A Day in Paris

Today was a jammed pack day of sight seeing! I felt like we did so much in a short amount of time..it was fun, but I'm definitely pooped after a long day. The day started out a bit cloudy and then it got really nice and sunny. I met up with JB who was already near the Eiffel Tower. I thought it was going to be impossible to find him, but as I was coming up the stairs past the fountain he had found me! I was so relieved!

Then we went to the cafe by the Trocadero metro stop and had brunch at Le Malakoff, where I met his friends Pie and Tali from Thailand. Pie is studying law here in France and Tali is visiting her for a month. I got a delicious beef burger with a fried egg on top!

It was so nice to just sit and relax at the cafe for a few hours taking in the nice weather. Then we went back to the Eiffel Tower to take more photos!

We also saw a fashion photo shoot! I thought this was sooo cool! Something you see in the fashion magazines or like on the show America's Next Top Model!

Since it's the 1st Sunday of the month, the museums are free! So JB and I went to the Musee d'Orsay.

The lines looked so long, but they actually went by pretty quick thank goodness cuz I was definitely baking in the sun. But luckily I had my umbrella and did what everyone else did, use it for shade! I love art and saw some really amazing things! Going to museums like this really makes me want to go back to school and do more Art History studying. In the museum there were large realist paintings of Courbet and the first works of Manet, Monet, and Cezanne, together with sculpture collections, paintings from the 1850s and 60s (Ingres, Delacroix, Degas, etc.), as well as impressionists and postimpressionists. There were also masterpieces of French and Belgian Art Nouveau, foreign schools of painting, symbolism, and naturalism. There were 3 temporary exhibitions showing too: "Manet, the Man who Invented Modern Art", "A Ballad of Love and Death: Pre-Raphaelite Photography in Great Britain, 1848-1875" and "Gustav Mahler". You had to pay 2 euros to get into the Manet Exhibit, but it was well worth it. It was really cool seeing some of the letters he wrote to people, along with his paintings of course.

Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos inside the museum, but I was able to sneak this Renoir painting I've always loved.

"Bal au Moulin de la Galette"

Here are some other works that were in the museum that I grew up admiring of Claude Monet's:

"Essai de figure en plein air dit femme a l'ombrelie tournee veis la gauche"

"Le bassin aux nympheas"

They also had this painting of Vincent Van Gogh:

After, we took the metro to see the Notre Dame.

We arrived right in time for the start of Mass. I was able to light a candle and say a few prayers. I hope I have time to come back and really stay for Mass one of these days. I think it would be a really nice experience too. :)

Then we just relaxed in the little park area taking photos and I finally got to eat my nutella crepe, which was sooooo yummy!!! I love crepes in Paris!!!

I was invited by Alexis Peskine to see his exhibit at the Musee de Montaparnasse, but unfortunately I already had a busy day and couldn't make it, but hopefully I'll get to go to one of his exhibits! I was introduced to him by my friend June Monteiro, who is an up and coming designer friend of mine from our group Rising Design. Alexis is definitely making a name for himself in Paris as an artist...you should definitely check him out!

JB was getting hungry, so we all went to Chatelet which is this really cool hip area of restaurants and bars. They have all kinds like an Istanbul restaurant for kabobs, an Australian Restaurant and Bar, an Afro-Cuban restaurant/bar, Japanese restaurants and many more! I definitely want to come by and check more of these out. We ended up at this Japanese restaurant that wasn't really impressive though, but we just sat and talked for awhile. JB was telling us about all his travel stories and it was really cool listening to some of his crazy adventures. We later ended up getting gelato and as we were about to leave it starts down pouring like crazy!!!!! We waited it out for a bit before heading back to the metro in the rain. When I ran out and opened my umbrella, next thing ya know this guy runs underneath my umbrella too! Caught me by surprise, but he seemed harmless so I let him share my umbrella as we all ran towards the metro to go home. Paris to me is still beautiful in the rain! Plus I think it's fun running through the rain sometimes! Something refreshing about it. :)

It was definitely a fun day and I'm glad I finally got to see more of Paris. Everything still looks the same from when I was last here, but Paris will never get old to me!

Have another busy day tomorrow of exploring since I have the day off! Can't wait! Bonne nuit! Bisous Bisous! oxox