Paris, Day 2: Art Museums And River Cruises

What a day! Who knew one city could have some much beauty and history for us to look at. We just returned home after yet another busy day roaming the City of Love and, suffice to say, we'll all be sleeping well tonight.

Today was all about art. We started bright early with a self guided trip to the Musee d'Orsee, Paris' collection of impressionist paintings and sculptures. We saw Gaugins, Rodins and Monets (oh my!) and feasted our eyes on the museum's beautiful architecture, which used to be an old train station. My group members all agreed that the textures in the paintings were the most spectacular part. The people looked so real and the colours were so vibrant, it was like you could taste and feel everything inside them.

After the Musee, we made our way along Paris' winding streets, examining how the architecture changing from block to block. There just always seems to be something to be looking at. The walk (and a Metro ride) led us to the Louvre, our next destination for the day. The Louvre is located in the most recent of Paris' palaces, where Louis the Sixteenth and MarieAntoinette lived at the time of the French Revolution. The museum stretches the equivalent of five miles of hall, separated into wings, and all the ceilings are equally carved and ornately painted.

We were left to explore the underground shops and the massive garden located near the entrance to the gallery. The entrance to the Louvre is underground, so it is known as an invisible entrance. They built a pyramid over the entrance because pyramids are known to disappear if looked at from a distance - of course, the Louvre pyramid is also made of glass, so the entrance truly is invisible!

After our lunch break, we were given an hour-long tour of some of the highlights of the massive art gallery, but an hour barely covered a wing. Did you know that looking at every piece of art in the Louvre would take a total of nine months? We saw many sculptures made in early Rome, the Mona Lisa, and finally the red room, which contains many famous French paintings such as Napoleon's Coronation and the classic painting which is known to symbolize the French Revolution.

We were given a mere hour to explore the rest of the museum on our own, and even with a plan, my group barely covered any ground at all. Then, it was off to shopping in the streets of Paris! We visited some arcades, which are sort of like covered shopping squares, often made out of old train stations where we looked at stationary stores, shoes and used books. After we arrived at the Paris Opera House, we went back with our separate groups to look closure at places we'd passed, or find new and exciting places to shop.

We met back at the opera house after exploring the City of Love on our own and began our trek to dinner where more delicious French cuisine was consumed. Last on our whirlwind day was the boat cruise on the Seine River. We rode the Metro to the Eiffel Tour, and for the first time in two days it sort of hit me "wow, I'm really in Paris", what a crazy thing to realize. Seeing it up close and personal was amazing for everyone, and pictures were most definitely taken (lots of them!).

Down at the water, with the Tour still in sight, we hopped a boat that took us all around l'Ile de la Cite where we got to watch the sun set over Paris. Locals were all out having dinner along the edge of the Seine and many of them greeted us with waves. We saw the palace, the court house and the Musee d'Orsee, along with all of Paris' beautiful apartments. As it was getting dark, the boat drove back up to the Eiffel Tower and we saw it all lit up.

Seeing Paris at night was an all around magical experience, and even returning home after the cruise was pretty spectacular, seeing everyone out enjoying the heat in coffee shops and just looking so happy to be alive. But how could you not be? It's Paris, after all!