Our final day in the City of Light started off with a humorous escapade involving us and the Metro system. The previous night, we noticed one of our Paris Cards had a defunct operational habit when used to enter and exit each station. Mysteriously, over the course of an evening, another Paris Card joined the ranks of defunct misfit. Thus, every visit to the Metro turnstiles became our version of Parisian Roulette - whereby, two of us were granted easy passage while the other half faced the Gauntlet from American Gladiators.
The morning Metro escapade commenced as we exited Luxembourg station. Julie and I managed to select the operational cards and had no trouble passing through the turnstiles. However, we noticed the other half of our party was stuck behind the brigade of metal gatekeepers. After repeated failures, it was abundantly clear - the defunct Paris Cards would not comply. The time had come to consider if we should leave Julie's parents behind while they rode the Metro all day (we would come back for them). As we debated the abandonment option, our predicament escalated to a situational comedy. The turnstile proved a formidable adversary, there was no chance of going over, under, or around - or so it seemed. All efforts were stymied with hilarious results, leaving no option, but to crawl under; the equivalent of a human using a doggy door. Unfortunate for one, but appeasing to the remainder - we laughed as we watched Julie's mother struggle to make it to the other side. Eventually, she succeeded and we were quickly joined by Julie's father who simply hopped the turnstile. Before exiting Luxembourg station, we went to customer service in hopes of correcting the malfunctioning Paris Passes. To avoid another lengthy diatribe, the encounter with the Metro Card service team involved interminable blank stares and inexplicable confusion. Obviously a futile effort, there was no chance to fix the cards nor rectify the issue; thus, the younger half of our group were given the defunct misfits because we could Cirque du Soleil our way pass the turnstiles.
Entering Luxembourg Gardens
Luxembourg Palace
Finally, we managed to make it out of the Metro and proceeded across the street to Jardin du Luxembourg, a palatial garden where we could relax and restore some of our sanity lost during the morning's follies. We left the grounds and headed east to the Panthéon, a museum Julie and I skipped on our first trip to Paris and were (initially) pleased to visit this time around. Our ephemeral excitement was dashed upon finding out the Foucault pendulum was undergoing a three-year restoration. Missing out on the main attraction made for an otherwise underwhelming experience, however, it was enjoyable to see the crypts of France's greatest minds below the building; including, Voltaire, Marie Curie, Rousseau, and Victor Hugo. Feeling the need for consolation over the restoration frustration, we pitted the void with baguettes and pastries from a nearby delicatessen.
Imagine Foucault pendulum here
Pendulum character rendering
With the bulk of the afternoon ahead of us, we rode the Metro to Varenne Station, a centrally located area to visit both Dôme des Invalides (Napoléon's Tomb) and Musée Rodin. Initial impressions of Napoléon's tomb ironically complete the self-fulfilling prophecy of the aptly named inferiority complex. The misnomer, "Napoleon Complex," started when the British Tory press spread sizable rumors with regards to the vertical prowess of the aforementioned. The height debate is a result of a measurement conversion discrepancy between the French pouce and British inch. It is believed that Napoléon stood a meager 5' 6", about average for the time, yet; his sarcophagus measures 2.15 meters (~7 ft.) in length and a meter wide. Presumably, French retaliation to the British Tory press in an age-old debate nobody cares about. We left Dôme des Invalides and walked across the street to the Rodin Museum to ponder the majestic statue, Le Penseur.
Voltaire wondering where the pendulum could be
Marie Curie
At this point, one would think we would be tired of museums, specifically, art museums. Despite the verisimilitude of the previous sentence, one Monet-centric attraction remained, Musée de l'Orangerie. We devoted enough time to admire the Water Lillies series for us to recover from the excessive walking throughout the day. Before we departed, Julie and I were informed of our second Parisian swindling in as many days.
Little guy, big tomb
Ceiling of Dome de Invalides
We received an email from our credit card company who informed us that our information had unknowingly been stolen by some Parisian ursine. However, the amount of money involved rendered Julie's street rat swindling innocuous. Apparently, one lucky street-rat went on an spending spree at La Salle des Ventes du Particulier, a high-end antique dealer. Fortunately, we were protected from identity theft, but our credit card was canceled - allowing us to move on with our day (damn gypsies burned us again).
