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July 17 2015

 

 

 

You don't d'Orsay?

July 17th, 2015

From behind the alter at Notre Dame

From behind the alter at Notre Dame

Despite all the sites we had already crammed in, we woke up early to try to beat some of the crowds to Notre Dame. Of course, we grabbed coffee and croissants on the way, and Anna realized this is a breakfast we could get used to. We got there to, what we realized later, a small line, got in to finally see inside Notre Dame. What’s interesting compared to other cathedrals we’ve encountered is that Notre Dame was mostly built by the people for the people, which also meant it took quite awhile to build, some 200 years. The iconic exterior is slightly more interesting than the interior, mostly due to the significant flying buttresses.

We visited the crypt below the cathedral and were impressed at how much has been uncovered and the presentation of the information on the past of the area. There’s a lot of history that goes far beyond (and below) the Paris we see today.

After these sites, we walked back along the side of the river and hunted for postcards at the many green, covered stands lining the river. It was a fun way to see all the old books, cards, and art being sold and much more enjoyable than being hassled to buy a cheap Eiffel Tower keychain outside all the other sites! The sellers at the green stands also don’t sell for much of a profit and if space was accommodating, we might be coming home with 2 or 3 paintings

We headed to the Musée d’Orsay next. On the way, we came to one of many Parisian bridges, but this particular bridge had a modern art design on it's sides. This was the bridge that started that craze where people put locks on the bridge to secure their love, but due to it weighing down and slowly destroying bridges, it is now forcing Paris to add these sides that cannot be "locked".

People still put locks off to the side of the bridge

People still put locks off to the side of the bridge

At Musée d'Orsay, we walked through rooms with the help of another audio-guide tour and learned about the progression of the art. We saw the works from Monet, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh, and Rodin and were astonished to see how many pieces are located between here and the Louvre (and those are only two of the art museums we have seen here). We both realized that Impressionist art may be our favorite type of art, and learned a lot about the progression of art over time. We were both surprised that we ended up enjoying this museum visit much more than the Louvre.

The beautiful interior of Musée d'Orsay

The beautiful interior of Musée d'Orsay

Chuck was very excited to visit the Grand Palace and the Petit Palace so we headed there but realized that the only way in was to get tickets for specific exhibits that we didn’t care to see, so we admired it from the outside instead, but on an attempt to get in, we went into the Paris’ Children’s Science Museum. The museum was fun, but no still no way to get to the main hall of the Grand Palace.

For dinner, we hunted for a place to get steak frites. We found a restaurant, Le Bistro du Perigord, and headed over to try to get in without a reservation. Once we were seated we realized that they did not have a steak frites option so we would only be able to order steak without the fries. We decided we could survive without them so we went ahead and ordered. We tried the escargot and were happy with how fresh they tasted and how different the sauce was than others we have had. We both ordered steaks (sans frites) and for dessert had crème brulee and a rhubarb tart. Everything was delicious and we also had the best service! When we mentioned to our waiter that the food was delicious he very proudly started telling us how it is a family business and pointing out all his family member from the pictures and newspaper clippings on the walls. The service made the meal, and Paris, that much more enjoyable.

Le Bistro du Perigord

Le Bistro du Perigord