The Carmichaels Abroad: Museum visiting could be an Olympic Event

Yes, visiting museums really could become an endurance event. Yesterday we walked around Paris, and visited St. Chapelle. Today we visited the D'Orsay and the Musee Orangerie, and have seen enough modern art to cross our eyes!

Notre Dame de Paris

Yesterday, March 26, we drove from Rouen to Paris on back roads (at least until we got close to Paris) and drove right into Charles de Gaulle without incident. We bid a reluctant good-bye to the little car. Together with the Garmin, we were able to go places and see things that are not on the main tourist track, and more importantly, to go at our own pace.

We indulged in a cab to get into Paris. We figured that with two of us, the time we would save on our first day in Paris was worth the extra expense. Unfortunately, our cab driver brought us first to the wrong hotel, then drove us all around Paris before using OUR Garmin to find the right place. We saw the place where Princess Diana was in a wreck. This took an hour, However, our room is nice, we are within blocks of the Louvre and the Opera House, and are happy to be here.

By the time we had dumped our luggage and were heading out, it was nearly 2:30. We went straight to the Musee D'Orsay, where the lineup was about two hours long. Instead, I really wanted to see St. Chappelle, and so we made the trek. It was closed last time we were here, so it was top of my list. We had not counted on the heightened security following the attacks in November, so it took us about an hour and a half to get into the Chappelle. Ian was not happy about spending so much time in a line for "another museum", but it looks like this will be the way of things here. At least we learned that we can get tickets for museums on line, and this speeds things up once you get through the security scanners. It's a lot like going into an airport!

However, inside St. Chapelle is NOT just another old church. Every aspect is decorated, and this church, the church of the French kings, is completed surrounded in stained glass. Even packed with Easter Weekend tourists and about three tour groups, it is a magical place.

The first floor of the church, with the statue of St. Louis.

Even the floor is decorated.

Afterwards, we went for a walk around the Notre Dame area and back to our hotel:

View of the Seine from the middle of the bridge

The Tower St. Jacques.

Today we headed off to the D'Orsay museum, ticket in hand, and were there about 9:30. We did have to spend some time in line, but eventually we made it into the museum. Ian even splurged and got us EACH an audioguide, which I find very helpful. Exhaustion -- and the hour long wait for the restaurant inside (the 5th floor restaurant was closed "pour en moment" due to "technical difficulties") drove us out of the museum, and we had lunch in the Tuileries before heading into the Orangerie for more artwork. Picasso, Renoir, Manet, Monet, Gaugin -- you name it, we've seen it. The Orangerie was the first museum where we spent more than twice as long in line as inside. We walked up to the Opera House and arrived three minutes before it closed, and managed to get soaked in a brief rain squall. We've walked around our area -- there are fifteen museums on our block, all Japanese, as we are near the Japanese embassy.