Since we bought our 3 day museum passes and had been to the Louvre yesterday, we decided to visit the Musee D%26#39;Orsay this morning. We headed out bright and early, stopped for our usual cafe cremes and pastries and arrived at the museum by 9:00 - it didn%26#39;t open til 10:00. Oh well, another leisurely cafe creme took care of that hour!
I was glad we had bought the museum passes since the regular line to get in was quite long. The building itself was amazing. I couldn%26#39;t get over how gorgeous it was - it really competed with my attention to the artwork. My husband and I really enjoyed the paintings here and began to slowly wander around the 1st floor when an announcement began playing %26quot;if the person who left the Nike brand bag could please return and claim it immediately%26quot;. We didn%26#39;t think too much about it even after it was repeated several times. After a few minutes, we saw a red phone ringing in the hall and my husband and I looked at each other a bit nervously. I knew that unclaimed bags would be destroyed after a while because of bomb scares so I assumed that was what was going to happen. However, another annoucement came on saying that the building needed to be evacuated because of %26quot;technical difficulties%26quot;. Everyone remained very calm and the security personnel did a great job getting everyone out of the building but it was a tiny bit nerve-wracking trying to get out in the crowds.
Once we were safely out on the street, we decided to go somewhere else for a while and come back later, so we headed over to Pont Neuf and walked around the Notre Dame. It was very peaceful in that area and the weather was gorgeous and sunny. I stopped and got a mango sorbet from Berthillion - yummy! We really wanted to see the rest of Musee D%26#39;Orsay so we decided to make the trip back there to see if the Nike bag had been taken care of. It had - some kid%26#39;s poor lunch was probably destroyed, so we went back in.
My husband and I were so impressed with the art here, being fans of impressionism. We also couldn%26#39;t get over the school kids there (must have been field trips?) and how well behaved they were. There wasn%26#39;t a giggle heard from any of them over the nude statues! :-) We headed outside on the top floor and had an emotional moment looking at the city in all its glory from this height. It was beautiful and photographs were a necessity.
From the Orsay we made our way over to the Arc de Triomphe. I wanted to climb to the top for the view of the city %26amp; the crazy traffic I had heard about, but man, what a climb that was! However, it was totally worth every step and every sore muscle once I made it. We had our camera, but wished we had brought our camcorder to fully share the experience with our friends and family back home.
We stopped for at a patisserie where they had a deal for a drink, sandwich and dessert for like 6 euros which was very good and filling. I had a raspberry tart that was unbelievable!Then it was back to the Eiffel Tower for another try at going to the top. It was about 7:00 and the lines didn%26#39;t look any shorter than the other 2 times we had been there but we decided they probably weren%26#39;t going to ever go down so we bought our tickets and made the slow, long and crowded trip up. I didn%26#39;t think the elevator between the 2nd and 3rd level was ever going to stop!! By the time we got up there, it was dark but the views of the city were spectacular with all the lights. When we made it back to the ground, we waited for the sparkling lights along with all the others in the park on this gorgeous evening. It was beautiful beyond words and we said we were going to return the next evening to have a picnic and bring the camcorder.
That was the end of our busy and wonderful day 3 in Paris!
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so how long did you end up waiting in line to get to the top?
souds like a great day and i also can%26#39;t wait to to the Orsay
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auntieB - it took a while to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It%26#39;s hard to say exactly since we had to wait to get our tickets, wait again for the elevator, take that to the 2nd level and get off and wait again to to go to the 3rd. I guess they normally let you go straight up from the 2nd level but because of the crowds we had to get off. That was OK though since the views from the 2nd were very good and it was less crowded than the top. I think we got in line around 7:00 and we caught the lights at 10:00 when we got back down. That was with spending about an hour total at the 2 levels.
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Here%26#39;s a tip to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower more quickly. Buy a ticket to walk to the second level. Once you get there, buy a ticket for the top level in one of the machines. Then wait for the lift to stop there and hop in for the ride to the top.
Bear in mind that it%26#39;s a bit of the climb to the second level.
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Have you done the climb southernmom?? I%26#39;m keen to hear reports from survivors as I%26#39;m wondering if I%26#39;m fit enough to do it! I%26#39;ve read there are about 670 steps to the second level, so it must be a greater challenge than the Arc or the Notre Dame towers.
Love to hear from anyone who%26#39;s done it about how fit you need to be and importantly, did it wreck your legs for future day%26#39;s sightseeing in Paris!!!
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