Last Day in Paris

September 28

This was our last full day in Paris and we wanted to take full advantage of it. It turned out to be a beautiful day, with lots of sunshine and blue skies.  Our first stop – Musee D’Orsay.

Our transit passes ended on Thursday, so our first challenge was to get a day pass for the Metro as we thought this would be better than getting individual tickets each time we got on.  We went to our regular station, Bonne Nouvelle, but the machine didn’t sell day passes, only individual tickets. We went to “information”, but she quickly informed us (tout en Francais) she didn’t speak English and she didn’t sell tickets and we had to go to the station Grands Boulevards.  We walked away not too clear on what sort of information she would provide!

Musee D'Orsay

Grands Boulevards station was much more amenable and the day pass was only 6.4 euros.  We then headed for the Solferino Metro station, which was closest to Musee D’Orsay.  We couldn’t find a line for people with passes, so joined the general entry line. We then saw a guard letting people out of the line, so we showed him our passes and he told us to head to entrance “C”, which had no line.  The Museum Pass was an excellent purchase, as were the multi-day Metro passes.

The museum had just opened a special exhibit tying in the outfits worn around the time of the Impressionists and the paintings.  There were Renoirs and Monets and Manets and Tissots, and often the exact dress worn by the model was beside the paintings. April was in her glory, looking at the shoes, gloves, fans, hats, and dresses. I was much more interested in the paintings. Sadly, visitors are no longer allowed to take pictures in the museum, though I saw a few people take pictures with their phones when no guards were around.

After the special exhibit, I headed up to the 5^th floor to see the impressionist paintings and April went to the sculpture area. Room after room of Manets, Monets, Degas, Cezannes, Fantin-Latours etc.  We had audio-guides, so many of the painting were described in detail. Once I was done the 5^th floor, I headed down to the second, and saw the Van Goghs, Gauguins, and Seurats.  There seemed to be far fewer Van Goghs than I remember from last time – only two of his 40 self-portraits, one of the two Starry Nights, only one of his bedroom and not a sunflower in sight! I then went back to the sculpture area to meet up with April.

We decided to head back to the 5^th and eat in the cafeteria, up behind the clock. Sadly, they no longer let your go out on the balcony, but we were able to view Paris through the windows. On our way out of the museum we went through the shop, hoping to find that “perfect” souvenir, but nothing struck my fancy.

It was now about 3 PM and we decided to go and take a boat ride on the Seine.  We walked down to the river and walked along looking for the boats.  While we were walking along, we were approached on three separate occasions by gypsies who would come walking along, would bend down and appear to pick up a “gold” ring and then hand it to us as if to return it to us.  It’s such an obvious attempt to distract you so they can pick your pocket, but three times in a few blocks suggested we weren’t in the best place. We were at the Pont Concorde and Blvd. Ste Germain, so went to the Metro station there and headed over to Place Palais de Justice.

We then decided to go to the antique shops beside the Louvre before they closed. There are enough stores for 250 sellers, but more than half are empty.  There were very few people even browsing.  I saw some beautiful silver sifters, which tempted me. However, the two that were dated (1789 and 1771) were 1,900 euros. The third was 450 euros, but had no date stamp, so I couldn’t talk myself into spending that much money without an assay mark. There were lovely galleries with paintings, bronzes, lots of Art Deco period pieces, and   dazzling jewelry, but the prices were even more dazzling.

Pont Neuf masks

After sitting in a café in Place Palais de Justice (coke and tea rather than wine this time), we walked down to the Pont Neuf as we decided to take that boat trip on the Seine. We got tickets on Les Vedettes du Pont-Neuf and toured for about an hour. We went down as far as the Eiffel Tower and went up as far as Ile Ste. Louis.

Pont Alexander III

One thing that we had noticed on the bridges were all these locks – small padlocks for the most part.  On the boat ride the guide explained that lovers put the lock on a bridge and then toss the key into the Seine to express their everlasting love.

After the boat ride we contined across the Pont Neuf heading to the Ste. Germain area. April noticed a painter selling his wares on the bridge and we ended up purchasing one of his paintings for April (20 euros) and a water colour by his friend for me (10 euros).  We found a little Italian restaurant and had pizza from a wood oven for supper.  We carried on into the Ste. Germain area, passing a jazz band that was serenading the crowd.

We finally got the Metro and took our last ride back to the apartment. The owner called and told us to just lock the door and put the key under the door tomorrow when we leave.  Our train leaves Paris around 2 PM but we’ll head out early as it might be difficult to flag down a cab.