03.01.2008
Day Fourteen:
Walking, and Walking, and Walking
I did not sleep very well last night, mostly because I was anxious about getting up early to get to the Louvre without having a lot of lines or getting lost and what not. Also, what didn't help was the 5am wake up call I got that was actually for the guy next door, the taxi driver got the wrong room, so the manger called me in room 605, when they really meant room 606. It's funny because the manager knew it was me, but the taxi driver was so insistent that what room it was he had to call. he later apologized to me in the morning.
BTW...I know that I should have mentioned it earlier, but major props to Rachel Torres for the hotel recommendations. I love the location of the hotel, its right next to the metro station (kinda) and its fairly inexpensive for the area. It has all of the family charm of a family run hotel, and everyone is very very nice and helpful.
Anyways.....things started off rather early today as i mentioned, i wanted to get over to the Musee de Louvre early before any big lines developed. It's a rather gloomy day as you can see, but it ended up clearing up a bit later. The walk was rather nice, and very peaceful at 9am. It was the calm before the storm for sure.
Also, all of the nice pictures i took on my other camera are available here for viewing. Sorry I don't have any captions, but time is short here.
Paris, France - Day Fourteen, Part 2
I arrived at the museum in about 40 minutes, I am not sure how long of a walk that is, but it seemed pretty far. The lines were not big at all as you can see. I headed straight for the audio tour to get situated and started on the Italian Tour. Now let me tell you, the place is huge and there is no way to see it in a day, you'd probably need about 2-3 hardcore days to see everything. Here are a few pics of the nice stuff I saw today.
The pic of the Mona Lisa is below average I know, but its very hard to even get close to it. It's like a mob all around, and you can't get closer than maybe 10 feet anyways because its guarded very heavily. In addition, they have some pretty nuts bullet proof glass in front also. I hate to be a party pooper, but the painting itself is very small. I think it's only 24" by 18" or something ridiculous. It's almost ridiculous how small it is.
Also, can someone check on Japan and make sure the country is ok? I mean how are they functioning when the entire population is here in Paris at the Louvre? I think I saw the entire population of Little Tokyo in LA in the Louvre.
After the Louvre, I tried to look for a few shoe stores over here in the area, but was only able to find one. The one I found is called Starcow, and its really the only streetware shop in all of Paris. The prices there are ridiculous, for example, 45EU for a Stussy tshirt that goes for about $20-25 in the states. Also, a nice Nike windbreaker was selling for 300EU, which is like $450, which is also will probably sell for $100 in the US. I can't believe it. So, needless to say, I am coming home empty handed in that respect.
(here's where one shop was supposed to be)
After walking around for a bit, I grabbed a small sandwich and a Kronenburg at a small cafe down from the shop. And then headed back to the Musee d'Orsay. This is a great museum, in fact, i kinda liked it more than the Louvre. The architecture and layout of the museum is much more interesting than the Louvre, although it doesn't have the history that the Louvre has a palace.
What is this doing here? So sad.
I found lots of cool sculptures and paintings there, as well as one of my personal favorites, the Waterlilies by Monet. I tried to get a print or two, but the quality was so bad, it wasnt worth it. So, nothing there either.
After cruising the Orsay for a bit, I was able to meet up with Rachel Torres' old roommate who lives in Paris now, that she met when she was living in France a while ago. Marie, is very nice, and she was able to meet up with me, and made the day much more enjoyable. We had coffee at a small cafe outside the St. George de Pompideau center (#7 in my Top 10 book by the way, which is very useful). After that, we had Tapas at this little spanish place and then on to Pigalle (the sex district, but also good for lots of nice bars and clubs) for a few drinks with more of her friends at a nice bar with live music. All of her friends speak English very well and it's been a pleasure to be with them, as they have showed me the ropes around Paris, as well as on the metro. So thank you guys for taking me around, it's been a lot of sun so far!
So after a long day of walking around, I was able to take the metro back to the hotel and get a good night's rest.
For tomorrow! The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and Marmont with Marie and her friends again. They are gracious enough to take me around today in the afternoon. So exciting!!!! Thanks again!
Au revoir!
PS. This is post is kinda rushed, I don't have much time to write and things are kinda scattered. Sorry.
