I headed to St Sulpice church this am to try to hear the
organ there. A mass was going on and there was an organ playing, not sure if it
was the big pipe one. Then I walked past the Luxembourg Gardens to the towering
very modern and out of place Montparnasse bldg. where I waited in the line to go
up on a beautiful sunny day to the 59th floor for a stupendous! Better than the
Eiffel Towel because you can SEE that and the rest of Paris.
I then meandered over to the Musee Marmatton Monet and
waited in another line even though I had already bought a ticket
when I was at Giverny. When I asked, the guard said yes, I STILL had to waiting the
line. When I. Was chatting with two ladies in the line and a different guard
came by, one of them showed him my ticket
through the exit line right in!,,
This manageable museum is in an elegant home of Mr.
Marmatton a collector. it was full of Monet's, Renoirs, Cezannes, Degas and
Sisleys AND my favorite Impressionist Berthe Morisot who
was a friend and protégé of the above and was married to Eduardo Manet's
brother, Eugene. She did wonderful watercolors mostly of women and children and
was one of the first to be included in exhibits of Impressionists. She was also
a frequent model of some of them.
Then I meandered down the Champs-Elysées and crossed the
bridge Togo to see Napoleon in his tomb. instead after four you can buy the hop
on/hop off ticket and it's good for the next day. Everywhere was so crowded
with people out enjoying the lovely Sunday that I just relaxed on the bus and
road around the major sights for a couple of hours,
HOP ON/HOP OFF BUS
I bought a ticket for the bus so that. When I got tired of walking I could hop on at one of the 50 plus stops around Paris. Driving past the Tour Eiffel practically underneath it and seeing it from all sides was cool. It was built for the Paris World Exposition of, I think, 1900 and was to be torn down after the event. I think it was considered very ugly by Parisens but became too much identified as a symbol of Paris so it stayed. I had been up when I was here with. Kerry in the 90s when she and I came here and to Brugges, Belgium, only modern built during the Easter vacation I think it was. I remember the Oklahoma bombings occurred while we rode to the hieroglyphics were here in Paris. Anyway I didn't feel the need to go up again and went up the huge Montparnasse tower to get a better view because then the view contains the Eiffel Tower. I wanted to come back and see the view at night with all the lights but was just too tired to stay downtown that late.
I got on at Invalides which was an old soldiers home and also the burial place for Napoleon. It's also near the military school that Napoleon had attended. The bus was great because it gave commentary through the headphones and then played famous French like Edith Piaf, the "little sparrow" who was a popular café singer before and during the war. When I was a student at Clarke in Dubuque, Iowa during the 60s, I had a radio show on campus where I played music from different countries each week. That's where I first heard a recording of Edith Piaf and her famous song "La Vie en Rose"; also where I got the bug to start traveling. and it's now 50 years later!
As the bus went around the Arch de Triumphe, I could see in the distance opposite way from the Louvre the new Arch, looking very modern another arch built during Mitterrand's era. We circled around the obelisk given by Egypt that is the oldest monument in Paris. I think I understood the narration to say it was in gratitude to the French who had figured out the code to the hieroglyphics. We drove a very tight squeeze through the archways to the entrance to the Louvre which is the glass pyramid, designed by I. M. Pei of Vietnam Memorial design, again this was built during Mitterrand's reign. By the way did I mention one of the drivers of the bus, when I was going to get on around 3 mentioned if I wait until 4 the bus ticket would be good all the next day. so that's what I did!
We then went up and down the Seine turning at Notre Dame where there I were still huge crowds. I switched to the yellow Montmartre line at Ste. Marie Madeleine church, a very modern one for Paris built with no windows and used for very high profile funerals; I think Victor Hugo's was the first, and weddings. This bus route took me past Pace Pigalle to near my hotel. I stopped for dinner in a little restaurant to get energy to do the haul out to my room at the airport. It seems my bags get heavier and heavier!
I had to use the RER trains rather than the metro as like Noisy le Grande it's too far out of town. This train made no stops until Terminal 1 at the airport. Then it was a lot of false starts until I found the right stop and right orange bus to take me to the right hotel. In the end my luxurious bed was all worth it! And I was comforted to know all my stuff was out near the airport for my Tuesday flight too Barcelona at 7:35 am.
I bought a ticket for the bus so that. When I got tired of walking I could hop on at one of the 50 plus stops around Paris. Driving past the Tour Eiffel practically underneath it and seeing it from all sides was cool. It was built for the Paris World Exposition of, I think, 1900 and was to be torn down after the event. I think it was considered very ugly by Parisens but became too much identified as a symbol of Paris so it stayed. I had been up when I was here with. Kerry in the 90s when she and I came here and to Brugges, Belgium, only modern built during the Easter vacation I think it was. I remember the Oklahoma bombings occurred while we rode to the hieroglyphics were here in Paris. Anyway I didn't feel the need to go up again and went up the huge Montparnasse tower to get a better view because then the view contains the Eiffel Tower. I wanted to come back and see the view at night with all the lights but was just too tired to stay downtown that late.
I got on at Invalides which was an old soldiers home and also the burial place for Napoleon. It's also near the military school that Napoleon had attended. The bus was great because it gave commentary through the headphones and then played famous French like Edith Piaf, the "little sparrow" who was a popular café singer before and during the war. When I was a student at Clarke in Dubuque, Iowa during the 60s, I had a radio show on campus where I played music from different countries each week. That's where I first heard a recording of Edith Piaf and her famous song "La Vie en Rose"; also where I got the bug to start traveling. and it's now 50 years later!
As the bus went around the Arch de Triumphe, I could see in the distance opposite way from the Louvre the new Arch, looking very modern another arch built during Mitterrand's era. We circled around the obelisk given by Egypt that is the oldest monument in Paris. I think I understood the narration to say it was in gratitude to the French who had figured out the code to the hieroglyphics. We drove a very tight squeeze through the archways to the entrance to the Louvre which is the glass pyramid, designed by I. M. Pei of Vietnam Memorial design, again this was built during Mitterrand's reign. By the way did I mention one of the drivers of the bus, when I was going to get on around 3 mentioned if I wait until 4 the bus ticket would be good all the next day. so that's what I did!
We then went up and down the Seine turning at Notre Dame where there I were still huge crowds. I switched to the yellow Montmartre line at Ste. Marie Madeleine church, a very modern one for Paris built with no windows and used for very high profile funerals; I think Victor Hugo's was the first, and weddings. This bus route took me past Pace Pigalle to near my hotel. I stopped for dinner in a little restaurant to get energy to do the haul out to my room at the airport. It seems my bags get heavier and heavier!
I had to use the RER trains rather than the metro as like Noisy le Grande it's too far out of town. This train made no stops until Terminal 1 at the airport. Then it was a lot of false starts until I found the right stop and right orange bus to take me to the right hotel. In the end my luxurious bed was all worth it! And I was comforted to know all my stuff was out near the airport for my Tuesday flight too Barcelona at 7:35 am.
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