In this post I am going to try to catch up so it is going to be a whirlwind tour – hold tight and let’s go.

 

Jardin de Tuileries

After we left the Louvre, we went through this arched gate and into the lovely Tuiliries Garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Champs Elyse’es

The Tuileries is on the famous Champs Elyse’es (that’s the name of the street)

and we strolled along enjoying the sights, sounds and scents through the park.

I wrote before about the minimal space and the manner in which it is used. Well, this area is certainly no different, stores and businesses on the ground floor and apartments above, with one slight difference. In this area the types of businesses and apartments are in a class all their own. Here we’re talking New York’s 5th Avenue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The walking tour ended at the Arc de Triumph and we felt pretty triumphant at making it through the Louvre and clear to the arch! That was a long amazing day.

More Art Galleries

Paris has famous art museums on every other block and Tom and I felt obligated to do see at least some of them. After the Louvre we were told that the L’Orangerie was a great museum if you liked Monet which we do.

*There are no photos allowed so the following pictures are courtesy of the internet.

The Orangerie Museum sits near the Tuileries Garden – how perfect. The design was specified by Monet himself  to create a space between the hustle and bustle  of the city and his work – a tranquil oasis. He succeeded. Just going through the museum calms the soul. We loved it.

 

There were other artists as well.

The Palace of Versailles

Another museum/adventure was to the Palace of Versailles. Versailles was the country retreat for royalty beginning with Louis XIII and later enlarged by his son Louis XIV.  It takes almost an hour by train and much of the travel is though the French countryside – well worth the trip for the scenery alone,.

As per guidebook instructions, Tom and I headed out early took the metro

 

 

to the train station and boarded the train. The scenery was verdant, lush and gorgeous.

We traveled to the end of the line where the last passenger on the train, other than us, informed us that we were on the wrong train, expletive! He was kind enough to tell us how to get where we needed to go so we found the correct gate and headed back to try again.

 

 

This time we were successful but by this time a gazillion other people had done it right and were there ahead of us.

 

 

 

One of the museum employees suggested that we do the gardens and the Grand and Petite Trinaons first, have lunch and then come back to the palace – great advise.

 

 

 

The gardens are enormous, with perfectly manicured lawns and shrubs, sculptures fountains and canals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the reign of kings Versailles could filled with as many as 5000 people – family members, government staff, servants.  The Grand Trianon was built by King Louie XIV as a get-away from the main Versailles complex.

 

 

 

 

After a lovely lunch at one of the small restaurants in the gardens, we headed for the palace and as our friendly museum employee predicted, there were only around 20 people in line as opposed to hundreds  – yea! So we entered another Life of the Super Rich and Famous atmosphere. We got audio guides and followed the map from one gorgeous room

to the next.

 

At the time of the French Revolution, many were living in poverty and starving, while the royalty continued with their lavish life style and failed to protect its people from invaders.  It is said that when told that the people were starving and had no bread Queen Marie Antoinette replied “Then let them eat cake,” a statement for which she eventually lost her head. Justice? Maybe/maybe not, but understandable.

To lighten the mood, we came across this group of monks near the end of our tour. I usually think of monks as reverent, quiet, reserved – not as tourists taking selfies. These guys were having such a great time they were really fun to watch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made it home by a much more direct route, tired but glad we went.

 

 

!!The Eiffel Tower!!

Okay, this is out of order and we experienced the Eiffel Tower earlier in our stay, but I felt that it was the perfect Grand Finally to our Paris post.

We again followed the suggestion of our trusty guidebook author Rick Steves, who has never steered us wrong, and went to the Eiffel Tower in the evening.  We arrived at the subway stop, climbed the stairs, rounded the corner, and there it was The Eiffel Tower with the Trocadero Gardens spread out before us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The place was packed so we walked for awhile enjoying the park and the neighborhood and found a little restaurant for dinner.

The food was delicious and the atmosphere charming.

 

 

We then headed back to face the crowds. The wait for tickets was not too long and the next thing you  know we were herded into an elevator (no, we didn’t climb the stairs. We’d just shared a bottle of wine at dinner, there was no stair climbing.) But we were in the real, one-and-only Eiffel Tower!!!

We wandered around taking in the views from all angles and of course taking pictures as night fell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then at precisely 11:00PM The Show began! The tower puts on it’s own light show and suddenly thousands of tiny lights all over the tower started blinking . The effect was mesmerizing – soooo amazing.

We went back to the Trocadero took pictures and watched the show again (it happens once an hour for 5 minutes).

It might take a moment or two to start so be patient,

A sparkling farewell to Paris.