This past weekend I was blessed to visit Paris yet again. This was my free trip with Greene's Travel Service, generously bestowed due to the plethora of mishaps that plagued the first. This past weekend flashed by with no such catastrophes. On Saturday we took the Eurostar (Chunnel) from the new departure station of King's Cross St. Pancras and were in the heart of Paris in just over 2.5 hours. That afternoon I ditched the tour and went to the Musee D'Orsay, which I have since nominated for my favorite art museum. Who knew that so many of my favorite paintings/artists were collected in one place? It was incredible. My favorite moment was turning a corner and suddenly finding myself facing Olympia by Manet, one of my favorite paintings. It was pretty incredible. And their collection of Degas is superb! His pastels! But if you haven't seen them or even reproductions, then it is no use elaborating.
Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera on this trip. It was a blessing and a curse as it forced me to concentrate more on absorbing the moment at hand (and I am an extremely visual person) but ... I have no pictures! Greg and Veronica (two of my flatmates who also came) have promised to share, and Veronica was a gem in loaning her camera.
On Sunday I went to Versailles. The gardens were incredible! It takes an hour to walk through them one way, yet the parts that I saw were all quite well-kept. The palace itself still has such a long way to go in terms of restoration, but one can readily imagine the original opulence. I do have to say that it was smaller than anticipated, but I think that was only in comparison to the Louvre.
Equaling my pleasure/excitement/awe of the Musee D'Orsay was climbing to the top of Notre Dame and viewing Paris from the vantage point of the gargoyles. They are not uniformly hideous, by the way. Some of them are even a bit endearing. Personally, I liked the elephant.
Random Paris Fact:
The metro has a stop named "Franklin D. Roosevelt."
And just prior to leaving, I bought a beret. :) Oh, Paris!
1 comment:
I'm glad I finally got to read the rest of it. The 1/2 you sent me before had me on the edge of my seat! Thanks again for talking for a few hours today, it was good times.
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