 a Manger, a really excellent cooking shop – always good for a look around! Headed across the Pont Alexandre III (beautiful bridge!) and towards Les Invalides to catch yet another bus. This one, the 69, took a bit of finding, but eventually (it was rush-hour!) one came and we hopped on. Wound around from the left bank to the right, and then headed down Rue de Rivoli toward the Marais. Not being exactly sure where the store was, I overshot it – which necessitated another change in buses at Hotel de Ville (City Hall). Saw that they were hosting an exhibition on Gustav Eiffel , but it was too late to get in this afternoon – will definitely head back there tomorrow!

By this time, exhaustion had overtaken us once again, so we headed back to Le Senat. R took a short nap, while I blog. Also, some rain has moved in (nothing mentioned in the forecast!) for a nice shower. Seems to be moving on quickly; makes for a nice respite! Now, while I’m not terribly hungry, I am getting thirsty … I seem to hear a good wine calling my name! – so will see if I can motivate Robert into helping me find it and putting it out of its misery! Have decided to head to our favorite local Japanese restaurant, as we can eat lighter tonight, owing to the lateness of our sandwiches!

So! More demain!!
Much love,
m