On Wednesday morning we flew to Paris. Once there we took our million suitcases to the Hilton. That's right, Brad and I got to stay in the Hilton (using my dad's points) for free!!!!! We felt like such high rollers! Every morning we had extravagant breakfasts for free(worth 35 euro each) and then snacked and ate dinner sans charge in the executive lounge!!! We will truly never forget our experience at the Hilton... which is good since we will also probably never have enough money to stay there again!!!
After a rest we went to the Arc de Triumph. There was some sort of military ceremony going on there so, lots of men in uniform and trumpets. This added to the ambiance and we stood in awe of the arc for quite some time.
Then we walked down the Champs Elysses and found an incredibly cute restaurant for dinner. My dad had the French Onion soup... which we all envied! He shared, thank goodness because it was the best I'd ever had!
On Thursday we went to Normandy (which is a different post all together). On Friday morning we went to the Louvre when it opened to try to beat the crowds (have I mentioned that dealing with crowds is not John Shamshoian's strong point???).
We headed straight for Mona (again, that was about beating crowds!). Then, once we'd seen her, we hit the other big name pieces at a more leisurely pace.
I just put this in so that you would have a visual on the crowds!!! Look at all these people!
And after a few hours of appreciating art, we all felt a bit like this...
so we took a stroll in the Jardin de Tullieres. We relaxed in front of this fountain for a while and then got some coffee.
This is a gigantic sculpture of a tree with roots. I loved it so we took a million pictures with it!
Hey mom, this sculpture makes me think of us... forever wanting to be a size 2, but proud of our size '?' just the same!!!
After leisurely meandering through the tullieries we went to the Orangerie Museum. It has more Monet's than any other museum in Europe... it also has his Water Lillie series. Here we are in front of our favourite one (unfortunately we are blocking our favourite part!).
Here are a few more of our favourites from the Orangerie.
Then we moved on to the Andy Warhol exhibit. This one was for Brad since I am not a huge appreciator of Warhol.
Brad loved the Mao Series. I had to be super sneaky to grab this pic... the guards were everywhere!
Snuck this one too!
After Warhol we walked back to our hotel. We found a pastry shop on the way. Here we are enjoying a maple eclair.
On Saturday we took a cab to my favourite museum... the Orsay. It has a ton of impressionist paintings (my favourite genre) and the museum itself is spacious so you don't get muddled down in the crowds. Here I am imitating a sculpture.
This is one of Degas' Dancers. This art, is my favourite art, of all the art (please think 'The Office' and not 'illiterate teacher'!). It makes my think of Krysta and thinking of Krysta always makes me happy (when I'm wallowing in self pity because she's in Costa Rica and won't be home when I get there!)!
These are some of our favourite works from the Orsay.
How cool is this clock? It hangs in the Orsay Museum, whichused to be an old train station. It makes me think of grander times.
So, after we saw some of the most incredible impressionist paintings on earth, we went to the Pompidou... a modern art museum. This picture sums up my thoughts on modern art but Brad loves it so... we spent hours walking through. By the end of our tedious walk I did find a couple pieces that I enjoyed, but they were few and far between!
We spent some time walking along the banks of the Seine. We enjoyed one of those romantic moments (that seem to only happen in the movies) as we strolled down the Seine holding hands and talking.... Okay, forgive me for the mush... just know that we are as in love today as we were at 16!
We walked ourselves to Notre Dame and took some pics outside... but we didn't go inside because we've done it before.
After Notre Dame we went to San Chapelle, a chapel that is wall to wall-ceiling to floor- stained glass windows. It truly took my breath away. I stood in awe for a long time. This was a dream fulfilled for me because both of the other times I've been in Paris the weather has been awful. I felt truly blessed to be able to enjoy the chapel with sunshine flowing in through the stained glass!
On Saturday night we forced ourselves to go to the Eiffel Tower... even though we were exhausted and still needed to pack ourselves up, how can you go to Paris and not see the Eiffel Tower? We love this shot!
