Eiffel Tower, Monet, and Shopping

Before arriving, we check the exhibitions currently running in Paris museums and spot several that we want to visit.  Our second day in Paris, we start with the Musée Marmottan Monet, a former hunting lodge that was purchased by Jules Marmottan in 1882 and bequeathed to the French Academy of Fine Arts, along with all his collections, on his death in 1934.  The museum contains the largest Claude Monet collection in the world, including the collections from Doctor Georges de Bellio, whose patients included Manet, Monet, Pissaro, Sisley, and Renoir, and from Michel Monet, the painter's second son.

In addition to the permanent collection, Musée Marmottan Monet is featuring an exhibition of L'Art et L'Enfant (Art and Children), showing the evolving depiction of children in art over time, including works by Cézanne, Chardin, Corot, Manet, Matisse, Monet, Renoir, and Picasso.  We enjoy the exhibition, but then head downstairs to (once again) view the Monet collection.  One of our favorite exhibits is a room with many panels of Monet's water lilies.

 Musée Marmottan Monet and the line to enter

 Panels of Water Lilies

The walk from the Arc de Triumph to Musée Marmottan Monet is about 3.5 km (2.2 miles) and takes 45 minutes or so.  We make a quick stop at the Trocadéro, about half-way to the museum and across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower.  The buildings of the Trocadéro were built for the International Exposition dedicated to Art and Technology in Modern Life in1937 and now house a number of small museums, with a garden stretching to the Seine and framing the Eiffel Tower.  These buildings also, at one time, served as the original headquarters of NATO.

 Buildings of the Trocadéro

Eiffel Tower viewed from Trocadéro, across the Seine

After our museum visit, it's time for lunch and shopping and we head over to Galeries Lafayette's flagship store on Boulevard Haussman, behind the Opera, which we walked by yesterday, about 5.4 km (3.4 miles)  from Musée Marmottan Monet.  We first eat lunch in the cafeteria on the 6th floor of the store, a roast beef plate for me, a salad and cheeses for Laura, and, of course, 1/2 bottle of wine.

Lunch at Galleries Lafayette

From our table, we can see the back of the opera and, as I'm taking a picture, one of the staff tells me that I should go up one floor to the terrace on the roof for a better view.  We finish our lunch and take that advice.

View of the Opera from our table at lunch

Panoramic views of Paris from the rooftop terrace at Galleries Lafayette

After lunch, we wander through the store, seeing the bright colors of the spring fashions and admiring the grand glass and steel dome in the center.  Galleries Lafayette started as a small 70 sq. meter (750 sq. ft.) fashion shop in 1893 and acquired the Haussman location in 1903, unveiling the flagship store in that location in 1912.  Galleries Lafayette now has 57 stores in France and also stores in Germany, China, Indonesia, and Dubai.

 Spring fashions

Glass and steel dome in the center of the store

Across the street is the Galleries Lafayette food hall, with a fabulous produce and goods market in the basement and meat, fish, and spice market on the first floor, selling for immediate consumption and to go.

 Fresh produce

Spice bar

Next to Galeries Lafayette is Printemps, the other large French department store, founded in 1865 and focused on fashion and beauty (no grocery or furniture shopping here).

 Entrance to Printemps, across from Galeries Lafayette

Window displays have always been important to both Galeries Lafayette and Printemps, to highlight their goods and to encourage people to enter the store.  The displays are particularly great during the holiday seasons and now welcome us to spring.

 Windows at Galeries Lafayette

Windows at Printemps

Because of the recent bombings in Paris and Brussels, there is much added security.  Soldiers armed with serious weapons patrol the sidewalk outside the stores and security guards check everyone who enters with metal detectors and bag inspections.  This doesn't seem to phase people, but is a sign of the changed times.

But, there is also time for fun.  Inside Galeries Lafayette, swimsuit/lingerie manufacturer Princesse Tam Tam set aside space and toys for adults to anticipate summer fun.

 Think summer!

Afternoon Walk Around Paris, Continued

After we cross over the Pont des Arts bridge from the Louvre to the left bank of the Seine, we continue along the river toward Place Saint-Michel, the popular public square.  There is construction at the Institut de France and the we note how the construction offices fit cleverly around the statue in front.

