Museums, Shopping and Metro Incident

Day 8 - Paris

Today is my 31st birthday and I was very fortunate to be able to spend the day in Paris.

My first stop of the day was (surprise) the Louvre! I had the honour of being the first visitor of the day to say hello to the Mona Lisa, and then spent about 45 minutes visiting the the Italian masters aith virtually no company. That first hour in the morning at the Louvre is always the best... at 10am it can be a bit disappointing to realize that you are going to have to share the museum with everyone else!

I also went to some of the other wings I had missed on earlier visits, including the northern schools (15th to 17th century paintings from Holland, Flanders, Germany, etc.) The most amazing discovery today was the Renoir Room -- a must-see if you ever make it to the Louvre!

I then caught the metro to the Arc de Triomphe. I climbed to the top to check out the views (included with my museum pass). The views were great, even though it was a bit on the hazy side.

Then I was back on the Champs-Elysees again to do some shopping. Fortunately, I was headed DOWN the 2km hill this time! After that, I stopped in at the musée l'Orangerie to see more impressionist works (included in pass). This was not the greatest museum, but there were some interesting works by Cezanne. It also features 8 of Monet's large water-lily paintings, which are displayed in tzo large oval-shaped rooms.

I continued to shop throughout the afternoon as I slowly made my way to the Modern Art gallery. By the time I finally got there, I wasn't feeling up for another museum, and decided to make my way back to the hostel. Yup, I am still roughing it. Last night was q pretty quiet night at the hostel. I do not have high hopes for tonight -- the England-Ireland rugby match is tonight, and our hostel is in a convenient location to the stadium. Oh well, at least I have earplugs.

One interesting note about the metro trip to the hostel. I am still not entirely sure what happened, but at one of the stops the doors remained open as the train pulled away from the station. Then we sped up and jerked to a halt. A man landed in my lap (not a big deal) but I am fairly certain that someone fell out of the train and hit their head. It was sort of confusing -- lots going on and we were stopped for awhile. The metro driver looked very upset. At least the train wasn't packed -- then I might be telling a different story.

At this point, I am planning to spend Saturday in Paris. Not sure about Sunday -- I will either remain in Paris for one last night, or I will move onto Antwerp. I a planning to be in Antwerp on Monday, Brussels on Tuesday, and then I fly home on Wednesday.