Ky nearly fell back asleep at dinner, and the avuncular cafe proprieter asked "beaucoup de marcher?" (lots of walking?), to which I replied (in my ghastly schoolgirl French), "Oui, et beaucoup des eglises."
We got maximum value from our 7 euro a head hotel buffet breakfast, with cereal, pastries, tea/coffee, ham, cheese, bread and juice. We then headed off towards Ile de la Cite to Notre Dame and Ste Chappelle. We dawdled a little at the exhibition of photos and story boards around the Palais de Justice, detailing the liberation of Paris in August 1944, seventy years ago.
[Pics to come]
JD baulked at the long queue to get into Notre Dame, but I insisted, pointing out that it was moving very quickly. Sure enough, within five or so minutes we were within 20m of the entrance, at which point the heavens opened. The queue quickly crammed up, with people running for the "Masse" entrance, rather than queueing politely for the "Visiteurs" entry. We got a little damp (on principal refusing to enter via the door reserved for the pious), but otherwise unscathed.
Thankfully, JD and the boys were suitably impressed. The huge nave was fully occupied by filled seats (those attending the 10am mass), and the large crowd of tourists slowly circulated en masse around the outer aisles. The mass concluded with a magnificent recessional (?) played on the grand organ, above the front door, after which I was able to nip down the centre of the nave to get a photo looking back to the west rose window and the nave.
[Pics to come]
There was also a series of display boards where they detailed the various phases of construction and repair over the 850 years of the cathedral's life, including one part where they 'popped the top', much as we are doing in our renovation at home.
From there, we went to Sainte Chappelle, and again the boys were suitably impressed, if a little weary. The exceptionally pious Louis IX had the chapel built so he could attend mass whenever he wanted (several times daily), and to hold the relics he had acquired, including the Crown of Thorns. Oh, and entry was free as it was a Sunday (apparently).
[Pics to come]
In need of loo, we bought a round of hot drinks, some frites (french fries) and a nutella crepe for Ky. This also restored the boys sufficiently to be willing to go on to the Musee d'Orsay. (JD and I agreed that something inside would be sensible, given the dodgy weather.)
We walked the half dozen blocks to the Museum, passing the bridge with the padlocks, and the Louvre on the other side (seeing its size, the boys were grateful we weren't going there). The serpentine queue for the M'O was long, but moving reasonably. JD picked up a couple of panini (8" baguette filled with ham and cheese) which we ate in the queue. And then, about 5min before we reached the shelter of the overhanging awning, the heavens again opened. The touts around the queue promptly switched from selling sunglasses to umbrellas, and we again got a bit wet, despite the queue bunching up as much as possible.
Soon inside, we passed through the metal detector (manual, not x-ray, bag inspection) and then to the queue for tickets. Although entry wasn't free, it was reduced - the adults got in for kids prices (8.50 euro instead of 11), and the kids got in for free. We then headed straight for the top floor for the permanent Impressionist exhibition, entering from the wrong end as it turned out. Photographs of the artworks is not permitted, so I can't make you green with envy at the works we saw (iconic works by Monet, Renoir, Pisarro and others), but we could take photos of the building, so you'll have to make do with those.
[Pics to come]
The boys were flagging, and having found some comfortable bean bags to sit on, insisted we leave them there while we did a quick review of selected parts of the rest of the gallery. We briskly walked through the post-Nouveau decorative arts (chairs, vases, dressing table etc), past a number of Rodin sculptures and plaster maquettes (including one for the Gates of Hell, the bronze original of which we saw in Japan last year), and in to the very crowded rooms holding works by Van Gogh and Gaugin.
As JD put it so well, some of the works did nothing for you (the Nabis, with their flat planes of colour and complete lack of depth), and others, you had to physically tear yourself away from.
From there, we took the metro back to our hotel, showered, and collapsed for a while (Ky fell sound asleep) before setting out for some dinner at a local brasserie.
