Last day as a group

June Eighteenth, 2012 – 

Today was a bit of another later start luckily around 11:00am.  Our plan for this morning was to go to Basilique du Sacre Coeur, which means the Sacred Heart Basilica.  This was an amazing church that can be seen from miles away and even from the Eiffel Tower.  We walked in and there were a lot of people in there praying and because of this they made sure you were quiet and did not take any pictures.  The building was very subtle, but ornate at the same time because it was solely block and stain glass with only a few murals and the dome was again just block.  If you have followed my blog you should have seen that most of the church’s we have been to the domes are painted in some ornate way, but this was very classy in my opinion with no paint.  Once you walk out of the church you literally can just see most of Paris from the steps to the church, which is quite amazing if you ask me.  


After the church we walked through the streets where there were tons of street vendors and souvenir shops.  One of the squares had just artists that had hand painted all of their pictures and they were pretty awesome, but a little more expensive than I was wanting to spend on a painting today.  I stopped by one guy who had a hand painted picture of a black Ferrari that was just the rear end and he said he wanted 1000 Euros… I said thank you and walked on.  We kept walking around and I got a Nutella and banana crepe that was on time and then we headed back to the hotel.  

Later this afternoon Jack, Dave, and I walked around and just explored walking to a few places that Jack had been before and also to the underground/aboveground mall that had pretty much everything you needed.  After we walked around Notre Dame and saw Shakespeare and Company bookstore.  We popped into a Canadian bar and got a quick pint before making our way to a kebab restaurant and finally back to the hotel once more.  

We met up with the group at 7:00 to head back to the Eiffel Tower to have a big group potluck dinner.  Each of us brought something different to dinner.  I ended up bringing some cheese, granny smith apples, and some crackers that went over very well with the group.  We hung out there for quite some time and spoke to each other about our memories from the trip and our greatest memories.  This was truly a great experience getting to hear different things from everybody and coming together one last time.

The Eiffel Tower 324 meters

June Seventeenth, 2012 - 

Today started out at 12:00pm, which was an awesome feeling to actually get to sleep in for a while.  We set out for the Tombeau de Napoleon, which is actually the same church that was constructed for Louis XIV as his own personal church.  This place was pretty small since the dome was actually lowered to show Louis XIV’s calves, but inside it is said that in order to see Napoleon’s tomb you must bend over to see down, which means you are bowing to him.  His sarcophagus is quite massive considering his size and it looks to be like that porphyry marble.  Musee de L’Armee, which contained artifacts and weapons from the 1600’s all the way up to around the 1950’s.  I ended up only getting to see most of the older things such as armor, swords, guns, and cannon type things that they had. 

After the Musee de L’Armee we went to the Musee de Rodin, which had a good bit of Rodin’s sculptures in his old house.  His house was actually a “hotel” at one point in time and after he became famous for his sculpture, the wealthy would come and hire him to make sculpture’s for themselves.  Most of his work was either in bronze or white marble and was magnificent.  I saw the Thinking man in its original size and the giant one that is placed outside. 

We continued the day and left Mused de Rodin for the Eiffel Tower and to climb it.  The line for the elevator was quite ridiculous so we ended up just taking the stairs, which was a good 2 hours less than the wait for the elevator. The tour had 3 stages, the first stop, which was not too high, then the second stage where you still had some good views and this was the last bit of stairs to climb until the elevator to the summit.  From the top of the Eiffel Tower you can see a full 360 degrees and as far as the eye can see.  This was an awesome experience and I definitely suggest it to anyone planning on making their way to Paris.  On a side not they are actually doing a little construction on the Eiffel where they are going to put a glass floor on the first stage so you can walk over it and be able to spread out and see more.

Museum Day - Paris, France

June Sixteenth, 2012 - 

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

After my lone adventures I came back to the hotel and got some dinner and took a shower.  Then we all headed back out to the Eiffel Tower for some wine on the grass and to watch the sunset and the light show that is so famous.  Once it lit up it was a completely different atmosphere and especially when the sparkle show started. All the strobes that lit up for about 5 minutes was a sight to see.