Radio Paris
Seats for the conceret
With most of our days and activities planned, a bit of spontaneity beckoned. We returned to the 4th arrondissement and found some filers for a performance of Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons in a nearby church. Following a brief search, we found the venue, Paroisse Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre. With a bit of time before curtain call, we enjoyed the tranquility of Square-Rene Viviani, a small park between Saint-Julien and Notre-Dame. The general consensus agreed the performance was great, the small church provided an intimate environment and enjoyable experience. We had dinner right around the corner from Saint-Julien and concluded our trip to the City of Light with a walk along the Seine as night fell.
Getting an early start to our second day in Paris, Julie walked to the nearby mall to purchase the Paris Pass for the four of us - a tourist's convenience card which doubled as our admission tickets (to almost everywhere) and metro cards. With our new-found ability to travel freely throughout the city, we were off for a quick trip to the Louvre.
Cliché Louvre entrance picture
Intricate details of the "Dying Slave"
Michelangelo's "Rebellious Slave"
The exterior line looked daunting, however, we didn't have to wait for tickets and would skip the majority of the wait. Inside was bustling, various flags and umbrellas were raised in the sky to gather the sight-seeing hordes like aimlessly wandering cattle. Two things quickly became apparent, summer days at the Louvre are chaotically crowded and exhibits stew in the stagnant summer heat. The four of us were fortunate enough to have visited the museum before and we agreed on a one hour pursuing of our favorite masterpieces before our departure. At times, the Louvre resembled an ornately decorated can of sardines more than of a world-class art museum. Feeling the desire to reconnect with personal space and fresh air, we made our way south across the Seine - en route to the Musée d'Orsay.
Walking over to Musée d'Orsay
View of the Seine and exterior of the Louvre
Lucky for us, the masses we encountered across the river were not prevalent in the famed impressionist and post-impressionist museum. After a few hours spent in the Musée d'Orsay, our ATP was running low and the bulk of the day still remained. A bustling cafe beckoned; to refuel, we devoured multiple quiches and delectable Parisian pastries.
Sacré-Coeur...
...and again
...and again
Feeling recharged, we boarded the closest Metro and headed north to Montmarte to visit Sacré-Coeur and observe the nearby street artists. Julie's parents went to take a quick loop through the basilica while Julie and I remained outside to watch a street entertainer juggle a soccer ball while suspended from a lamppost. Eventually, we proceeded to Place du Tertre to watch artist sell their works and observe yokels get swindled by caricaturists who create overpriced souvenirs that can only have limited sentimental value. Before we made our decent down Montmarte, we stopped for some afternoon coffee and plotted our course to the the Arc de Triomphe.
Je suis Charlie
That's a lot of stairs
As we headed towards the Metro, Julie got distracted by street-rat peddlers and their three card monte games. To briefly summarize, there are generally three scammers that never leave the area; the dealer, the street-rat that always wins, and the street-rat that repeatedly loses. While passing one of these band of gypsies, Julie caught a glimpse of the act and got sucked into the scam. One of the street-rats picked the wrong piece, leaving a 50/50 chance to guess correctly. I didn't see the shuffle, but before I could say, "just walk away," the gypsy dealer started coming towards Julie because he saw her wallet in-hand. There was an exchange between the two, an incorrect betting increment; which was then doubled before Julie decided to play. Suffice it to say, that damn gypsy burned us, making me wish we would have spent that money on a terrible caricature of us with François Hollande.
Wait, we were just over there
Diggin' the large radio tower
Champs-Élyées
In our silent sadness, we mourned the loss of precious Euro while riding the Metro to the Charles de Gaulle stop. Upon our exit of the Metro station, I pondered how I was going to safely drive through the 12-spoke traffic circle surrounding the Arc de Triomphe. Soon enough, we joined the cattle call waiting to climb the 284 stairs to the top of the Arc. After we enjoyed the panoramic views of Paris, we needed to forage along the Champs-Élysées.
Family photo time
Architecture
Au revoir tour Eiffel
The world-renowned promenade was teeming with pedestrians, traffic, and construction in preparation for the final stage of the Tour de France. However, none of the previously mentioned stimuli was distracting enough to assuage the growing hunger of the female half of our party. There was some testy groveling along the way, but appetites were soon satiated. Shortly thereafter, we rode the Metro to Trocadéro station. The touring portion of our day wrapped up as we descended down the stairs and headed southeast towards the Eiffel Tower. We weren't foolish enough to join the masses waiting four hours to ascend the structure, instead, we rested our tired legs and absorbed the lively ambiance. Our second day later concluded with another late dinner and some libations as we reminisced about Julie getting swindled by the street rat gypsies.
