Paris-Day 2

On the second day, my dad thought it would be a great idea to walk in the pouring rain to the Musee d'Orsay. Given how much we both like Impressionism, it's a bit of a sin that we hadn't been to this museum on our prior trip to Paris. However, by the time we got there, we were so thoroughly soaked that they almost didn't let us in! Luckily, we convinced them that would wouldn't ruin their artwork.


The Musee d'Orsay is a giant converted train station-it's kinda like if you took Grand Central Station and turned it into an art gallery. It's a stunning building-unfortunately, like most places in Paris, you weren't allowed to take photos, so I'll rely on some handy google image pics.

A lot of the Monet works had been moved to the Exhibition hall for a retrospective, but they still had some of my favorite Manet works on display:

They also had a few Tissot paintings on display that looked oddly familiar-Mel, did you show me this one once before? I feel like you did...

I also discovered a new favorite work. I have rarely seen a painting that catches my attention like this one-no photo can do it justice. The gold paint and attention to detail make it look like a still out of a movie-the light literally dances in it. It's called Une Soiree by Jean Beraud.

Here are some of the statues on the outside of the museum:

After the Musee D'Orsay, we walked down the Champ Elysees to the right bank of the river. There was a nice view of the fall trees and the Eiffel Tower.

Once we had walked down the right bank, we went to the museum with the Monet exhibition. Unfortunately, the exhibit was sold out until December. The good news was that the building was really pretty.

After our failed attempt to see the Monet exhibit, we had lunch and then wandered over to the Pantheon to see the awesome architecture and Foucault's pendulum.

The architecture inside was STUNNING. 

There was also a really cool (but creepy) crypt in the bottom that had Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, etc.

After the Pantheon, we strolled over to the Luxembourg Gardens. All of the trees were bright yellow and kids were sailing their little boats in the pond in front of the Palace.

After the garden, it was time for dinner and bed-another long but fun filled day.