Museum d'Orsay, Montmartre, Sacre-Coeur, Lafayette Gallery,

We started of the day at Museum d'Orsay, which used to be a train station.  And what a beautiful train station it still is!  This museum is largely dedicated to the French impressionist painters:  Monet, Manet, Renoir, Van Gough, Degas, Rodin.  You are not allowed to take a picture of anything. Nothing. Period.  Not even with the flash off.  I did however sneak a couple - before I understood that you can't even take a picture of the inside of the museum.

Next, we took the Metro to Montmartre - a hilltop filled with alley ways and cobblestone streets where bohemian, want-to-be artists create sceneries and portraits among cafe's and small restaurants.  Serious people watching, if you know what I mean.  Wow.
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Menu from previous evening dinner

 

 

 Museum d'Orsay - formally a train station

 

 

 

Montmartre - sample of art work

 

Montmartre

  



 Lunch

 

 

 Sacre-Coeur - the top of Montmartre.  It was a brilliant day weather-wise. 

 

This is the ceiling of the Lafayette Gallery - which is a mall in the heart of Paris.  There is no way this picture can depict the light and color of this magnificent stained glass ceiling.  This is so so pretty.

 

 

 

the side walls of the Lafayette Gallery center

 

 

 

Bob took the kids to the top of the Eiffel Tower tonight.  My favorite - the Arche of Triumph.  I remember seeing this at night - and it was beautiful.  However, it doesn't get dark here until like 11:00. And the sun comes up at 4:00 am.

More HoppingOnHoppingOff, Trip on the Seine, Sainte Chapelle's stain glass, St=Germain, Ave des Champs-Elysees and Arc de Triomphe

Started out the day with the kids getting breakfast at McDonalds.  We learned first hand that milk is served hot (chaud) here.  Our HopOnHopOff privileges end tomorrow, so we decided to take advantage again today.  The tour stop closest to our hotel is the Arc de Triomphe.    And it was an absolutely gorgeous day today.  Perfect 70 degree weather.

 

More than just egg mcmuffin for breakfast here at McDonalds

 

We took an hour cruise up and down the Seine.  It was very relaxing.  We had terrific views of Notre Dame, pretty bridges (Pont Neuf), and the French architecture.

Notre Dame

 

 

Notre Dame

 

 

 

 

banks of the Seine

 

lots of book stalls and painters along the Seine



 

The line to see Notre Dame was llllooooonnnngggg.  Like we're talking a couple of hours.  So we decided to skip that.  I wanted to see the stained glass windows at Sainte Chapelle.  This line was like 20 minutes, but it seemed like 3 hours.  We have the double-secret "Crown Room-ish" tickets for jumping the queue.  However, there was no CR passage to this venue.  People behaved like a Delta flight delayed 4 times b/c of mechanical problems - panicked, sneaking into earlier times zones - like the plane was, leaving without  them. .......Anyway: the initial show was such a let down:  "We waited for THIS?!?

 

 

 

Then we found the stairs to "the heart".  Then we were rewarded with scenes like this:

 

 

 

Sainte Chapelle

 

Sainte Chapelle - Known for it's stained glass

 



 





As an added bonus, the kids said "Take your time, Laura!  This place has Wi-Fi!"

 

And how about this shot! 

 

 

Rodin's

 

 

Really nice day. A very full, really nice day.

Baguette of 2013; riding the HopOnHopOff Double Decker, Arch, Efflel, Notre Dame, Louvre

Well, we have our answer about the high number of baguettes being sold from the boulangerie next to our restaurant:  Voted Best Baguette of 2013 by the City of Paris.  Leave it to Bob and me to find it!

 

 

 

We bought two day passes for the HopOnHopOff sight seeing busses.  Well worth the money.  We saw a ton of stuff today. 

 





Boarding the Bus

 

 

 Eiffel  Tower

 

Arch De Triumph

 

 

 

Mona Lisa @ the Louvre

 

Crouque Mr. and Salad Nicoise.  We forget how fresh the produce is here.

 

 

Notre Dame

 

artists along the Seine 

 

 

cheese shop



 

 

cars of our future - getting an electric charge

 

Speaking of Baguettes:  McDonalds in France offers their hamburgers on Baguettes.  In London, Subway offered Tandoori Chicken subs.  Fun!

 

One last angle of the most recognized monument in the world:

 





Travel Day: Chunnel to Paris via the Eurostar + the busiest bakery in the city

Yesterday, Sunday, we traveled from London to Paris via the Chunnel/Eurostar train.  Train travel is so cool and efficient.  In 2 hours, there we were in another country.  What fun would that be to travel to Paris for a weekend whenever you wanted.   Exited at the Gare du Nord - which I swear, all of Europe was traveling Sunday afternoon.

 

 

 

 

The boulangerie (sp?) (bakery) next to the restaurant must have sold 50 baguettes during the hour we sat for dinner.  All the residents must go there on a daily basis to get their baguettes.  Must go check this out today.

Kensington Palace, the Guards of BP practice for the queen's birthday, Camden Locke

With the exception of trying to cross the street, the people of London are so, so very friendly.  The buses and cars just as soon run you over than wait for you to cross.  It's hard to remember to look left instead of right for oncoming traffic.

Bob and I went to Kensington Palace this morning.  Kensington Palace is where many members of the Royal family have had apartments.  It dates back many generations of royal families.  Princess Di lived here. When she died, people brought tons of flowers to the front gate - which is the scene we saw on the news. William and Kate are going to move here. Most of the areas we saw were dedicated to Queen Victoria and King Albert.  Queen Victoria's side of the palace was quite dowdy.  While the King's side was very grand.

Queen Victoria's War attire

King's apartment - where peasants ask for favors

 



The King's royal robe: the train is 12 feet long

 

 



 

Check out the size of the doors alone:  This is the King's drawing room
 



We then stopped at Buckingham Palace to catch the changing of the guard.  We were too late for the changing, but we did catch part of a show.  The guards were practicing for the Queen's upcoming birthday parade:  

The kids joined us in a trip to Camden Market.  It is a combination of international food courts and flea markets. Bob and I had Moroccan food, Brandon had Mexican.  Nick had American.  Quite the area for people watching.

 

Afterwards, I took the subway to Harrods and purchased more cheese:  Cornish Yarg is our favorite.  It's a white, semi-soft cheese.  I also stopped to take a picture of the chocolate display - but was told I could not take pictures of the chocolates.  Too bad, because they are so pretty.  

 

 

a very small part of Harrod's chocolate display