Paris, France

Today was another full day in the wonderful city of Paris. On the agenda: Musee de l’Orangerie and Sacre-Coeur.

Starting the day off with hot chocolate and a pastry is great. Starting the day off with hot chocolate and a pastry from Angelina is just the epitome of French breakfast! The hot chocolate is so rich that it’s like drinking a melted version of the smoothest best-tasting-chocolate-of-your-life! Dip a pain au chocolat in it… Perfection.

Musee de l’Orangerie

The first attraction of the day was the Musee de l’Orangerie. Most people think of the Louvre or perhaps Musee d’Orsay when they think of Paris, but we opted to skip those and admire the most famous of French artist Monet’s Water Lilly paintings. We arrived around 9:30 in the morning and only had to wait in a 5 minute line to go through the metal detector and then a maybe 2 minute line to buy the 9 euro tickets.

The bottom floor of the Musee de l’Orangerie has various paintings by famous artists such as Picasso but you can easily breeze through the whole level in less than an hour. The top floor has two rooms and a total of 8 paintings, but we spent even longer there than the entire bottom floor. Why? Because they are Monet’s gigantic waterlilly paintings separated into 2 white oval rooms with diffuse lighting, just the way Monet had wanted. I could have admired the paintings for hours. It was simply stunning and no picture can do it justice but here are a few just to give you a taste of it.

 
After the Musee de l’Orangerie, we deicded to get lunch at a small chain Parisian boulengieries and patiseries (sandwich and pastry) place called Eric Kayser. We got their meal deal which came with a sandwich, pastry, and a drink. Ashley ordered a cup of green tea which came with a teapot of hot water. The sandwich was perfectly assembled and hot and the bread was as if it was made a couple of hours before. The pastry was a scrumptious berry cream layered cake.  We highly recommended checking out one of several Eric Kayser locations to experience an authentic french style sandwich.

Sacre-Coeur

After lunch, it was time to do more sightseeing and Sacre-Coeur cathedral was next on the list. We took the metro and after getting off at the stop, came across an awesome “Love” wall which had the words “I Love You” written in over a hundred languages. You can’t help but take a few pictures at this inspiring art installation.

After a nice steep 15 minute walk, we came to the footsteps of Scare-Coeur. From the bottom, you know that you’re just in for some eye-opening experience. We slowly made our way to the top while taking a lot of pictures. At the top, you can see all of Paris and take it all in. Inside, the cathedral is just breathtaking. The whole cathedral is made of what looks like large blocks of concrete meticulously arranged in geometric patterns. John Paul II has visited this place so you know that it’s of significance. Don’t forget to walk to the back of the Cathedral to get a fresh perspective on its architecture.

One word of caution: there are tons of shady looking guys that try to put some kind of ring on you and then braid a thread around it which they only cut if you tip them. They are very forceful and you just have to bolt past them to avoid their sneaky tactics. 
While we were leaving Sacre-Couer, we overheard somebody saying that the Moulin Rouge is nearby. So…we decided…why not check it out? After a short 10 minute walk, we came across the iconic slow spinning windmill with its brightly lit fan.

When you are in a foreign country, one of the funnest way to explore its foods is to buy the most random things from the supermarket. Earlier in the day we had bought a few things from the local Target-like store called Monoprix and it was time to taste the loot. Everything tasted very different and new than anything that’s sold in the U.S. and it was quite a snack adventure!