July 28 - Paris

way down from the Art de Triomphe

Cool, cloudy and windy, great for touring, little rain.

The top of the Arc de Triomphe was today’s first stop. This is walkable from our hotel up the Champs Elysées. Our museum pass gets us past the line and quickly up the stairs. It is 50 metres high that we climb to the first level and then a floor or so more to the outside observation level. It’s still overcast, but not so much so that the Eiffel Tower is obscured.

What goes up must come down…the stairs have a railing and treads on each step which are a pleasant change from the stairs we remember from last year’s trip to Greece.

After the Arc we stroll more of the Champs Elysées, stop at a very small park with a Canadian Maple tree gifted to Paris, cross the Siene and wander some more.

Our destination is the Museé d’Orsay. We expect it to be busy and it is thronging with people. Fortunately we have been inside before so we take a pass. I’d have loved to see the Vincent Van Gogh room again, but not at the expense of a giant line and a sardine-like experience once inside – even with the Museum Pass the line was HUGH. We head to the Auguste Rodin museum instead. Although there is a line, we breeze right in with our passes. This museum is half indoors and half outdoors. It’s very cool to have major pieces of art in the middle of a garden exposed to the elements. I suppose once these pieces are in bronze they are pretty indestructible. There is a tiny café where we have a glass of wine (which I order in French!!) and take a rest. I think we’re still recovering from the hike to the top of the Arc de Triomphe.

Next we visit Invalides. Inside is a military museum and Napoleon’s tomb. Napoleon’s tomb, here since 1861, is huge but simple in a domed church.

It is way past lunch time when we sit around 3:30 in a bustling square for wine, pizza and a croques monsieure

Napolean's tomb

Conveniently we are near the Eiffel Tower, so we wander through the park area surrounding it. We don’t go up as it isn’t included in our Museum pass and although we tried to reserve online weeks ago, we didn’t try early enough – more huge lines. We climbed up the last time. We were here, so staying on the ground is just fine with us. By this time it is spitting quite a bit so we find a Metro station and head for home.

church where Napoleon's tomb is

viewer to see detail of Rodin's Gates of Hell -
can you see the Thinker?

only in France are the chips a specific cheese!