We're winding down from our first day of sightseeing in Paris with tired feet for me and still a bit of jet lag for K. The day turned out differently than planned when we initially set out this morning, but the lesson for the day was to be flexible and adapt to whatever happened. Surprisingly, that was more of a lesson for K than for me though.
We awoke to rain in the early morning hours, but we were lucky enough that it didn't rain while we were out and about today despite the weather forecast that it likely would. With that in mind though, it was probably a good day to spend indoors. In a museum, of course. The Musee de L'orangerie was our first stop. I hadn't been there before, so I was excited to check it out. When we emerged from the metro at the Place de la Concorde, we got our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower then made our way through the Tuileries Gardens over to the museum.
We had intended to get our Paris Museum Pass yesterday at a museum near our hotel, but did not get around to it. So, we paid the price for it in terms of time spent waiting in line to get in. But, it was worth it. The museum is most known for having Monet's Water Lilies.
The bonus though was getting to see the Walter-Guillaume collection, which included works from Rousseau, Modigliani, Laurencin, Matisse, Picasso, Derain, Utrillo, and Soutine, all of which I really enjoyed.
Next up was a walk along the Seine toward the Louvre, which we decided to preview even though it wasn't necessarily on our plan until later in the week. But first, we had a quick bite for lunch along the banks of the river. Not a bad view from our lunch spot:
This time, armed with our Museum Pass, we were able to bypass the main tourist line through the Pyramid, which made things much easier.
I had not been particularly looking forward to going to the Louvre with K because I knew he would want to see and read everything. What I remembered about the Louvre was that it was hot, crowded, and massive, and that still holds true today. Despite me telling K this, he still seemed surprised by the scene, but it's obviously something that you have to experience for yourself. We made our way to see the most famous lady there, along with all the other tourists, then we spent the rest of the afternoon looking at the early Italian and Spanish paintings. After several hours, we finished one floor of one wing (Denon). Essentially, I just moved from bench to bench while K wandered the halls. We're going back on Thursday so he can continue his art history journey, although I might try to slip out and see Usain Bolt who is here for a Jamaica party that day. Here's a nice view outside from the first floor of the Denon wing (notice that we've been in there long enough for the sun to come out!):
We closed down the Louvre, then headed to the area near the Opera House for dinner.
Time to rest up because we're heading to Versailles tomorrow...
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