At Orsay we were treated to a huge gallery of impressionist work along with a few pieces by Van Gogh. There were also many (and I repeat MANY) rooms that I turned around and left as soon as I walked in because the subject matter was very provocative. So my memories of the museum are torn between being awed at the beautiful Monet’s, Manet’s, and Renoir’s, and being totally sickened. Be careful what you’re looking at if you visit this museum (just my two cents from the Bible Belt!).
We left Orsay starving and walked outside to find it drizzling. So instead of walking some more looking for something to eat, Jason got a baguette at the stand outside of the museum (ticket entrance) and I got my first Nutella Crepe. Tres bon! We stood under the awning at the museum and enjoyed our snacks until it stopped drizzling and we headed out towards the Galeries Lafayette.
We walked down through a swanky part of Paris on the Rue Rivoli and Rue de Castiglione. In a few block stretch we saw multiple Cartier’s, Carolina Herrera, Bulgari….. I felt kind of out of my league just walking down the street! But then we stumbled upon Repetto and I wished and wished that I had done ballet and that Charlotte was older so that I could buy her some Pointe shoes in Paris. It was a lovely shop with all things dance related and, while we debated getting Charlotte a new dance bag, we ended up leaving empty handed.
We continued walking (this was probably mile 6 or so already) and found the Opera House. It was beautiful, but a lot of it was under construction and it was still misting a little bit so I was ready to get into the covered Galeries Lafayette!
This is the center dome of the Galeries Lafayette. And, while it sounds all fancy, it really is just a big, giant mall. However, it is a mall stocked with Longchamp, Prada, Fendi, Cartier, you name it, as well as any fashion designer that you can think of who sells in Paris, and a gourmet food area with cheese and meat counters and oodles and oodles of pastry counters. It was a great place to spend a few hours on a drizzly afternoon!
I just have to stop and say that don’t I have the most good-looking husband there is? I took this on the walkway over the men’s store at the Galeries and I love it. I am so thankful for this man and all that he does for our family!
On a lighter note! After we left Galeries we ran into Printemps (another very upscale department store) and got our first macaroons from Laduree. Definitely more to come about Laduree on the next post, but the strawberry macaroon was my favorite!
Then, in our least smart idea of the day, we decided to walk to the Montmantre area of Paris to see the Moulin Rouge and Sacre-Coeur. This was a much longer walk than we anticipated, plus it rained on us most of the way, plus the area surrounding the Moulin Rouge was very sketchy, plus it hailed on us as we were huddled under a shop awning with a group from Canada trying to wind our way up to the Basilica. Not the best journey to get there, but the views at the top were pretty spectacular.
And the rain and hail that we walked through was (kind of) worth it when we got to see a beautiful double rainbow over the city of Paris!