Today I started work at 7am so I got done early, and it wasn't a busy day since it's early in the week. So I was done by 11:30am and decided to try to see the Catacombs. So I hopped on the metro and headed down there...so yeah the line was literally all the way around the block (the perimeter of the green lawn that it sits on), almost a complete circle. I know it's probably only a quarter of a mile, tops, but fill that with groups of people standing there (not in a perfectly single file line) and there had to easily be over 1000 people ahead of me. So a 2+ hour wait.
I'm not very big on the whole waiting-in-line thing, especially if I don't have to and there are other things I can do instead. Plus the guy in front of me said that if you buy the tix in advance then you can skip the line (which is the case in most museums here). But you cannot purchase tix day-of online, only two days out, which works fine for me. So I peaced out and started walking north, not really caring where exactly, just the general direction of eventually heading back home. I walked through the Jardin des Grands Explorateurs and just after that the Jardin du Luxembourg with the Palace in the background.
I continued to walk north and remembered that just south of Notre Dame there is a fairly famous bookstore called Shakespeare & Company, which looks like a quaint English bookstore. They have little nooks that are just little reading rooms of really old books, but everything downstairs is a bookstore and you can purchase those. And one of the reading rooms even has a piano. The window out the front on the second floor has a beautiful view of Notre Dame. And I found the Harry Potter books that have such cool covers here (in English!!!). And they were different for paperback and hardcover. Didn't buy any, but considered it. Oh, yeah they don't allow photography in their store. So....enjoy!
After this I walked to the Office of Tourism and bought a ticket to the Musée D'Orsay and attempted to get one for the Catacombs. The lady said she had heard that her tickets don't let you cut the line, so it might just be ones from their website. But she did know that after 4pm the line is super short, but they don't close till 8pm so you have plenty of time. I might try doing that this week and if it still doesn't work I can try buying the tix online. I walked down to the Musée after this and cut the long line of people attempting to buy their tickets to get in the "I already have my ticket" line. (If you go to Paris and want to go to ANY museums, buy your tix in advance. You can buy them at the Office of Tourism at the Pyramides metro station, or you can buy the Museum Pass that works for basically all their museums and monuments.)
As you can see, it's a pretty cool looking museum. Like an old train station feel to it. And it has the impressionists as well as sculptures and a few other things. I just go for the impressionists, like Van Gogh, Monet and Degas.
There was also a temporary exhibit for Charles Gleyre who was a "reformed Romantic". Apparently (according to the Museum's website, since they didn't have any brochures in english) there has never been an exhibition devoted solely to him before, though he was a major figure in academy painting in Paris in the mid nineteenth century. He traveled broadly around the Mediterranean from Greece and Turkey down to Syria and Egypt, which greatly influenced his paintings. He was also influenced by Greek and Roman mythology. After seeing all the impressionism, these works were so starkly realistic and yet it is interesting to find that Gleyre actually taught a number of young artists, including Monet and Renoir. No pictures were allowed in this exhibit.
After that I headed back home for the day. Not sure what my plan is tomorrow. I'm thinking checking out the house of Victor Hugo at the Place des Vogues/Square Louis XIII. And maybe the Place de la Bastille since it is nearby. Today is also the summer solstice which is celebrated here in France with the Fête de la Musique. Apparently everyone goes into the streets and plays music, if they want to, to celebrate the longest day. (Not that you would know since we didn't actually see the sun today.) Out of all my walking today I saw 2 people playing music. One was at the Jardin du Luxembourg and the other was on the metro car I got onto in Paris. Hard to tell if this was anything special though because those are both fairly common. I didn't feel like sticking around any longer so maybe we will hear music tonight in Chatou. Laters! (View out the top floor of the Musée D'Orsay, with the Sacré Coeur in the background on the horizon.)
I'm not very big on the whole waiting-in-line thing, especially if I don't have to and there are other things I can do instead. Plus the guy in front of me said that if you buy the tix in advance then you can skip the line (which is the case in most museums here). But you cannot purchase tix day-of online, only two days out, which works fine for me. So I peaced out and started walking north, not really caring where exactly, just the general direction of eventually heading back home. I walked through the Jardin des Grands Explorateurs and just after that the Jardin du Luxembourg with the Palace in the background.
I continued to walk north and remembered that just south of Notre Dame there is a fairly famous bookstore called Shakespeare & Company, which looks like a quaint English bookstore. They have little nooks that are just little reading rooms of really old books, but everything downstairs is a bookstore and you can purchase those. And one of the reading rooms even has a piano. The window out the front on the second floor has a beautiful view of Notre Dame. And I found the Harry Potter books that have such cool covers here (in English!!!). And they were different for paperback and hardcover. Didn't buy any, but considered it. Oh, yeah they don't allow photography in their store. So....enjoy!
After this I walked to the Office of Tourism and bought a ticket to the Musée D'Orsay and attempted to get one for the Catacombs. The lady said she had heard that her tickets don't let you cut the line, so it might just be ones from their website. But she did know that after 4pm the line is super short, but they don't close till 8pm so you have plenty of time. I might try doing that this week and if it still doesn't work I can try buying the tix online. I walked down to the Musée after this and cut the long line of people attempting to buy their tickets to get in the "I already have my ticket" line. (If you go to Paris and want to go to ANY museums, buy your tix in advance. You can buy them at the Office of Tourism at the Pyramides metro station, or you can buy the Museum Pass that works for basically all their museums and monuments.)
As you can see, it's a pretty cool looking museum. Like an old train station feel to it. And it has the impressionists as well as sculptures and a few other things. I just go for the impressionists, like Van Gogh, Monet and Degas.
There was also a temporary exhibit for Charles Gleyre who was a "reformed Romantic". Apparently (according to the Museum's website, since they didn't have any brochures in english) there has never been an exhibition devoted solely to him before, though he was a major figure in academy painting in Paris in the mid nineteenth century. He traveled broadly around the Mediterranean from Greece and Turkey down to Syria and Egypt, which greatly influenced his paintings. He was also influenced by Greek and Roman mythology. After seeing all the impressionism, these works were so starkly realistic and yet it is interesting to find that Gleyre actually taught a number of young artists, including Monet and Renoir. No pictures were allowed in this exhibit.
After that I headed back home for the day. Not sure what my plan is tomorrow. I'm thinking checking out the house of Victor Hugo at the Place des Vogues/Square Louis XIII. And maybe the Place de la Bastille since it is nearby. Today is also the summer solstice which is celebrated here in France with the Fête de la Musique. Apparently everyone goes into the streets and plays music, if they want to, to celebrate the longest day. (Not that you would know since we didn't actually see the sun today.) Out of all my walking today I saw 2 people playing music. One was at the Jardin du Luxembourg and the other was on the metro car I got onto in Paris. Hard to tell if this was anything special though because those are both fairly common. I didn't feel like sticking around any longer so maybe we will hear music tonight in Chatou. Laters! (View out the top floor of the Musée D'Orsay, with the Sacré Coeur in the background on the horizon.)
Glad you got me a museum pass. I want to see the Catacombs too! Bet you can't take pics there either...
ReplyDelete