Ca Plane Pour Moi

Nice Guillotine

 

Well we have arrived in Paris after a good trip from Frankfurt and are staying in a very nice apartment Heart of Paris in Rue Des Gravillers, which seems to be in the wholesale jewelry district near Republique Station. The area is full of old buildings, with lots of cafes and shops and is a15 minute walk to Notre Dame Cathedral.

The title Ca Plane Pour Moi is roughly translated as "Everything's going well for me" (literally: "It is gliding for me") a Plastic Bertrand song that Michael’s Dad dances to.

Decided to get a four day pass to the museums here, which was not a good choice as Michael wanted to see all of them so he was rationed to two a day. We started with the Louvre to view the compulsory Mona Lisa, not overly impressed with the gallery. 

Visited the Delacroix museum, which was the artist’s former residence and had an amazing little garden in it. The Liberty picture was not at either the Louvre or the Delacroix museum as it is currently on loan to the Louvre in Lens. We also viewed some of his work at Saint Sulpice.

Second day was the D’Orsay Museum, which was far nicer with many good French Impressionist works. There was also a National Honour Museum across the road full of French medals throughout history as well as international orders. Most countries had half a dozen medals. Australia had only one - The Order of Australia.

Onto the Musee National De ‘Orangerie which houses the Monet lilies in two oval rooms that had been designed as requested by Monet. Very impressed with the set up even if Michael kept saying the picture was missing a frog.

On the third day we visited the Centre Pompidou, which displays modern art. Michael must have a death wish taking me there as I have repeatedly stated in this blog that I do not like modern art. Then onto Notre Dame Cathedral, which is being progressively restored with lovely stained glass. There was also a side museum that showed the history of Paris and the excavations done near Notre Dame on where there are ancient Roman ruins which was well done.

 

 

 

 

We then travelled to the Pantheon to see a great building and where the heroes of France are buried. It is huge with great art works inside.  

Pantheon

 We saw where Victor Hugo was laid to rest. 

 

Then we visited the Rodin Museum to see The Thinker and other works that he created. The museum is an old hotel that he used to work from.

 

 

We then walked to the Eiffel Tower. To be honest, I thought it would be taller.  Anyway, it was pretty when lit up at night.

On the last day of the museum ticket we visited the Gustav Moreau Museum.  Michael really liked and enjoyed his work and the huge workshop he had on the second floor. 

Then on to the Invalids museum, which has French war history and the tomb of Napoléon. The tomb is obscenely huge considering his remains did not get put there until 50 years after his death. All seemed a bit excessive compared to the Pantheon. 

Napoleon's Tomb

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We viewed a good documentary on De Gaulle and noted that he was buried in a humble plot at a local cemetery as he requested. We spent 5 hours going though the exhibits and Michael turns around and says it was OK.

 

 

 

 

 

The interesting part of Paris is that everything is closed on Sunday and even today, Christmas Eve, most shops are closed and there does not appear to be any mad panic buying as there is back home. Visited one department store that was very busy but seemed to be Asian tourists buying up with 6 coaches waiting outside. I don’t know if the French are more organised or whether Christmas is not such a big deal as the decorations are modest compared to Australia.

We have also been able to find the most expensive Cappuccino in Paris at 6 Euro so our coffee consumption has dropped and we look at the cafes more closely. The usual inverse law applies - the closer to an attraction, the higher the price and lower the quality.

Unfortunately there is no snow as it has been around 13c so we have had to drop a layer of clothes as we are finding it quite warm.

Finally to all our readers we send our love to you and your families and wish you all Joyeux Noel et Bonne Année