To wrap up our visit to Paris we went up the Montparnasse Tower. It was equal to the Eiffel Tower’s view. Unlike the Eiffel tower going up to the top of Montparnasse tower was a breeze, no lines to wait in, no elevator jam packed with 100 people, and with the view was very much the same the so Montparnasse was a fine alternative. Since this is our last post we would like to thank you for reading and commenting on our blog Thanks!
A&B
Today we visited the St. Sulpice church to listen to the organ. We went to the 10:30 Mass where Barbara whispered a commentary to Alex, who participated in the offertory but not the communion. After Mass there was a 20 minute organ concert. Thanks to Rick Steves (whom we accidentally left in Versailles) we had inside information on how to get to the organ loft. We waited at the secret door and after the Mass we climbed the stairs to the the organ. We were in the loft with Daniel Roth, the organist. We watched him play. The organ itself was huge and really cool.
Today we continued our revisiting theme by stopping by the Orsay galleries again, this time with an audio guide. After visiting the works again I decided to purchase a works book like the one for the Louvre, so I have all the pictures of the art. The audio guides at the Orsay were much, much better than the ones at the Louvre, because the Orsay ones were simpler to use and actually worked.
-A
Since we had the museum pass today we decided to revisit the Pompidou again as we had done with the Louvre but this time we went on the second gallery floor instead of the first. When we walked in this time something was different than before and it almost scared us coming in. It was a Louise Bourgeois sculpture, installed in advance of her exhibition opening March 5.
-A
Today we went to the Louvre for a third time because we have the museum pass today. But this time we took pictures so you too could enjoy the artwork. Also some of the pictures aren’t as high quality because of uncontrollable variables (crowds, poor light, etc.)
-A
Along with lots of little boys and a few girls we visited the Musée des Arts et métiers which has this very stylish early airplane. Made of trenchcoat fabric and exquisitely detailed with feather propellers it resembles a bat. Clément Ader designed it. He flew an earlier version of this plane thirteen years before the Wright Brothers and described the concept of an aircraft carrier in 1909.
We also saw lots of models of work spaces with tiny tools, like this woodshop.
‘A’ was surprised at the size of Telstar. Evidently he thought a satellite would be much larger than an exercise ball.
I enjoyed seeing a treadle sewing machine very much like one I bought with babysitting money when I was ‘A’s’ age. We talked about how the mechanism has not changed and the convenience of sewing without electricity.
-B
Posted in in Paris
Tagged Clément Ader, Musée des Arts et métiers, sewing machine, Telstar, Wright Brothers
We had some extra time between our dinner reservation and our museum time today, so we decided to ride the self automated metro line #14. The whole automated part is that (when you’re seated in the front) you can see the tunnel coming at you, which was very cool.
-A
The bakery that we get a baguette from everyday has closed until March 5th. Which means that either we have no more bread or we need to find another bakery. We found another bakery named “Eric Kayser” up about a block farther, that has (in my opinion) much better bread than our old bakery.
-A
As you can see by the pictures we went to the palace of Versailles today and it was very cool. The Palace alone is huge and has enough that even without the gardens you would get your money’s worth by just viewing the palace. But we went around both the palace and gardens (Even though it was very windy and slightly drizzling). First was the palace, we saw the king’s and queen’s apartments which included some large silver furniture (they didn’t let us take pictures) that were spectacular. Next was Louis the XIV’s bedroom which had a surprisingly small bed, then some guard rooms and then the Queen’s bedroom which was beautifully decorated and slightly larger than Louis’. We saw the heir’s apartments which weren’t as good as the king and queen’s, and also the chapel which the royal family used. After a lot of walking we sat down for some lunch. The next place to go was the gardens and Marie Antoinette’s domain. The gardens might have been better if it were sunny (it was raining) but it felt too long of a walk for me. Once we were at the Marie Antoinette apartments we felt better because we were out of the rain but the apartments were very interesting, like the miniature chapel that had a door so you could put it away for parties, or the huge 18th century pool table made of marble. Overall this place was good, but not interesting as the main palace.
After our visit we hopped back on the RER line C and headed for Paris.
-A
Posted in in Paris
Tagged Big, cool, Louis the XIV, Marie Antoinette, Paris, Versailles
