After the Orangerie, we ventured over the Musee d’Orsay-a museum in an updated train station. This again housed many impressionist paintings, many of the same ones from the Orangerie, along with van Gogh’s self portrait. This museum was a little more overwhelming than the previous one because of its size, but the paintings were beautiful and there was a very relaxed atmosphere. Meg and I were able to put the things we have been learning about in our art class into use as we commented on the paintings and I felt that I had a better appreciation of the work.
I was pretty museum-ed out after those two, so we headed over to the Notre Dame to meet up with Ken. It is very impressive simply in its sheer size, and it was very neat to go into the cathedral. When we got in, mass was just finishing so we got to see the procession. I noticed that the organ music was very gothic and eerie with loud minor chords, almost mirroring the Gothic and imposing architecture. Dainty and whimsical are definitely not the words I’d use to describe my experience there. I was hoping to run into Quasimoto there, but no such luck…
For lunch, Meg, Ken and I met up with Meg’s mom and sister to go to Angelina’s. Meg’s parents went to Paris for their honeymoon and had had hot chocolate at Angelina’s and had been building it up for Meg her whole life, so it was cool to be able to go taste this magical hot chocolate. Lunch was very tasty, but we all knew we were looking forward to dessert. The hot chocolate was easily the best hot chocolate I’ve ever tasted by miles. (Sorry Dad—it makes Chevron hot chocolate taste like Swiss Miss!) It was a hybrid of regular hot chocolate and chocolate pudding. It was so thick and I guess they melt down hot chocolate bars to make it. We received instructions to taste it on its own first before then adding the whipped cream. To go with the hot chocolate, the table split the specialty dessert-a meringue coated with whipped cream with chestnut paste on top. I was almost painfully full at the end of the lunch, but the hot chocolate was too good to pass up. Thanks Mrs. Zolner!!! I’m hooked on Angelina’s for life now.
After lunch, Meg and I headed to Monmarte, the artist district. The main attraction there is the Sacre Coeur, a beautiful white church. On our way up to the church, we were accosted by the bracelet selling street vendors who try to put the bracelet on you and then charge you. Luckily we were warned about this so keeping our hands in pockets seemed pretty effective. Sacre Coeur was so beautiful to see. We walked around after that to the artist square to watch the myriad of artists all painting the same subjects (the Parisian monuments) but in so many different styles. My favorite was a woman who painted the sites with beautifully colored water colors. There were lots of tourist shops in the area, but it still maintained a cool artsy vibe.
As our last touristy activity, we took the metro to the Pompidou Centre, a modern arts museum. It is a really neat building that looks almost inside out. Pictures are the best way to visualize the building. This area had such a different vibe and just seemed way more hipster and trendy. There were quite a few teenagers hanging out skating. There was a cool modern art fountain which really seemed to complement the area.
To end the day, we picked up our stuff from the hostel and headed to the train station. I felt completely satisfied with the weekend, having seen the museums I wanted to see, climbing the Eiffel Tower, seeing the Notre Dame and Arc du Triomphe, and exploring the culture by seeing the Champs Elysees, the artist district and the trendy hip scene. As my ears popped going under the Chunnel, I couldn’t help but just feel happy and so lucky to have had such a great weekend.August 8
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