Construction working around the statue

We walk up the Seine to the next bridge, the Pont Neuf Bridge, and cross over to Île de la Cité, one of the two islands in the Seine and the location of original medieval Paris.  Île de la Cité now contains the Paris police headquarters, Prefecture de Police, the Palais de Justice law courts, Notre Dame cathedral, and the Conciergerie prison where Marie Antoinette was held in 1793.  Île de la Cité, was first populated around 52 BC and the Pont Neuf bridge is the new bridge, opening in 1607.  From the bridge, we look back and see the Pont des Arts bridge down the Seine from us, with the Louvre on the right.

Pont des Arts Bridge, viewed from the Pont Neuf Bridge.

We walk a block over, along the side of the Palais de Justice, to Boulevard de Palais and cross the Seine again on Pont Saint-Michel into Place Saint-Michel.

 Cathedral de Notre Dame, viewed from Place Saint-Michel

There is always something to watch in Place Saint-Michel, between the students, tourists, and occasional protest group.  The square is surrounded by cafes and restaurants and is a great place to sit, have a glass of wine, and watch the world go by.  But, we are on our reacquaintance walk and continue through the square and into the winding streets of the left bank.

  Left bank streets

The left bank (Rive Gauche) is the southern bank of the Seine (correspondingly, the northern bank is the right bank, Rive Droite).  The left bank was the early Paris of artists, writers, philosophers, and the studios and cafes they inhabited.  Now, it is a warren of narrow streets, shops, hotels, cafes, restaurants, and the Sorbonne/University of Paris (Université de Paris), one of the first universities in the world, founded in the 13th century.  This area is also know as the Latin Quarter as the Latin language, the language of scholars in the Middle Ages, was once widely spoken around the university.

We wander several blocks to Le Conti, the cafe where we always stop for a glass of wine on our way to dinner in the area, but, sadly, time has moved on and it is no more.

Le Conti est fermé, closed!

We continue through the neighborhood to the Grande Boulevard Saint Germain and follow it toward the National Assembly, window shopping along the way.  But, we quickly tire of the modern boulevard and head back into the the winding streets of the Latin Quarter, jigger-jaggering our way to the Seine.

Crossing the Seine, returning to the right bank, we pass in front of the Louvre and head up Avenue de l'Opéra toward the Opéra National de Paris, the French Opera, founded in 1669 and now presenting around 380 performance of opera, ballet, and other concerts each year.  But first, after the Louvre, we pass one of Laura's favorite Paris Metro (subway) station entrances, next to La Comédie-Française which was founded as a state theater with its own acting troupe in 1680.

Palais Royal, Musée du Louvre Metro station entrance

Opéra National de Paris

Behind the Opéra is Boulevard Haussmann and the grand department stores, Galleries Lafayette and Printemps. We'll return to the stores in a day or two, but now continue up Boulevard Haussmann toward our hotel, passing the Gare St. Lazare train station and more shops and sights.

In front of Gare St. Lazare

We take a quick spin around the neighborhood surrounding out hotel and see that the markets are closing for the day.  This is a great area, we're just a few blocks from the Champs Elysses, but we are the only tourists around and we are surrounded by good-looking food in the markets and plenty of small cafes and restaurants to choose from.

 Markets near our hotel

And, as the sun set, we start to think of dinner

Sun setting, Arc de Triomphe in the distance

 

Afternoon Walk Around Paris

We arrive in Paris late in the morning, take the Air France Bus from Charles de Gaulle Airport to the Arc de Triomphe and walk to our hotel, about two blocks away.  After checking in, it's time for a reacquaintance walk around Paris.  The temperature in late April is in the 40s and 50s (2-13ºC), with occasional passing showers.

The Arc de Triomphe was built between 1806 and 1835 to honor those who fought for France, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars, and contains the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I and inscriptions of all French generals and wars fought.  We walk from our hotel back to the Arc, where a huge French flag is flying inside.  The flag flies on le quatorze juillet (14 July, la Fête Nationale, Bastille Day to English speakers) and other holidays.