Finally, we packed ourselves up and enjoyed one more amazing breakfast before heading to Amsterdam. We went to Paris thinking that we hated the city, we left with a new found appreciation for it. I think the fancy hotel definitely helped to change our opinion but perhaps we were more open this time too!
After a rest we went to the Arc de Triumph. There was some sort of military ceremony going on there so, lots of men in uniform and trumpets. This added to the ambiance and we stood in awe of the arc for quite some time.
Then we walked down the Champs Elysses and found an incredibly cute restaurant for dinner. My dad had the French Onion soup... which we all envied! He shared, thank goodness because it was the best I'd ever had!
On Thursday we went to Normandy (which is a different post all together). On Friday morning we went to the Louvre when it opened to try to beat the crowds (have I mentioned that dealing with crowds is not John Shamshoian's strong point???).
We headed straight for Mona (again, that was about beating crowds!). Then, once we'd seen her, we hit the other big name pieces at a more leisurely pace.
I just put this in so that you would have a visual on the crowds!!! Look at all these people!
And after a few hours of appreciating art, we all felt a bit like this...
so we took a stroll in the Jardin de Tullieres. We relaxed in front of this fountain for a while and then got some coffee.
This is a gigantic sculpture of a tree with roots. I loved it so we took a million pictures with it!
Hey mom, this sculpture makes me think of us... forever wanting to be a size 2, but proud of our size '?' just the same!!!
After leisurely meandering through the tullieries we went to the Orangerie Museum. It has more Monet's than any other museum in Europe... it also has his Water Lillie series. Here we are in front of our favourite one (unfortunately we are blocking our favourite part!).
Here are a few more of our favourites from the Orangerie.
Then we moved on to the Andy Warhol exhibit. This one was for Brad since I am not a huge appreciator of Warhol.
Brad loved the Mao Series. I had to be super sneaky to grab this pic... the guards were everywhere!
Snuck this one too!
After Warhol we walked back to our hotel. We found a pastry shop on the way. Here we are enjoying a maple eclair.
On Saturday we took a cab to my favourite museum... the Orsay. It has a ton of impressionist paintings (my favourite genre) and the museum itself is spacious so you don't get muddled down in the crowds. Here I am imitating a sculpture.
This is one of Degas' Dancers. This art, is my favourite art, of all the art (please think 'The Office' and not 'illiterate teacher'!). It makes my think of Krysta and thinking of Krysta always makes me happy (when I'm wallowing in self pity because she's in Costa Rica and won't be home when I get there!)!
These are some of our favourite works from the Orsay.
How cool is this clock? It hangs in the Orsay Museum, whichused to be an old train station. It makes me think of grander times.
So, after we saw some of the most incredible impressionist paintings on earth, we went to the Pompidou... a modern art museum. This picture sums up my thoughts on modern art but Brad loves it so... we spent hours walking through. By the end of our tedious walk I did find a couple pieces that I enjoyed, but they were few and far between!
We spent some time walking along the banks of the Seine. We enjoyed one of those romantic moments (that seem to only happen in the movies) as we strolled down the Seine holding hands and talking.... Okay, forgive me for the mush... just know that we are as in love today as we were at 16!
We walked ourselves to Notre Dame and took some pics outside... but we didn't go inside because we've done it before.
After Notre Dame we went to San Chapelle, a chapel that is wall to wall-ceiling to floor- stained glass windows. It truly took my breath away. I stood in awe for a long time. This was a dream fulfilled for me because both of the other times I've been in Paris the weather has been awful. I felt truly blessed to be able to enjoy the chapel with sunshine flowing in through the stained glass!
On Saturday night we forced ourselves to go to the Eiffel Tower... even though we were exhausted and still needed to pack ourselves up, how can you go to Paris and not see the Eiffel Tower? We love this shot!
3 comments:
I am so glad you are still sneaking photos and breaking rules!!!
Oh my gosh... These photos make me terribly nostalgic. I love the d'Orsay so much. Did you hit the Picasso museum, too?
I love all the art, especially the Degas! It's all so beautiful. Um, and you are looking pretty gorgeous and fashionable yourself. Did you get new boots?
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