The Fab Fourth Day in Paris

I didn't forget to finish up my trip to Paris, I've just been busy learning about why lots of people in the world don't have any money and how Irish people don't like the Catholic Church anymore.

Day 4 started earlier than day 3, but with the same thing happened: Jenna went to class. That was lame, because class is lame. We also were checking out of the hotel and moving to another one for the last night of my trip, so we had heavy duffels with us. Jenna had suggested that I go to the Musée d'Orsay, which is an art museum near her school. We got off the Metro and she headed off to class. I got to the museum and was welcomed by a long line. It moved quickly, though, and I soon got to the ticket window. Since EU students get in free, I flashed my Trinity College Dublin ID and tried to speak in an Irish accent. The accent wasn't that hot, but luckily it's hard to distinguish English accents when you don't speak it very well. So this native Irish student got into the Musée d'Orsay free. I checked my bag and picked up an audio guide (which was really nice to have in a French museum). The Musée d'Orsay was my favorite museum in Paris (sorry Louvre! Not really though). Housed in a former train station, it features almost all French art, with a lot of realism, impressionism, and post-impressionism.

The main hall of the museum.

The clock left over from when the museum was a train station. This would be an amazing watch. A bit heavy though.

If I were the curator at Musée d'Orsay, these works would definitely be there, among others that didn't turn out in the pictures.

Monet - Grosse mer a Etretat

Really sweet glasswork.

Ferdinand Holder

On to the Van Gogh section. This is one of his Starry Night paintings.

Another famous Van Gogh.

THE self-portrait of all self-portraits. The thing that struck me about all Van Gogh's paintings, especially this one, is the variation in paint thickness. It's like looking at mini mountain ranges.

A Monet landscape. Click on it to see the detail, but the paint on the clouds is really piled on there.

I had to take a picture of Whistler's Mother, even though I think it's a horrendous waste of several square feet.

See?!? I wasn't crazy for taking pictures of the Metro signs! It's legitimate art because it's in a museum. I am so good at finding art. I'm going to say that I am the artist of the found-art piece entitled "Sign Outside The Metro."

After Jenna's classes were over, we went to our next hotel. It was in a fairly untouristy part of Montmartre, although not the part with lots of strip clubs. Still, there were a lot of musicians playing in the pedestrian triangle outside and a merry-go-round for the local kiddies. We walked by dozens of parents waiting to pick up their primary school-aged kids. Our new hotel was, like our last one, teeny. I wasn't in Paris to gallivant in the confines of my hotel room, though, so it was fine. Jenna and I found a grocery store to pick up some cheese, wine, and fruit. There was so much wine so cheap there, including 1.38 Euro sparkling white wine (champagne from somewhere besides Champagne). It was hideous, but it was available for that cheap - more than I can say for Dublin or the US. To go with our delicious garlic cheese and brie, we each got a whole baguette from a little boulangerie nearby.

Zut alors, that was good bread!

On the docket for the evening were the Champs Elysees and Arc de Triomphe. First, we had to walk by some fountains near the Tuileries (Toolery) Gardens. Jenna got in the way.

We walked up the Champs Elysees, which I like to call Le Michigan Avenue. There are lots of designer clothing stores, department stores, and food of varying qualities lining wide, tree-lined sidewalks and impossible traffic. At the end of the street, there is a mammoth roundabout with the Arc de Triomphe in the middle.

I could have guessed it if I had thought about it, but I learned that one has to go underground to avoid the traffic and get to the Arc. We had the opportunity to go to the top, and I said, "Let's take it! When else are we going to have the chance?" The walk was tedious, but just as much because it was a long, long spiral staircase (monotony) as because it was high up. The views from the top were tremendous and I would like to share a few:

Jenna and I at the top near sunset.

I was fascinated by the traffic. There was no rhyme nor reason to it. Cars were stopped behind other cars that were at a 90 degree angle from them.

The Champs Elysees from the top of the Arc de Triomphe.

The far-off business district, La Defense.

The Arc de Triomphe is massive. This is all that would fit in the frame of my camera from a good distance away.

Lots of people in Paris go to the Seine with some friends and some wine and have a good time at night. Jenna and I did the same. We got there and saw a big group of people listening to swing music and dancing. That is super cool, since I have been swing dancing for years. Jenna has done a lot of dancing, and had some knowledge of swing, too. We joined in and danced to Louis Armstrong, et al along the Seine for my last night in Paris. We both had a blast!