A year ago, Julie's parents visited Germany for a few days before they continued their vacation through the Alsace Wine Region. This year, they couldn't get rid of us that easily and we joined them on a trek through France. Our first stop, Paris, the perfect halfway-point between Homburg and our future destinations, not to mention, but really mention, one of the best cities in Europe.
Before we embarked, there was much deliberation about the mode of transport. Our car was fully operational, however, the brake pad had withered to the point of audible concern. At low speed, our car had a gentle whistle and a loud obnoxious grind when the brakes were applied. In the end, we took the four-wheeled noisemaker; after all, there would be no fireworks or celebration for America's Independence Day in Europe. Who knows, maybe our car would shoot sparks by the end of our Tour de France.
Get ready to see a lot of these
Be weary ye of a nervous disposition
Contrary to the pre-trip consternation, the four-hour drive went seamlessly, the Autobahn required minimal use of the brakes. However, when we reached the city, the slower speeds demanded frequent brake application. The half-hour from city limits to our parking garage the car alternated from a high pitched hiss to an abrupt grinding growl. It may have been less embarrassing and noticeable had the four of us been blowing whistles into a megaphone. Eventually, we found our parking location and we were pleased to part ways with our four-wheeled noisemaker for a few days.
Lively walkway
Bullet to the head...?
Lovely wall of death
After we settled into our hotel rooms, we made plans to explore Les Catacombs, location of the relocated remains of those buried in the Cemetery of Innocents. After nearly a century of use, non-zombie infections spread from the dead to the living and resulted in the need to transpose the decomposed. On our (Julie and my) first visit to Paris, we made two attempts to see the burial site, however, the extensive line was deemed a waste of time with so much else to see.
Thinking cap
Transposed decomposed
Since everybody in our party had been to Paris, we had no qualms about waiting in the nearly two-hour line; although, our estimated entry was within minutes of the final permitted entry. Admittance was indeed a close call, but we made it inside nevertheless. Our excitement was only matched by the humor of the Catacomb's warning, "the ossuary tour could make a strong impression on children and people of a nervous disposition." Luckily, we made it through without our dispositions being affected, granted, our appetites grew substantially.
We returned to our hotel's district to finish our first day. We found a fancy pants establishment for an early-bird Parisian dinner, seated a shade after 22:00. The restaurant's culinary prowess satiated everyone's hunger and we turned-in for the evening.
In the morning. we tended to our frostbite and second-degree burns from our shower at the Hotel Sante Fe. Then, Julie decided to brave the breakfast buffet a second time. Based on her description of the experience, the dinning hall would be better named, "The Petri Dish" - a cesspool of rudeness, germs, and chaotic children acting as vectors. She acquired some pastries on her mission and returned unscathed, a feat that shouldn't go overlooked. After listening to her heroic tale of securing the Pan au chocolat from the beastly brigade of bacteria, we shifted our focus to Paris.
Seine River
View opposite previous picture
We planned a full day of sightseeing in the City of Light - a "full day" is an overstated understatement, but we managed to survive. We walked to the train station and boarded the RER to Paris. The ride takes about forty-five minutes and we even had some (unwanted) entertainment. Ironically, at the Noisy-champs station, a middle-aged man boarded the train with an accordion, a speaker on a dolly, and his tambourine-wielding son. The street-rat peddling was imminent - the doors closed and we were burdened with amateurish accordion music accompanied by the jangle of an unenthusiastic tambourine. The father and son finished their set in three stops and the boy went through the train with a cup looking for compensation. At the fourth stop, Val de Fontenay, both vacated our car and high-tailed it to the next one. We heard echos of the same songs for the next few stations.
Building in Montmarte
Street in Montmarte
Arriving at Les Halles, we switched Metro lines and proceeded to our first attraction of the day, the Louvre Museum. To our delight, the line was minimal - providing us ample time to take pictures outside before joining the cattle call. A half-hour later - we were through security, had our tickets, and each a Nintendo 3DS with a headset. The Louvre is massive, even the museum map is mammoth, therefore; we spent a few extra Euro for the little gaming device. Each Nintendo is loaded with gallery maps and myriad interactive features. We selected the "Masterpiece Tour," a great way to find the works everyone else is there to see.
