Monday, June 29, 2009

Paris day 5







We are now art aficionados! We spent the morning with our very own Louvre tour guide. She was very knowledgeable and we learned a lot. One of the most interesting things we learned was that when they were digging to build the pyramid by I M Pei in the 80’s, they found the foundations of the original medieval fortress, which the Louvre started as, to protect Paris from invaders. Some masterpieces we saw were the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, and the Mona Lisa, of course. As art museums go, we feel that the Louvre is at the top, although we only saw a tiny part of the 15 kilometers of art there! After lunch we decided to go see Sainte Chappelle. Little did we know, it’s closed from 1 to 2:15. Bummer. So we took a short stroll to the connecting Ile St. Louis, where Cindy enjoyed a glace citroen jaune (yellow citrusy sorbet) and Sharon didn’t enjoy her glace mandarin – but it was cold so she ate some of it… Sainte Chappelle was lovely. We didn’t have to wait in line too long, and the stained glass windows would have been worth it anyway. The colors were beautiful but it was difficult to pick out the Bible stories they were supposed to depict. We found the best way to end our last day in Paris! It’s called Montparnasse Tower and for 10.50 Euro, we waited maybe a minute before we went 56 stories high (196 meters) in 38 seconds, and could look out over all of Paris. We hit the trifecta! No crowds, air-conditioning, and a 360 degree view of Paris! We were able to get aerial shots of all the places we’ve visited and those we hadn’t, because as Rick Steves says, you can’t do it all! Tomorrow we leave tomorrow for Lourdes and are unsure of internet access, but we’ll blog as soon as we can. We’d like to thank mommy-to-be, Fran, for helping to set up this blog, and giving us the confidence to try it! Good night to our readers, and farewell to Paris!

4 comments:

  1. If nothing else, try the CarreFoure. I'm not sure of the spelling, but it's pronounced like "CarFOUR" with the accent on the second syllable. There they have free Internet access AND ice cream :)

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  2. That was a suggestion for Lourdes... in case I wasn't clear!

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  3. IMPORTANT! Sharon and Cindy, check your emails if you can! If you can't, please contact me or Lorraine.

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  4. Hi - please read my email. Guess what - Fran set me up so that I can "blog" you guys - from afar even! God bless technology and Fran, the expert. I have been reading your blogs every day. Some day when he will join me at the computer, I will show them all to Jim. The pictures are gorgeous and the script entertaining. Can't wait to see what you send from Lourdes. Lauren says the house is beautiful, the village small. Good luck. PS: Read my email!! Love, Mom

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