Travels with Maman Pt. 2: Paris

Hello all!

So I have (clearly) been behind on my blog. Mom and I went to Paris the weekend before she left and it was really nice. We had a stressful evening beforehand because we decided last minute and had to book a hotel (that was somewhat affordable) for a night without wifi, using only our 2G phones. But after that debacle and debate, most of the rest of the way was smooth sailing. The Paris metro that scared me so much the first time I was there (it is REALLY confusing) was manageable! I think all the time with the metro in Lyon last year and New York City this summer has made me much better at maneuvering public transit. I've definitely made a lot of mistakes/went the wrong way but we always end up in the right place, so that's a good life lesson I suppose.


Here are some of the pictures from our first day! Our day consisted of wandering through and by various important monuments: Jardins de Luxembourg, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower (which we STILL didn't get to go up because they close the stairs obscenely early after August), the 6th arrondissement, and other streets. We spent another part searching for French onion soup, which we found at this yummy place called La Jacobine. I highly recommend it. The server was nice, it was small but cozy and all the rest of the food looked delicious.

Jardins in the fall

Same place as last Christmas :) 

Palais de Luxembourg

Yummy hot chocolate as always Angelina

The French ONION SOUP

La Jacobine :) 

Notre Dame: blur = artsy right?

I love looking up cathedrals.

Such a cool angle of the Notre Dame

It's fall here!

Cute couple taking pictures in the street while we stopped for a drink

My beautiful Maman :D

Me and the Eiffel! 

I love this lady.

Arc de Triomphe

Our second day was Sunday. We grabbed a late breakfast, then headed to the Musée D'Orsay for the day. Our lunch was too die for: poulet rôti with bacon and mushrooms, that tasted like something Omi used to make (i.e. DELICIOUS), with potatoes and a fresh salad with egg, ham, cheese, carrots and a light dressing, all with bread of course! On our way out of Paris, we said a quick goodbye to Joe who was in Paris for the rest of the week and we were on our way back to Toulon.

French breakfast

Van Gogh's bedroom!

Van Gogh

Behind the clock of Musée d'Orsay

Pointillism

Musée d'Orsay is inside an old train station: lovely!

Degas statue made out of wax: she had a real tutu, hair, ballet shoes, etc when first exhibited

Degas dancers

Dancers of Degas 

Dance in the City: Renoir

Dance in the Country: Renoir

Renoir

More of Degas' dancers

Monet

Another Renoir

Finally we had champagne in France!

Musée from the outside

Van Gogh

I really enjoyed the Musée d'Orsay, honestly, much more than the Louvre. I think it was because I found Van Gogh's, Renoir's, and Degas' work so beautiful and fascinating. The Musée d'Orsay has the largest collection of Impressionist work in the world (I think, don't quote me on that) and I really loved seeing that stuff because I recognized it. I had learned about a lot of it in French class and I found these paintings to be more intriguing, colorful and like I said, beautiful.

We arrived back in Toulon just in time for my orientation. More soon. I apologize for being so terribly behind. I'll put all the posts in the right order and you won't even know the difference ;)