The Louvre
Alexandros of Antioch - Venus de Milo
Michelangelo - Rebellious Slave
Michelangelo - Dying Slave
I would hate to see the museum during the height of tourist season, it was bad enough plodding my way through the sixty tourist to wait for the front-row view of the Mona Lisa. As expected, the 3DS came in very handy, finishing our "guided" tour in less than two hours. For the remainder of our visit, we switched the Nintendos to identify works of art that were in our proximate area. We were at the Louvre for three hours and I don't think we saw half of the exhibits, but we needed to get outside and experience the rest of Paris.
Leonardo da Vinci - Mona Lisa
Coronation of Napoleon (at Notre-Dame)....the art of the segue
We got back on the Metro and headed towards Cité, changing trains at Châtelet. Exiting the station, we arrived at our destination, Catédrale Notre-Dame. Similar to the cathedral in Luxembourg City of the same name, both share Gothic design - but Notre-Dame de Paris features flying buttress supports and is much larger. We exited the church and walked east - taking a few more pictures before making our way across Pont de l'Archevêché (Archbishop's Bridge). We didn't have a "love padlock" with us, but I think the bridge has plenty.
Catédrale Notre-Dame
High altar
Archbishop's Bridge
We crossed the Seine River and continued to the Panthéon, burial site of famous French figures: Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Voltaire, and Marie Curie (only female in necropolis) - to name a few. Unfortunately, the Panthéon has an admission - one we weren't willing to pay given the Foucault pendulum was undergoing major repair (and won't be re-installed until 2017, a most complex restoration for a simple device). Instead, Julie and I walked down Rue Soufflot towards the Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens). Generally, one has a slim chance to find a seat by the fountain in front of Palais du Luxembourg, but it was nearly December - there was chairs sitting in chairs to stay warm (well, they were stacked). The weather was tolerable - allowing us to enjoy the view of the palace, the fountain, and the top of the Eiffel Tower in the distance. We left the garden and got back on the Metro and headed towards the Catacombs, but we were greeted with disappointment. Upon exiting the station and crossing the street, the line was wrapped around the block. We were informed that it would take approximately two hours to get to the entrance - news that had us turn around immediately.
Locks of Love
Panthéon
Jardin du Luxembourg with Eiffel Tower
Palais du Luxembourg
We changed our course for the next attraction on our list, Sacré-Cœur (Basilica of the Sacred Heart). Our legs were already feeling the burn after several hours of walking and the sight of the stairs at Sacré-Cœur added to the lactic acid buildup. Fortunately, we had a 24-hour public transportation ticket - including access to the cable car to the top of Montmarte. Our legs rejoiced for the advancement of hill-climbing technology - as a added bonus, we got sit down for a brief two minutes. The view from Montmarte (highest elevation in Paris) was magnificent, even on a meh-weather day (like we had).
Street in Montmarte with Basilica
Basilica of the Sacred Heart
Highest point of Paris
Moulin Rouge
Moulin de la Galette
While in Montmarte, we strolled over towards Place du tetre, an area teaming with painters and caricaturist. We would have loved to purchase a painting, but the ends didn't justify the means - nor did bartering facilitate a more appropriate price. To finish our circuit of Montemarte, we did our best impressions of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza - searching for giants. Instead, we found the Moulin Radet (a windmill) at the Moulin de la Galette, a place that served as inspiration for many artists (Renoir, Van Gough, and Picaso). Our last stop, the Moulin Rouge - birthplace of the can-can among other things. We didn't spend much time here, enough to take some photographs and marvel at the price for entertainment (€200 a seat).
Arc de Triomphe
Champs-Élysées
Under the Arc de Triomphe
After feigning interest in a show at the Moulin Rogue, we came back to reality and boarded the Metro at Blanche. We made our way to the most confusing traffic circle I have ever seen - the twelve spokes surrounding the Arc de Triomphe. The monument appears to be surround by a moat of automobiles - either a civil engineering masterpiece or nightmare. We continued down the Champs-Élysées and walked around the Parisian Christmas Market. From here, we boarded the Metro and went to our last stop, the Eiffel Tower. We got off at Trocadéro and proceeded to the Palais de Chaillot overlooking the tower. The top of the hour approached and we found an area on the stairs to sit and wait for the light show. The illumination was a great way to end our exhausting day in Paris. We took the Metro one last time, changing over to the RER, and returned to our less than humble abode at Disney.
View from Trocadéro
Time for the illumination
Champs-Élysées (Arc de Triomphe) near Christmas Market
Boarding Metro, destination seen in the background
Video was filmed vertically, but for some reason, Youtube insists on careening necks for this one. Apologies.
