Perfect Paris Day and Night

Saint Chapelle *Jardin Des Tuilleries * Musee de L'Orangerie *Champs Elysees * Arc De Triomphe * Seine River Cruise

17,343 Feet

We had such a pleasant Paris day. The weather dropped from the mid 90s last week to the mid 60s and should hover around 70 all week - yea! We visited the beautiful stained glass windows of Sainte Chapelle, some are even still originals from the 13th century. The images and stories in each window were small and a bit hard to decipher from the floor, but we enjoyed the beauty of the colors inside the small chapel. I should add that our apartment (although the worst we've had yet) is on the Isle St. Louis and about a 5 minute walk from Notre-Dame.

We walked to the L'Orangerie museum today via 1) the bakery where be bought pan au chocolate and baguettes (I've decided we should always be carrying around a fresh baguette; it just seems French) 2) a fancy pastry store where we bought hot chocolate that tasted like divine chocolate melted and then put in a cup - almost too rich 3) the Tuilleries garden where Sydney and Charlie played on the playground and we watched some Parisians play boules (like the Italian ball game bocce that we play at the beach). As you can see, we were in no rush.

We really enjoyed the Musee L'Orangerie. It's small, intimate and 2 of the rooms are built specifically for Monet's water lily panels that he did late in his life. The water lily panels are mesmerizing and we could have sat and looked at them for hours. The rest of the museum was impressive with several pieces of art from Picasso, Renior, Matisse, Cezanne. It was enjoyable and everyone gave it two thumbs up.

Our next saunter through Paris was down the Champs-Elysees, we saw fancy cars, fancy shops, ate fancy cookies (macaroons - I won't reveal how much we paid for our fancy cookies), and the kids went on a 4 story covered slide in the Citron store. At the end, we climbed the Arc de Triomphe and enjoyed the 360* views of Paris. It's a pretty city - very new compared to Rome (and not as many church domes). I could come back - next time without the children! Since we had walked 17,456 steps (7.44 miles), we took the metro home!

After relaxing a bit in he apartment, Eric finishing an hour of CLE, and making a yummy dinner of fresh tomatoes, cheese varieties w/baguette, grilled chicken and string beans we headed out for our evening River "cruise" on the Seine It started at 10:00. Since it doesn't get dark until 10:30 we had to go late to see the lights turn on at dusk all over the city. It was magical. My favorite part was the many bridges that span the river.