 Flag under the Arc de Triomphe

We walk away from the Arc, down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, the 1.2 mile (1.9 km), the world-famous grand boulevard of restaurants, cafés, luxury shops, theaters and many, many tourists.  We immediately spot the Drive Tennis theme at Peugot Avenue Paris, the Peugot showroom on the Champs-Élysées, in anticipation of the upcoming French Open at Roland-Garros Stadium, May 22-June 5.

Inside Peugot Avenue Paris

As we continue on down the Avenue, we pass the Grand Palais, where we will visit an exhibition in a few days, and head to the Place de la Concorde.  The Grand Palais, together with its neighbor the Petit Palais, was built to house great artistic events and always has multiple interesting displays and exhibits.  Meanwhile, in Place de la Concorde, the Grande Roue de Paris, a giant portable 60 meter (200 foot) Ferris wheel, installed in Paris in 2000 for the millenium celebration, is back from its later travels to England, the Netherlands, Bangkok, Belgium, and Italy, offering spectacular views across Paris.

Passing the Grand Palais across the Champs Elysses

 Entering Place de la Concorde with the Grande Roue de Paris

Place de la Concorde is the largest square in Paris, occupying 21 acres (.03 sq. miles, .08 sq. km) between the Champs Elysses and the Tuileries Gardens.  Facing onto Place de la Concorde are the Hôtel de Crillon (next to the US Embassy, just off the square), the French Naval Ministry, the museums Jeu de Paume and l'Orangerie (both in the Tuileries Gardens), and, across the Seine, the French National Assembly.  Jeu de Paume used to house much of the impressionist collection now at Musee D'Orsay and currently shows modern and post-modern photography. L'Orangerie, across the Tuileries is a gallery of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings and, in particular, features eight panels of Monet's Water Lilies filling two oval rooms on the ground floor.  During the French Revolution, the guillotine was located in Place de la Concorde.

The Tuilleries Gardens, created in 1564 and opened as a public park after the French Revolution, stretch along the Seine from Place de la Concorde to the Louvre, with gardens, sculpture, puppet theaters, small boat basins, restaurants, and great areas to sit and rest.

 Looking through the Tuileries Gardens to the Louvre

 Grande Roue de Paris on the other side of the boat basin in the Tuileries Gardens

Walking through the Gardens, getting closer to the Louvre

In the Tuileries Gardens, we see that the spring flowers are just coming out, making for some beautiful displays.

 

 Spring flowers and trees

And, as we pass through the Tuileries Gardens, we approach the Louvre, one of the world's largest museums and a central landmark of Paris.  The Louvre is the world's most visited museum and is housed in a palace originally built in the 12th century, with a mind-numbing 35,000 objects on display, including Venus de Milo and Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.  The central courtyard of the Louvre features a glass pyramid designed by I. M. Pei and completed in 1989 (a favorite place for tourist pictures).

 Pyramid in the Louvre Courtyard

There is always something new going on in the Louvre (and most other Paris museums).  This trip, we find a glass building titled Panorama erected in an outdoor courtyard of the Louvre, Cour Carrée, reflecting the inner facade of the Louvre and containing a cardboard architectural display.  After the Louvre, Panorama will go on a tour of several cities around the world.  Entry to the Panorama is free and the line is short, so we take a quick spin through the exhibit.

Panorama, erected in Cour Carrée

Looking away from Panorama, we see, framed in the archway exit of the Louvre, across the Seine on the Left Bank, the Institut de France, the French Institute, which consist of five academies (including the Académie Francaise, the final authority on the French language) and manages around 1,000 institutions, museums, and chateaus across France.

 Institut de France, framed in the Louvre exit

Linking the Louvre and the Institute de France is the Pont des Arts bridge, famous for all the love locks fasted on it by tourists and locals alike.  But, after part of the bridge railing collapsed from the weight of the locks, the iron grillwork (great for lock attachment) has been replaced by plastic panels and the few locks that find places to attach are quickly removed).  BTW, notice the accordion player, preserving French culture (and tips), next to the staff removing the locks.

 The few locks are quickly removed

But, a few hundred feet down the Seine, love locks have found a new home.

 Love locks find a new home a short ways away

We'll continue our stroll through Paris next entry.