Today we set out pretty early so we could beat some of the crowds at the museums since today was our big "museum" day. We first started out at the Museo de Orsay, which was definitely my favorite so far and it included artists such as Monet, Van Gough, Rodin, Renoir, and Pissarro. I must say that this museum was quite a mixture of art that had everything from paintings, to sculptures, and even furniture. I was excited when I got to see so much from Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gough, especially the self-portrait of Van Gough.
Once we toured all five floors we left and made our way to the Louvre. Luckily our tour guide from the bike tour gave us a little heads up on the fastest way to get inside and beating the lines. We went in and only had to wait a short time and luckily we had a four-day museum pass which help beat even more of the lines. I would have to say that the longest line so far was not more than 15 minutes at the longest, which when you are trying to see as much as we are is quite nice. Once we were inside the Louvre we started making our way through it the best we could considering how large it was and the vast amounts of people that were also inside while we were. Some of the great things that I saw inside were St. Mary Magdalene, The Dying Slave, Aphrodite “Venus de Milo”, Psyche and Cupid, the Code of Hammurabi, The Winged Victory of Samothrace, and finally the Mona Lisa. Just to say and to give a heads up to those who have not seen the Mona Lisa, it was a beautiful painting and a great image of the way de Vinci portrayed depth, but it was a cluster of hundreds of people pushing and shoving to take pictures of a very small painting.
After the Louvre we walked all the way from the small Arc de Triomphe to the Grande Arc de Triomphe, and finally on the opposite side la Grande Arch. This was a very long walk, but we did get to see all of the shops on Champs Elysees. The coolest shops were definitely all of the different motorcycle shops such as Ducati, Kawasaki, Triumph, Honda, and Harley Davidson. I walked into the Ducati store and was asking about a 1199 and they told me that they ranged from 18,000 Euros to the supped up version with different suspension and forks and even carbon fiber, which they said was only a mere 36,000 Euros. I think I will be picking that one up tomorrow.
We finally ended our day at La Grande Arch and we went our separate ways. I got off the train a little early and went back by the bike stores and to the grocery store we passed on the way to get a little wine and some snacks for tonight. I also ended up stopping by Louis Vuitton for a few minutes just to check it out and I even got a free glass of champagne while I looked at their loafers.
Meseu de Orsay
Psyche and Cupid
Winged Victory
Venus de Milo
On top of Arc de Triomphe
Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers
CR&S bike I saw
La Grande Arch
Outside the Louvre
Louis Vuitton Store
Arc de Triomphe
Eiffel at sunset
Today was definitely a museum day, we spent like 6 hours doing museums today, that’s enough for me. I liked the Orsay museum so much I almost got left there, it’s the craziest thing. It definitely was really cool to see work by Monet and Van Gogh, I have only ever heard about their work but it was good to actually see it in person finally. That entrance was pretty clutch, we went underground about two hundred yards from the main entrance and popped up right under the big pyramid… talk about cutting lines. I also was a little disappointed with the Mona Lisa, of course it was a great painting but the closest I got was thirty feet away from it. I also thought it would be bigger, it was about a two by three foot painting that hundreds of people were trying to take pictures of. I actually have more pictures of the sea of cameras than I do of the painting itself. I think you dumbed down how long that walk was, it was about five miles to the Arc de Triomphe and another five miles to the grand Arch, it was ridiculous.
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