04-26
Paris explorer
Cloudy, warm, showers in the afternoon.
Today we slept in till 10. Our intent was to do the Musee d'Orsay butwhen we arrived, around 11.15, the queue was a mile long. Rather thanwaiting around forwhat looked like might be hours we walked aroundParis a bit.
We walked North, back across the Seine to the gardens of Jardin desTuileries. Lines of trees on display with small gardens set invarious areas. Throughout the garden are certain works of art andstatues.From here we headed North East, visiting the Musee de l'Opera. Entrywas Euro7 Clare went into the foyer (which was free) but declined thefull entry. A cross section scale model of the Opera is visible inthe Musee d'Orsee which shows how massive its staging & seating areaare. From here we moved east, to visit the gardens at Jardin du Palais Royal. These gardens are surrounded by a 19th century shopping arcade. Many art, antique, clothing,nicknacks and expensive restraunts exist here. Its fun just to window shop, expensive to actually shop!
From here we continued east to the Centre Pompidou, which is some art and culteral centre. An interesting structure where all the stairs, piping etc are on the outside of the windows.Just a bit west of the centre is the Place Georges Pompidou, herethere was a group of funky mechanical fountains in a pool. Somethingthe kids seem to enjoy. From here we went north-east and found a nice set of book/nik-nakshops. Bought some books and Clare found a present for a colleague atwork which I had been searching all over Paris for, a small torch that illuminates a wall with the Eiffel tower, lets hope we got the rightone!
From the shops we head North to the Musee Des arts et Metiers. Entry was about Euro5. This museum houses all sorts of mechnical and scientific devices. Including mesuring instruments, time devicesincluding sea clocks, cartographer tools, early mechanical clocks; thepedulum; early mathemetical devices for doing addition andmultiplication; looms dating back to the 19th century; telehphonic and photographic items dating back to the 19th century.We only had 2 hours in here before closing, Clare could've easily filled a day!It was pouring rain by the time we left the museum; we decidied towalk home (approx 20 minutes), we easily got drenched as the rainbecame even harder as we got closer to home. Looking like drenchedrats, feeling cold, we went for a good warn Indian meal across theroad from where we are staying.
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