Paris Bus Tour and Arc de Triomphe

There are so many pictures to share, I tend to get a little overwhelmed but here are some of the big monuments/locations we visited. It is fun to go back through the pictures and remember the trip. It was only a few weeks ago, but I can't wait to go back with Justin some day. I loved Paris!!

Here's the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel - located opposite the Louvre was built in 1806 - 1808 to celebrate Napolean's victories in 1805. Topped with soldiers of the Grande Armee.

You can't forget random pictures along the bus tour to get a flair for Paris. The bridges, water, street vendors, cafes...all lend to the feel of Paris...not just the famous points of interest.

Here are a few pictures of Place de la Concorde - one of Europe's most historic squares. Starting our as Place Louis XV, for displaying a statue of the king - later to become Place de la Revolution, the statue was replaced by the guillotine. The death toll in 2 1/2 years was over 1,000 including Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Renamed Concorde in spirit of reconciliation and was enhanced in teh 19th century by the 3,200 year old Luxor obelisk, two fountains and eight statues personifying French cities. The famous Champs Elysees is connected to this square. Leslie and I toured the square and then continued up Champs Elysees for some lunch and see the shops.

Here's a wide shot of Place de la Concorde

While in Place de la Concorde we couldn't believe how people drove. There aren't any marks on the road, so to us it looked like chaos on the street. I'm glad we had a bus to drive us around town.

The famous Luxor obelisk in the middle of Place de la Concorde.

Enjoying lunch and resting our feet on Champs-Elysees.

Of course I have to get french onion soup while in France! It was so good...it will never be the same in the US. Leslie's cream of vegetable soup wasn't quite as good, but at least she had the club sandwich to fill her up. The warm soup was so good to warm us up on such a cold day in Paris!

Stores on Champs-Elysees. We were about to go in when we noticed the long line from across the street. So we decided there were too many sites to see in Paris to take time out to look at bags we couldn't afford. Onward we go!

Arc de Triomphe - After Napoleon's victory, the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805, he promised his men, "You shall go home beneath triumphal arches." The first stone of the famous arc was laid the following year however disruptions to the architects plans and demise of Napoleonic power delayed the completion until 1836. Standing 164 feet tall - is now the starting point for celebrations and parades.

The arc doesn't look so huge from across the street, but once you go under the street to walk up to it, you feel like a little ant next to it. If you read my earlier blog...you will remember, this is where I lost my bracelet...and later found pieces of it among all this sand and tiny pebbles. May not seem big to you, but it made my day to find pieces of my bracelet with Aiden and Max's name.

More pics of the arc up close. It's grander than I imagined from pictures I had seen.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier - an unknown French soldier from World War I is buried here.


Getting a picture in front of the arc...luckily the motorcycle guy didn't hit me. That might have ruined my day...but maybe not. If I'm going to be hit by a motorcycle...I would rather it be in Paris!

Next stop....Eiffel Tower!

Welcome to the Louvre!!

So here we are...walking around the main entrance to the Louvre. My pictures do not even attempt to do it justice and we could have spend an entire weekend walking through the museum, but in interest of seeing as much of Paris as we could in two days we did a self guided tour of the highlights. Leslie got the self guided tour from the Louvre website and it was really nice...definitely recommended. It took us about 2 hours to get through it. Hopefully I can explain a little of what we saw. Enjoy!

The entrance and courtyard of the Louvre.

Here we are inside the pyramid. You can see the escalators in the background. That is the main entrance and you must go underground in the pyramid to enter the museum wings of the Louvre. From here you have 3 wings you can enter and start exploring the masterpieces. We started our tour in the Sully wing in search of Venus de Milo...


Aphrodite, known as Venus de Milo. Dated around 100 BC. Timeless and emotionless. They say the sculpture is a play on proportions (it is 3 times as long as the nose and the forehead gives way to a profile the Greeks did not have). The sculptor was seeking to depict divine beauty, that of Plato's ordeals, not worldly reality.

The Louvre itself is a beautiful building. I had to remind myself to look up and all around...not just the art on the wall or beautiful sculptures in front of us. It's amazing how much beauty and history can be in one building...


Beautiful detail on the ceiling. It's hard to get a picture that even shows a portion of the beauty. Hard to get good light on pictures of the ceilings.

Taking advantage of some other tourists wanting their picture taken...so we got our taken as well! We're now on our way to see Mona Lisa...

Of course we have to take time to see other beautiful pieces of art on the way. Some aren't as famous, but beautiful none the less. This is Le Sommeil de l'Enfant Jesus by Bernardina Luini. From what I could gather from the sign, this was part of a collection of Louis XIV.

After waiting through a huge crowd (some people nicer than others), we finally were able to get close enough to get a picture of the Mona Lisa. The portrait of Lisa Gheradini, also known as La Gioconda, painted by Leonardo DaVinci around 1503 -1506. The colors darken as the varnish ages. They say the sleeves were once saffron yellow.

