Lazy in Paris
We've been lazy tourists these past several days. We've spent most of our time exploring the city on foot and taking in simple pleasures... ogling pasteries, marveling at the architecture, churches, and fountains, relaxing at cafes, window shopping, taking E to a park every day, and warming our fingers on fresh crepes. ;-)
On the side, we squeezed in a few museums:
The Orsay Museum has a stunning impressionist collection. The museum itself has been retrofit into the original 19th-century train station (it was built in the year 1900). Even if you're not into the art, the building itself (inside and out) and the retrofit is a work of art -- well worth the visit.
The Louvre: The first thing that strikes you
about the Louvre is how massive it is. It makes the MET seem puny. It also made
us realize that the U.S. arrived too late on the international scene to
pilage the really good stuff from other countries. We stolled thru the
Greek, Egyption, Persian, and Mesopotamian collections -- wow, wow, wow, and
wow. The French rooms are also super cool. We're planning to go back to see
more. The Louvre also has this round elevator that uses hydrolics instead of
cables. It was super cool looking, but a huge hassle to use. First, there was
only one of them -- they probably blew their elevator budget on the one -- and
it wasn't nearly big enough or fast enough to accomodate the traffic of the
elderly, handicapped, or strollered visitors. I don't know what they do if it
breaks. Second, it has to be staffed by an employee who, among other things, has
to make sure no one is near the fragile-looking glass doors.
Picasso Museum: While this museum doesn't have a lot of
blockbuster Picassos, it has wonderful breadth... showing works from many parts
of Picasso's life. It was wonderful to see so much of his work
together. This was also one of the few places where anyone made an attempt
to ease navigating a centuries old building with a stroller... they had a single
elevator & a museum guard took us up to the top floor & then waited for
us at each floor as we worked our way through the museum.
Pompidou Center houses Paris' largest modern art collection. It also has spectacular views of the city from the 6th floor and the open-air restaurant. We had lunch outside on an absolutely gorgeous clear day. This was one of our best Paris experiences so far. Not sure what it was -- the fresh air, the views, the bottle of wine we drank... ;-)
National Archives: The national archives holds important French historical documents. The day we walked by, they were doing historical re-enactments of sword fights, book making, etc.
We've been buying E little gifts. He goes bezerk for "Sophie", a giraffe chew toy that's super popular here. Since he's been enjoying the parks here so much, D got him a shirt that says "I'm the king of the park!" Good thing it's in English.
Some stats we feel compelled to report:
Three is the number of times D has seen a man in the women's restroom at a
nice restaurant (no, he wasn't lost). She claims there are only 2 reasons this
would happen -- I agree. We started counting a couple years ago -- the first
time it happened. The count so far: D=3, P=0.
Five is the number of times we've been stopped by old french women wanting to tell us what we're doing wrong with our baby. It's so nice to be able to smile and shrug.
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Posted on October 24, 2005 |
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