Paris: Another Beautiful Day

It’s been another unbelievably beautiful day here in Paris. After a sprinkle or two early in the morning, Indian Sommer continues with temperatures in the upper 70s under a gorgeous partly cloudy sky. Even if it starts to rain in an hour and continues as long as I’m here, I’ve already received more than I could have asked for.

Last night, I tried to get off of the ham and cheese sandwich kick for dinner, but I didn’t really get that far from it. I had an assorted cheese plate with bread and some foie gras with mini toasts. I also had an adequate French beer. Good meal, but too expensive. Such is Paris.

I started today with la Tour Eiffel. I hopped on a metro train to Trocadero because I learned yesterday when I was in the neighborhood what a beautiful view of the tower you get crossin the Seine from that direction. I knew that I wanted to go to the top, but I couldn’t decide if I wanted to climb the first two levels or take the elevator. I decided to compromise and take the elevator up and use the stairs coming down.

The view from the top of the Eiffel Tower is amazing. I think I saw North Carolina, though I didn’t recognize anybody, so I didn’t wave. Sorry. There are two levels at the top – one that is completely covered and an open-air level. I went out to the open-air level briefly, but decided that the enclosed area was more my speed. After taking the lift to the second level, I decided to show my vertigo what’s what and climb down. On the first level, I took a break and had the best cup of coffee I’ve had since I got to Europe. Afterwards, I made it the rest of the way down.

From there, I decided to go to the Hotel des Invalides. It contains the French Army Museum (insert joke here) and the tomb of Napoleon. I started strolling around the grounds and viewing the exhibits and never saw anybody looking at tickets, so I never bought one. My primary interest was the tomb of Napoleon (see left) and I took some pictures and left. Turns out, judging by the size of the tomb, Napoleon must have been a hell of a lot larger than I’ve been led to believe all my life. My guess is that he must have been at least 15-foot tall and 2000 pounds. Not somebody I would usually peg to have a Napoleon complex, but what do I know?

Once I was finished there, I went to the Musee d’Orsay, which may have been become my all-time favorite art gallery. The highlight of the museum for me was the Van Gogh room. (In my mind, I’m pronouncing “Van Gogh” like Diane Keaton does in the movie Manhattan because it makes me laugh.) It has some of my favorite paintings of all-time (see left). (My favorite is The Scream. That’s why I stole it.) Anyway, I took a ton of pictures at the Musee d’Orsay and will post them to my Facebook page.

I came back to the hotel to rest up, which is where I’m at now. Heading out soon to find people in a bar watching football and drinking and likely will do the same. That’s it from Paris for now.

Cheers.