Post Paris Recap

So now that I am home from Paris, I'll do a recap of our adventures and escapades last week. First off we all became metro pros by the time the week was over. We were all able to get on and off and navigate the Paris Metro system all on our own. We were also pros at ordering crepes from the vendors on the street - which were so delicious. I am happy to say I saw the major landmarks of Paris as well as found a quiet cafe to sit in and watch Paris pass by. We saw and climbed the Arc de Triomph, as well as spent a morning in the Louvre. The Louvre was amazing, and quite overwhelming. There were so many pieces of art and so many people there, sometimes it was a little hard to digest it all. But we found that some exhibits were quieter than others - like the Africa, North America and Oceania exhibit. Where to our surprise and excitement, we found one of the Easter Island heads! My favorite piece of artwork was actually a newer addition, found on the ceilling. It is a piece called "The Ceiling" and the creator is a contemporary American artist, CY Twombly. It was probably my favorite piece of artwork there. I would like to go back to the Louvre to see more of it, because you definitely need more than a morning in the Louvre. We also went to Musee L'Orangerie - where the paintings Water Lillies by Money are on exhibit. Monet is one of my favorite painters. So I was really excited to get to see a lot of his work. It was incredible to be face to face with the real things. L'Orangerie was probably my favorite museum that we visited. It wasn't huge and it wasn't terribly crowded either. It was really a nice museum with a lot of really nice exhibits. Second to L'Orangerie I loved Musee D'Orsay, a really big muesum. But not nearly the size of the Louvre, but much bigger than L'Orangerie. There was more Monet and impressionistic artists here - one of my favorite periods. I really enjoyed my time there. I also liked the time we spent at Montmarte, an artsy little neighborhood on a hill overlooking the city. It is also home to Sacre Couer - the first concrete church built in Paris. A beautiful church that can be seen from all over Paris, because of its size, white concrete, and placement on a hill. On Wednesday, I spent some time just sitting on a grass lawn between Napoleon's grave and the Exposition. We just sat in the sun and watched Paris pass us by for about an hour.
Thursday we headed out to Versailles to explore the Royal Palace and its huge grounds. Versailles requires an entire day to see it properly and to take the whole thing in. The grounds are so expansive they have shuttles and golf carts you can ride around so you can see everything. We didn't make it down to the Queen's Hamlet when we were there, but what we got to see was beautiful. It took over 50 years to get Versailles to the way it is seen now, and they said that most of the rooms were done over at least 10 times each. I can't imagine the kind of money it took to build a place like this. The Hall of Mirrors was incredible, it's crazy to think that we were walking along the same places that some of the most famous people in European history walked. That night a bunch of us went and found a little place to eat near where we were staying Alesia. The food was delicious and we all had a great time. It was a really nice way to end a wonderful week in Paris.