France Day 7: Paris (June 23, 2012)

I woke up feeling poorly today.  I’m not sure what is wrong.  I think I may have eaten gluten, Paris may have sucked the life out of me or my body is just done with museums and walking.  It could also be a combination of all of the above.

I tried to be a trooper and not spoil Angela’s time in Paris.  We went to the Musee d’Orsey and saw the Impressionist art.  I enjoyed that more than I enjoyed the Louvre. It was not nearly as crowded as the Louvre and I think that makes a difference in how you enjoy a museum.

We sat on the steps of the museum and had some water and a snack.  Then we decided to go to the Cathedral of Notre Dame.  The line to get into the cathedral was extremely long and the line for the stairs to the bell tower was even longer.  Angela had seen it before and I didn’t feel like it was worth the line.  So we went to find the Deportation Memorial, which is very close to Notre Dame.  This is a memorial to all the French men and women who were sent to concentration camps during World War II.  It is quite a powerful memorial.  It is built to give the feel of what it was like in the camps so there are high cement walls and bars. 

There is a small park near the memorial and we sat there for a while talking about the Holocaust.  Then we decided to go do some souvenir shopping.  We bought a few magnets and then I was done for the day so we decided to go home. 

From inside the Musee D'Orsey.  There are two clocks on either end of the buidling.  Well they are clocks from the outside and windows from the inside.

 The back of Notre Dame.

 The front of Notre Dame.

Angela went to the boulangerie to buy a bagette while I went to the grocery store to get ham cheese and a salad for me.  Then we put some towels down on our bed and had a picnic in our hotel room.