Day Fourteen:
Walking, and Walking, and Walking
I did not sleep very well last night, mostly because I was anxious about getting up early to get to the Louvre without having a lot of lines or getting lost and what not. Also, what didn't help was the 5am wake up call I got that was actually for the guy next door, the taxi driver got the wrong room, so the manger called me in room 605, when they really meant room 606. It's funny because the manager knew it was me, but the taxi driver was so insistent that what room it was he had to call. he later apologized to me in the morning.
BTW...I know that I should have mentioned it earlier, but major props to Rachel Torres for the hotel recommendations. I love the location of the hotel, its right next to the metro station (kinda) and its fairly inexpensive for the area. It has all of the family charm of a family run hotel, and everyone is very very nice and helpful.
Anyways.....things started off rather early today as i mentioned, i wanted to get over to the Musee de Louvre early before any big lines developed. It's a rather gloomy day as you can see, but it ended up clearing up a bit later. The walk was rather nice, and very peaceful at 9am. It was the calm before the storm for sure.
Also, all of the nice pictures i took on my other camera are available here for viewing. Sorry I don't have any captions, but time is short here.
Paris, France - Day Fourteen, Part 2
I arrived at the museum in about 40 minutes, I am not sure how long of a walk that is, but it seemed pretty far. The lines were not big at all as you can see. I headed straight for the audio tour to get situated and started on the Italian Tour. Now let me tell you, the place is huge and there is no way to see it in a day, you'd probably need about 2-3 hardcore days to see everything. Here are a few pics of the nice stuff I saw today.
The pic of the Mona Lisa is below average I know, but its very hard to even get close to it. It's like a mob all around, and you can't get closer than maybe 10 feet anyways because its guarded very heavily. In addition, they have some pretty nuts bullet proof glass in front also. I hate to be a party pooper, but the painting itself is very small. I think it's only 24" by 18" or something ridiculous. It's almost ridiculous how small it is.
Also, can someone check on Japan and make sure the country is ok? I mean how are they functioning when the entire population is here in Paris at the Louvre? I think I saw the entire population of Little Tokyo in LA in the Louvre.
After the Louvre, I tried to look for a few shoe stores over here in the area, but was only able to find one. The one I found is called Starcow, and its really the only streetware shop in all of Paris. The prices there are ridiculous, for example, 45EU for a Stussy tshirt that goes for about $20-25 in the states. Also, a nice Nike windbreaker was selling for 300EU, which is like $450, which is also will probably sell for $100 in the US. I can't believe it. So, needless to say, I am coming home empty handed in that respect.
(here's where one shop was supposed to be)
After walking around for a bit, I grabbed a small sandwich and a Kronenburg at a small cafe down from the shop. And then headed back to the Musee d'Orsay. This is a great museum, in fact, i kinda liked it more than the Louvre. The architecture and layout of the museum is much more interesting than the Louvre, although it doesn't have the history that the Louvre has a palace.
What is this doing here? So sad.
I found lots of cool sculptures and paintings there, as well as one of my personal favorites, the Waterlilies by Monet. I tried to get a print or two, but the quality was so bad, it wasnt worth it. So, nothing there either.
After cruising the Orsay for a bit, I was able to meet up with Rachel Torres' old roommate who lives in Paris now, that she met when she was living in France a while ago. Marie, is very nice, and she was able to meet up with me, and made the day much more enjoyable. We had coffee at a small cafe outside the St. George de Pompideau center (#7 in my Top 10 book by the way, which is very useful). After that, we had Tapas at this little spanish place and then on to Pigalle (the sex district, but also good for lots of nice bars and clubs) for a few drinks with more of her friends at a nice bar with live music. All of her friends speak English very well and it's been a pleasure to be with them, as they have showed me the ropes around Paris, as well as on the metro. So thank you guys for taking me around, it's been a lot of sun so far!
So after a long day of walking around, I was able to take the metro back to the hotel and get a good night's rest.
For tomorrow! The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and Marmont with Marie and her friends again. They are gracious enough to take me around today in the afternoon. So exciting!!!! Thanks again!
Au revoir!
PS. This is post is kinda rushed, I don't have much time to write and things are kinda scattered. Sorry.
posted by matt at 3/02/2008 01:46:00 AM
2 Comments:
Damn! Busy day. But it looks and sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe the cloudy days of March aren't a bad thing. Big crowds in France on hot days can get a little kunky. Perfume takes you just so far.
... or "funky," if I could can type and spell correctly.
Post a Comment
<< Home