ParisEncore: ~Paris Five ~ Overture~

We’re back physically but I’m still somewhere between Paris and home. Just to give you a preview of our month long vacation in Paris, I’m going to share some of the highlights. This will be a visual, more than a literary, review.

This is our apt. building, we’re #24. The apt. is on the very top floor. You can’t even see it in this photo.

The photo below is a view from our living room window looking across the street. Our apt. corresponds to the top floor with the slanted roof and large sky-light type windows.

Our living room was actually quite adequate. The window let in a lot of light and there was a shade inside and a rolling shade outside.

The apt was located in the 16^th arr. about 2 ½ blocks from the Eiffel Tower and Trocadero. This was the view when we reached the end of our street heading to the Metro or bus stop.

On my list of ‘things to do ‘for this trip was to find some aerial views of the city. We have been on top of the Arc de Triomphe (and I couldn’t do that climb again). Some of the possibilities are the Tour de Montparnesse (the tallest building in the city) and Institute du Monde Arabe. This photo was taken from the 9^th floor of the Institute du Monde Arabe and it is doesn’t cost a cent to use the elevator. Fortunately, it wasn’t raining and we got beautiful photos of both of the islands in the Seine.

Some of my other photo themes included;

Doors

Art

Pigeons

We spend a lot(!) of time in parks and gardens. My primary intention for this trip was to visit at least five of the large parks that we haven’t seen yet. We only made it to one on my list and came upon a second merely by chance. The others will have to wait for another time.

Albert Kahn Japanese Garden

This was a breath-taking garden. It is so well maintained ….a total surprise. There were several groups of school children on field trips as well as 'grown up' artists. We were here for hours and were very grateful for the sunny day.

I had several walks planned to search for examples of Art Nouveau architecture. There are still a few very fine examples of this style to be found.

Museums weren’t a high priority for this trip; though with the weather being so inclimate, they should have been. We visited the Architecture Museum…another wonderful surprise! In order to see Val de Grace we had to tour the hospital museum; that proved quite interesting as well.

The one planned visit was the Mineralogy Museum at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines of Paris. This was a treasure!! We were the only ones there and had the whole place to ourselves. The exhibits were unbelievable… much more extensive and impressive than the Mineralogy Museum at the Jardin des Plantes (which has been closed for a couple years now).

Of course a trip to Paris is not complete without a trip to the Louvre, there is always something new to be found. We followed the crowd to the Mona Lisa, and then instead of going right, we went left to the Apollo Gallery. Italian sculpture in the Denon wing was a new area for us too .

Lastly, we returned to the Napoleon III Apartments. This is a popular place and everyone was fighting for the spot to take the best photo.

I took thousands of photos. I want to remember it all! Somehow they aren’t as colorful or dynamic as I had hoped. I blame it on the weather. I certainly have a vast variety of subjects for blog posts.

Even in the cold, wet weather, the flowers were beautiful. I regret that we didn’t get to see the lovely rose garden of the Parc de Bagatelle in the Bois du Boulogne. The roses needed another week of nice warm days in order to bloom. The manager of the apartment said that on Mother’s Day (May 26^th in France), there was a shortage of the traditional peonies and those that could be found were very expensive.

Most of our traveling around the city was by bus. My legs and hips just couldn’t take all that climbing up and down in the Metro. We got a bus map when we purchased our Metro tickets, then I researched which lines we could take to the various places we wanted to go. We were very lucky to be close to the Trocadero and Place Victor Hugo; 2 hubs for buses. The buses are quite modern, everything is automated and the signage is very good. The interior is laid out to accommodate luggage and baby carriages. There are several designated seats for handicapped and elderly. With all of these features, the buses don’t hold a lot of people, but on most lines, the buses run every 7-10 minutes so the wait is not long.

The one side trip that we made was to Tours to see a couple more chateau. We got our train tickets the week before at the SNCF office near the Trocadero. Like last time, we took the TGV (fast train) so the trip only took an hour. We knew our way around from the last visit so were able to walk to the hotel from the train station. We traveled light! The 2 chateaus were Chateau Ussé and Chateau Langeais. They were very different and good choices.

This one is Chateau Ussé, called the “Sleeping Beauty Castle” because it was the inspiration for the story.