Monday 16 July 2007

Paris Day Five

The weather today was aboslutely beautiful. Couldn't have beat if for anything. About 80 and no clouds. The weather that I have been waiting for the entire trip.



We started the day with a Rick Steve's Guided walk. This started us around Notre Dame and Point Zero. I stood on top of Point Zero which is wear the world according to Parisians is measured from. This is about 30 meters in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral. From there we looked at the Notre Dame. What an amzing sight. It is absolutely huge and an architectural wonder. We wondered around the side of the building and looked at the Deportation Museum which we finally figured wasn't open and moved on.



From there we headed to the Left Bank after taking a quick detour from the trip to see if the "best ice cream in the world" establishment was open. It wasn't, so we decided to come back later. On the left bank, we saw many things including the Latin Quarters in which we sat and had a coffee at a Cafe, the oldest resident of Paris (a tree planted five hundred years ago), and the Place St. Michel (a big waterfall wall thingy which had a bunch of tourists around it).

We continued our tour going back onto the Ile de la Cite and viewing the outside of the Sainte Chapelle (the line was huge and our Museum pass didn't get us any advantage, so we moved on), one of the only Art Noveu Metro stops left, and the Conceirgerie. The Conceirgerie was the final stop of all of those that lost their heads by the Guillatine. It was an interesting location, and a great quick stop on the Ile de La Cite.

After this morning tour, we headed over to the Pompidou Center and to the Modern Art Museum. This was a very interesting building because all of the infastructure was on the ouside. No way to miss it. The Modern Art, however, was over the top. It focused more on contemporary Modern Art (in my opinion) than the famous names that we know for modern art. There was only two Jackson Pollacks. They did have many Picasso's, but only one that I recognized, so that wasn't even that cool. It my mind it was not nearly as fascinating as the Tate Modern in London (then again, I am partial to London now).




We then headed over to the Arc de Triumphe. This was pretty spectacular, and a must do. We took many pictures and then went down the Rue de Champs-Elysees which was cool, but nothing spectacular. Interesting to view all of the similarities that it had, and the effects of the global economy on it. Most of the companies represented are the same in London, New York, and Los Angeles.



We headed home, got some dinner and went to bed to prepare for Bastille Day!

1 comment:

Ladee said...

The photos are great and add a lot. Thanks for uploading these!