Museums and Big Churches

This morning we got up and went to a pastry shop for a bite to eat - the woman didn't speak much English, but the pasties were very good!  Dave had something with rhubarb and I had one with raisins. Yum!

 

We parted ways and Dave headed for the conference and I headed for the Metro stop.  Having a Navigo is like having an EZPass on the highway. You get your own entry in some of the stations and you pop right through.  I successfully navigated a train change and got off at the Musee D'Orsay stop.  It was easy to follow all the other people going to the museum.  The museum was great and I spent about 3 hours there.  No photos are allowed inside, but I took a picture outside. They are doing renovations and have thoughtfully relocated their famous paintings into temporary gallery space in which many people can try to be in all at once.  A word here about the French/European habit of not walking on the right.  I am the only person walking on the right, most of the time.  This makes it complicated when you are looking at paintings hanging directly on your right, when everyone else is looking at the same paintings, but walking in the other direction. The curators have also spent some time paring up paintings that are similar and were from the same area of influence.  Van Gogh and Gauguin, for instance - theres were all together.

After the museum, I went outside and walked along the Seine until I got to the Pont Neuf.  There is a yarn store near here, and yes I visited it.  I have successfully purchased French yarn!!

After the Pont Neuf, you come to the Cathedral of Notre Dame.  I stood in line, which moved fairly quickly, and went to see the great architecture.  Lots of photos, not much else to say on that - but very exciting to see all these things in person.

After Notre Dame, I navigated my way back to the hotel, stopping at a grocery store on my way.  I bought bacon crackers, I haven't seen those in a long time, and limonade!  They have really great, really fizzy lemonade here.  A 1.5 L bottle was .75 euros, about $1.25. I walked back to the hotel, only going up the wrong street once, but finding a Christmas store along the way.  I am hoping to go back to that tomorrow. I also saw a restaurant I would like to try by the Cluny/Sorbonne area.



I took a nap, watched the end of today's stage of the Tour de France, which they show live here and virtually commercial-free, but in French, obviously, so you can see the names, but not understand the commentary.

So far France has been very eye-opening.  It's cleaner than NYC, the people are polite, and quiet!!!  There is really not much noise here. Perhaps this is because many Parisians are on holiday out of the city, but I'm not sure. And almost everyone we have encountered speaks at least some English.