This is as close as we got. As you can see, even thought his painting was large for it's time, it's small in comparison to much of the other pieces of art on display. And it was the only painting mounted behind glass that we saw.

Here's the crowd we had to wait through to see the Mona Lisa.

Opposite the wall of the Mona Lisa is a gigantic painting...The Wedding of Cana by Paolo Cliari, known as Veronese. 1562-1563. The artist chose to depict Christ's first miracle, performed during the marriage of Cana. I took up close pictures of the different symbolic scenes within this large painting and will post seperately. It's hard to tell from my picture, but the colors in this painting were so vivid and the pure size of the painting amazed me.



The Coronation of Emperor Napoleon I and the Crowning of Empress Josephine in Notre-Dame Cathedral on December 2, 1804. Commissioned by Napoleon, it took Jacques-Louis David 3 years to complete the painting. As it was a work of political propaganda...not all is true about the painting. The emperor's mother seated on a throne in the middle was not there that day (as she was mad at her son), shows and thinner Napoleon and a younger Josephine.

Winged Victory of Samothrace circa 190 BC. Most likely destroyed by an earthquake, this work was found in countless pieces on the island of Samothrace in 1863. The right wing is a plaster copy of he left wing. She initially stood on the prow of a ship. Scholars believe this work was a votive offering from the Rhodians to the gods to thank them for naval victory.

One of my favorite pieces. I'm not exactly sure why...it's just so simple and graceful. La Nymphe au Scorpion (Nymph with Scorpion) by Lorenzo Bartolini.

As I was showing Aiden picture of the museum he kept saying "ah mommy it's so beautiful". As for me, I think he liked the sculptures more than the paintings. As we got to this sculpture he said "Oh mommy...it's the tooth fairy!" then preceded to tell me the whole story of the tooth fairy. I think that is what I will always refer to this figure as. The Tooth Fairy :) Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the title for this one. Does anyone know the real name?? I would love to know...

These two sculptures are done by Michelangelo Buonarroti. They say pieces of Michelangelo are seldom seen outside Italy, but the Louvre owns these two, known as The Slaves. They belong to a group, the other pieces are at the Galleria dell' Accademia in Florence. The Slave 1513 - 1515


We saw so many more things than what made it to the blog...but my blog would go on and on. Our two hours spent there just scratched the surface. I would love to revisit when my time isn't so limited. Here we are leaving the museum...inside the famous pyramid entrance with the museum in the background.

Being silly as always...the picture is a little off...but close! I'll be back with details regarding the painting 'The Wedding of Cana' and of course the Eiffel Tower...along with other stuff. There's so much to blog! Have a wonderful week!

Arriving in Paris and Notre-Dame de Paris

Arriving in Paris...finally! After a little delay, we made it!! However, one VERY important lesson when reading a map is to be certain you have the correct starting point. We did NOT follow this lesson. We got the metro stops confused on the map, so you can imagine us getting turned around in downtown Paris with luggage and all. So...the walk from the metro station took a little longer than expected, but we made it. We dropped our luggage off and headed down the street for dinner. We ate at a lovely Italian restaurant and had some really good red wine and finished off the late dinner with some 'to die for' tiramisu. It was soooooo good!

I can never remember wines...so here is a pic in case we might have it in the US

The best bedtime snack EVER!

So, the next morning we left the hotel around 9 a.m and headed towards Notre-Dame. Partly walking, partly riding the tour bus...but Notre Dame was the first major stop on our list. We visited the outside on Saturday and went back on Sunday for the tour inside. So...here we go on our tour of Paris. I'll try my best...hope you enjoy the pics!

Here's our view as we walked up to Notre-Dame. Such a beautiful cathedral.

Closer pics to see the detail...

Leslie and I in front of Notre-Dame. We decided to trade pics with some other tourists. Not too bad of a pic. After this, we headed to the Louvre...we came back on Sunday for more of Notre-Dame...

After waiting a little over an hour we were able to climb 400 steps up the tower of Notre-Dame. Yes....400 steps. The funny thing, I was joking with Leslie that we climbed 400 stairs...to later find out that was the actual number of steps! The tower steps got more narrow as you climb higher. Coming back down made us VERY dizzy.

Our view of Paris from the first level of the tower. At this point, we are on the landing between the towers on either side of the cathedral. Great view of the little shops below.

Closer look of the gargoyles on the top...

Going inside the tower...more stairs to follow

Inside the tower is all wooden as you can see. As we went in...I couldn't help but joke that this is where the hunch back must have spent his time :)

View of the city from the very top of the tower. At this point are legs were pretty shaky...but it was well worth the climb up the steps.

After we went back down, we stood in yet another line to enter the main cathedral hall. Inside, it is truly breathtaking. Here's an upclose picture of the main altar.

Main cathedral hall

Stay tuned....next stop on the tour...Musee de Louvre!