Land of Lights, Lovers, and Lines: Paris Days 3 & 4

This was not to be intended to be a relaxing vacation to get away from it all, but rather a sight-seeing trip. To that end, we woke up at 7:00 am to get to the Louvre by 8:00 am. Once there, my parents were determined to follow a walking tour podcast they had downloaded. Unfortunately, some time had passed since the recording and it proved to be of little use in the overwhelming museum. We passed through several rooms of Classical and Italian art – the Mona Lisa looks FAR smaller in real life, especially when one considers that she faces a giant wall-size tapestry. The others were tired after the Egypt exhibition so I explored the Africa, Oceania, and Americas collections by myself. We ate a quick lunch at the attached mall and took the métro back to the hotel. My sister and father weren’t feeling to well and slept the rest of the day. There were some interesting issues with the hotel rooms – heating issues (someone had fiddled with the settings on the heater) and a strange smell emanating from the bathroom (room change within 15 minutes). That night, my mother and I tried to find some dinner in the area. The charming restaurant/bar didn’t serve stand-alone meals (though their window read “à emporter” take-away) so we went to an OK Chinese place. On the way back, we picked up dessert and breakfast at a nearby café.

With everyone feeling better, we all caught a quick, early, quiet RER train to Versailles. The chateau wasn’t terribly well presented – we should’ve sprung for audioguides and done it before, not after the immense Louvre. Moreover, to fully experience the grounds of Versailles, one needs to see the gardens and the Domaine de Marie Antoinette. We didn’t make the hike across the acres of sculpted nature to find the charming pavilions because it was VERY chilly that day. After an RER ride back to Paris, we went to Les Invalides, a complex which combines the Army Museum and Napoleon’s Tomb. It was surprisingly more engaging than I’d imagined with really great exhibitions on WWI and WWII. I found the inscriptions to be more fascinating than the tomb, but to each his/her own. We hopped off the métro at the Gare de l’Est to buy sandwiches and pastries. Lo and behold, my family started to realize that their “helpful suggestions” were just stressing me out and that if they indicated their preferences before I started ordering, the transaction went far more smoothly. A few Tudors episodes provided a nice end to our last day in Paris before going to Nancy.