Paris and the Heart of France
Our hotel (B Montmartre) had an exceptional buffet breakfast every morning, which was the best breakfast anywhere on our entire trip. While we Americans don't normally think of a fresh warm chocolate croissant as a breakfast food, I'm convinced there is no better way to start the day!
We started the day with an orientation to the metro system and where we were going before heading down as a group to catch the metro. Since it was a very busy time of morning, we ending up splitting into three different metro cars. Since we were wearing the whisper audio systems, we were able to hear our guide the whole time and we all got off at the correct stop (Chatelet).
We walked across the Seine with a great view of the Conciergerie, which was formerly a palace before being turned into a prison, and now serves largely as courts of law. Marie Antoinette was held here during the French Revolution before her execution.
We walked along the Seine and numerous book seller stalls before stopping for lunch on our own at Square Rene Viviane. We ate at Cafe Panis and had a great window seat with awesome view looking across towards Notre Dame. I had French onion soup, and really good crème brûlée.
Of course when in Paris, one can never eat too many deserts, so before meeting back with our group, we ventured over to Odette Paris (77 Rue Galande, 75005 Paris, France) for some exceptional creme pastry puffs. In France, you can find creme puffs and éclairs in a wide variety of traditional and exotic flavors.
Galleries
We walked over towards Notre Dame, where our guide talked about the facade of the cathedral. We were able to walk along the the North side of the church to the tip of the Ile de la Cite, where we watched progress being made on shoring up parts of the structure after the April 2019 fire. Our guide Antoine recounted with incredible details of some of the unfortunate aspects of the story. Smoke alarms were triggered twice, so it really should have been caught and put out. At the same time, the French fire department had routinely practiced for a possible fire at the Notre Dame. Their preparedness and quick action not only spared the relics but prevented much more damage happening to the stained glass windows and stone structures. We were obviously disappointed as we not only wanted to visit the inside of the cathedral and its treasury, but I also was planning to climb the towers and see the massive wooden beam roofing structures.
From there we saw passed by Mémorial des martyrs de la Déportation (a Memorial for Deported Martyrs) dedicated to 200,000 French citizens (mostly Jews) who were deported to and died in Nazi concentration camps.
Our first destination was the Sainte-Chappelle, a magnificent 13th century Gothic Chapel built by King Louis IX as a private chapel in his palace complex, to house the most important relic in Christiandom, the crown of thorns. Louis the IX spent a fortune on the relics, roughly 135,000 lbs of silver. He spent another 100,000 lbs of silver on a case to house the relic. In contrast, he only spent 40,000 lbs of silver to build and glaze the entire chapel.
The crown of thorns was moved to Notre Dame, where it had been regularly displayed up until the devastating fire. Fortunately all of the relics in the Notre Dame museum were hastily spirited out for safe keeping, although a few items located in the central roof-top spire were destroyed (including one of the thorns).
The beauty of Sainte Chappelle is its exceptional stained glass that soars to the sky. The panels cover Biblical stories from the Old Testament, as well as the early life of Jesus, John the Baptist, and images depicting the events leading up to the Passion/Crucifixion of Jesus.
Afterwards our guide talked about the history of the palace and the Conciergerie, and we saw another one of the Art Nouveau metro stops and covered flowered market.
Day 2 - Île de la Cité
Schedule
After rejoining our group for the optional guided walk, we stopped at Shakespeare and Company. Our guide Antoine told us about the history of the storied bookstore, which was one of the hangouts of many great authors including Hemingway, Stein, Fitzgerald, and Eliot.
We continued our 1.2 miles walk past galleries and boutiques all the way to the Musée d'Orsay. Housed in a former railroad station, the Musée d'Orsay is one of the world's greatest art museums. It focuses on Western Art (mostly French) created between 1848 and 1914. The museum holds some 96 works by Renoir, 88 by Monet, 49 by Manet, 27 by Van Gogh, 25 by Millet, 52 by Pissarro, 48 by Sisley... you get the picture. But besides quantity, the Orsay has some of the best examples by the best artists, which were gathered from the Louvre and other museums in France.
We decided to take a break and visit the museum's cafeteria on the top floor. While they were out of Diet Coke/Coke Zero, c'est la vie, they did have profiteroles, which are basically a bowl of pastry puffs filled with frozen cream, covered with chocolate sauce and almonds. All I can say is wow... It was better than I could have imagined!
We returned to viewing some of the other galleries in the museum. Unlike many museums that put all of a single artist's work in the same gallery, the Musée d'Orsay had spectacular painting by impressionist painters in many different galleries on different floors.
If I could only go to one museum in Paris, it would be the Musée d'Orsay.
Fortunately, we didn't have to choose just one museum. Included as part of our tour package was the Paris Museum Pass, which allows free entry to some 55 of Paris' best museums and sites. The downside was that I was tempted to actually go see them all. However the biggest advantage of the Paris Museum Pass is expedited entry to the museums. And when in Paris in summertime, you want to do absolutely anything you can to avoid having to wait in lines.
Since the Louvre was open late that day, we decided to walk across the river Seine to take a look inside. We headed downstairs first to grab a sandwich and a Coke Zero from Paul, one of the museum's quick serve counters. Paul's ham and cheese on baguette are exceptionally good. The sandwich was 5.50 Euros and the Coca Zero 3.80 Euros, which was cheap by French standards.
The Louvre is far bigger than you might imagine. The facade reportedly measures some two miles. I would add that it seems longer when you are walking through the hallways. The Louvre has been going through some gallery renovations in preparation for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Unfortunately that meant that some things we really wanted to see, like the crown jewels, and the painting of Napoleon's coronation were not on display. C'est la vie.
There are many beautiful works of art, painting, and archaeological treasures to see throughout the Grand Galleries. On our way to see the Mona Lisa, we nearly walked with the crowds right past paintings by Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael, Titien and Caravaggio.
The reason most people go to the Louvre of course, is to see the Mona Lisa. But frankly it is not a enjoyable experience, even late in the day. It is very crowded with hundreds of people waiting and trying to take selfies with the painting. The Mona Lisa itself is behind bulletproof glass that is highly reflective and somewhat green. Because of the crowds, you can't get closer than 8-10 feet to the painting. So it really is not the viewing experience one hopes for. In contrast, one can get quite close to Da Vinci's other paintings, and it you are willing to walk to the other side of the Louvre, you can view incredible works by Vermeer, Rembrandt and Rubens in total solitude.
Even though there was so much more we wanted to see, our feet were sore and we were pretty exhausted, so we headed back to our hotel.
