Paris part two

As I have said before I love Paris and I also love Cliff. I am saying this because on Saturday Cliff asked me to marry him and I said yes. What a day we had with a wonderful visit to Montmartre. We visited Sacre Coeur, the artist square where lines of artists create wonderful paintings and many will draw your portrait. In the evening we dined in a lovely restaurant and Cliff proposed to me. We walked back to our apartment feeling very happy with the world. 

Sunday we took ourselves to the Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise which is the cemetery where many famous people have been buried including Jim Morrison, Marcel Marceau, Chopin, Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf. We spent a few hours walking around the cemetery which was peaceful even with many tourists. In the evening we travelled to the Arc de Triomphe and Pont Alexandre III to take photos and enjoy the city as it got dark. 

Another day we visited Notre Dame and its Treasury which contained sacred parts of the crown of thorns and the cross. We took the opportunity (it was raining) to also visit the Conciergerie and Sainte-Chapelle. The Conciergerie was the residence of the Kings of France and later became a prison for prisoners of State and in the French Revolution it was used as a Tribunal and prison. We saw Marie Antoinette's dungeon where she was guarded by two gendarmes at all times. She also has a chapel built in 1815 located on the exact spot where her prison cell stood. We saw the list of prisoners kept in the building during the revolution referred to as the Reign of Terror. 

The Sainte-Chapelle built in 1248 was seen as the second capital of Christianity as it held the relics of the Passion of Christ including the Crown of Thorns. When purchased from the emperors of Constantinople they cost more than the building costs of the Chapel. The ceiling and walls are painted in a beautiful blue and it stained glass windows are breath taking.

After all this culture we had to have a day of shopping just to get a balance. We wandered the streets around Place des Vosges looking at the bohemian shops and art shops. Just loved the artistic way they decorate their shops.

On the last day in Paris we spent in the Musee d Orsay which has been fully renovated and houses works of art from 1840 to 1914. The building used to be a former train station and you can still see signs of that as you move from floor to floor. There are a lot of Impressionist art works including works from Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley and Degas. Also post-Impressionist  works from Cezanne, Van Gogh and Matisse. It was good to see some art nouveau furniture. I found I liked the Pissarro paintings so might learn more about him in future. 

Sadly all good things must end and we headed on foot to the Gare Lyon to catch the fast train to Annecy our next stop. Goodbye Paris for now. 

Paris.....ahhhhhhh

I will say upfront that Paris is my favourite city in Europe and happily its been confirmed on this my third visit. Granted the weather is very warm and so strolling along the Rue Renard down past Hotel de Ville, past Notre  Dame to the Seine is even more enjoyable than I had previously remembered. I love Paris.. did I say that. The temp is very warm around 30c and no breeze and staying warm overnight. The apartment on the 4th floor with no lift is warm as the sun comes in the morning and in the afternoon. It is located in a street filled with bags shops. I was very excited about this but found out later that they were wholesale shops with no retail trade. Saved me some money though. We arrived on the Monday for a 10 night visit. 

Did a lot of walking around to get our bearings and on the Wednesday visited the Louvre. We spent 8 hours straight viewing paintings, sculptures and antiquities. What a fantastic experience even though this was my third visit. We were immersed in beautiful and provocative art and educated in history and culture e.g. We visited the Islam section of the museum.

On the Thursday we activated our Metro pass to get around on the underground trains and voted at the Australia Embassy. It was strange to hear such strong Australian accents from the staff. It all seemed a bit casual with no signs saying what to do and every group needing a pass to go to the 6th floor where voting was done. We then walked around the Eiffel Tower and then onto Champ Elysse to look in the expensive shops. We went into the Peugeot show room  as they had an interesting display with a Le Mans race car with a vintage car. Very cool. We went inside the La Fayette shopping centre where the decor is so beautiful you can be forgiven for not looking at any of the items for sale. The ceiling is a dome with millions of coloured glass panels and the sides are like rows in an old theatre. I brought my stockings that I usually purchase when I have been to Paris before. 

Rodin museum was on the lists so we headed off to the other side of the Seine river via metro. The gardens are so lovely with flowers out and everything green. Some major works such as The Thinker and The Gates of Hell are in the garden and then the villa has more delicate pieces and was his home for a time. 

Street entertainment in front of Notre Dame was a regular event and we mostly caught them performing in the evening. There were fire dances and acrobats and performances at both Notre Dame and  the Pompidou Centre. And yes Michelle I did get a crepe with Nutella from a take away stall (see picture).

Everywhere you looked there where beautiful buildings, works of art and shop displays that were stunning. On returning home via the Seine river we saw officers on horseback coming down the road. Not sure why but it looked majestic anyway. Every street held something of interest and Paris is a great place to wander. Some of the metro stations have been decorated in various styles. Our local metro Arts et Metiers was done out like a Jules Verne novel with wheels coming down from the ceiling and the sides made from polished copper....what can I say....I love Paris.

More to come re Paris on next blog entry.