Despite the Eiffel Tower being top of the boys wishlist for Paris, we unforutnately didn't make it there - the closest we came was a glimpse from the Pont Neuf. Oh well, they'll just have to come back another time to see it.
We got maximum value from our 7 euro a head hotel buffet breakfast, with cereal, pastries, tea/coffee, ham, cheese, bread and juice. We then headed off towards Ile de la Cite to Notre Dame and Ste Chappelle. We dawdled a little at the exhibition of photos and story boards around the Palais de Justice, detailing the liberation of Paris in August 1944, seventy years ago.
[Pics to come]
JD baulked at the long queue to get into Notre Dame, but I insisted, pointing out that it was moving very quickly. Sure enough, within five or so minutes we were within 20m of the entrance, at which point the heavens opened. The queue quickly crammed up, with people running for the "Masse" entrance, rather than queueing politely for the "Visiteurs" entry. We got a little damp (on principal refusing to enter via the door reserved for the pious), but otherwise unscathed.
Thankfully, JD and the boys were suitably impressed. The huge nave was fully occupied by filled seats (those attending the 10am mass), and the large crowd of tourists slowly circulated en masse around the outer aisles. The mass concluded with a magnificent recessional (?) played on the grand organ, above the front door, after which I was able to nip down the centre of the nave to get a photo looking back to the west rose window and the nave.
[Pics to come]
There was also a series of display boards where they detailed the various phases of construction and repair over the 850 years of the cathedral's life, including one part where they 'popped the top', much as we are doing in our renovation at home.
From there, we went to Sainte Chappelle, and again the boys were suitably impressed, if a little weary. The exceptionally pious Louis IX had the chapel built so he could attend mass whenever he wanted (several times daily), and to hold the relics he had acquired, including the Crown of Thorns. Oh, and entry was free as it was a Sunday (apparently).
[Pics to come]
In need of loo, we bought a round of hot drinks, some frites (french fries) and a nutella crepe for Ky. This also restored the boys sufficiently to be willing to go on to the Musee d'Orsay. (JD and I agreed that something inside would be sensible, given the dodgy weather.)
We walked the half dozen blocks to the Museum, passing the bridge with the padlocks, and the Louvre on the other side (seeing its size, the boys were grateful we weren't going there). The serpentine queue for the M'O was long, but moving reasonably. JD picked up a couple of panini (8" baguette filled with ham and cheese) which we ate in the queue. And then, about 5min before we reached the shelter of the overhanging awning, the heavens again opened. The touts around the queue promptly switched from selling sunglasses to umbrellas, and we again got a bit wet, despite the queue bunching up as much as possible.
Soon inside, we passed through the metal detector (manual, not x-ray, bag inspection) and then to the queue for tickets. Although entry wasn't free, it was reduced - the adults got in for kids prices (8.50 euro instead of 11), and the kids got in for free. We then headed straight for the top floor for the permanent Impressionist exhibition, entering from the wrong end as it turned out. Photographs of the artworks is not permitted, so I can't make you green with envy at the works we saw (iconic works by Monet, Renoir, Pisarro and others), but we could take photos of the building, so you'll have to make do with those.
[Pics to come]
The boys were flagging, and having found some comfortable bean bags to sit on, insisted we leave them there while we did a quick review of selected parts of the rest of the gallery. We briskly walked through the post-Nouveau decorative arts (chairs, vases, dressing table etc), past a number of Rodin sculptures and plaster maquettes (including one for the Gates of Hell, the bronze original of which we saw in Japan last year), and in to the very crowded rooms holding works by Van Gogh and Gaugin.
As JD put it so well, some of the works did nothing for you (the Nabis, with their flat planes of colour and complete lack of depth), and others, you had to physically tear yourself away from.
From there, we took the metro back to our hotel, showered, and collapsed for a while (Ky fell sound asleep) before setting out for some dinner at a local brasserie.
Despite the Eiffel Tower being top of the boys wishlist for Paris, we unforutnately didn't make it there - the closest we came was a glimpse from the Pont Neuf. Oh well, they'll just have to come back another time to see it.
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