Pain. I can't move my feet. Why can't I move my feet? Can I move my legs? They move. My arms? I wiggle my fingers just fine. Can I wiggle my toes? No.
Those are the thoughts I awoke to on Tuesday morning. It was just past 06:30 after our most-of-Paris-in-a-day adventure and I hurt. We had walked 26,567 steps which is almost 13 miles. We could have walked a half-marathon while in Paris! I had to find a way to get myself out of bed and into preparation mode as quickly as I could. Get up, shower, brush teeth, get dressed, head out. Thankfully, I had set out outfits for both days in Paris on Sunday night. All that was left was to move those little piggy toes of mine and get myself out of that very comfortable bed.
By 07:00, Anne and I found ourselves walking up the streets near our hotel to view the Sacre Coeur. We had seen this church from all around Paris, and most of the day it had seemed very very far away. It's proximity to our hotel reminded me how much we had walked around the day before. What what seemed like such a small building was now a towering Catholic Church. Of course, there were many many steps involved on the way up. I should start referring to Europe as "the land of stairs," as it seems so much of what we wanted to see was about 100 feet of climbing stairs! The church itself was very pretty. There was a group of nuns who were just finishing mass as Anne and I entered the building.
After visiting the church, we took the stairs back down to the hotel to grab our belongings and leave them at the train station. The Gare de Lyon as many train stations in Europe, has holding lockers where you can deposit your belongings for a 24 hour period. Because we needed to check out a few hours before our train actually left for Lyon, that was a perfect solution for us. Once our backpacks were safely tucked away in a train station room, we headed back on the train to the center of Paris.
The Louvre was closed on Tuesday, so there were less people at the Louvre square as compared to the day before. We walked through the gardens of the Louvre to the Musée d'Orsay, where paintings of Monet and Van Gogh were currently on display. Once again, we ran into a line of tourists holding passes so we decided to walk to the Musée de l'Armée, the military museum were Napoleon's grave is. On our way to the army museum, we saw a demonstration going on. I recognized the logos of the union representing public workers such as trash collectors, meter readers, and train workers. The workers gathering together to listen to their chosen leaders speak about equality and the injustice they have been out through for quite a few years. Things got serious, however, when the police unleashed tear gas on the crowds. Anne and I decided it was time to leave and head for the museum then. The army museum houses objects from the time of swords all the way to the Napoleonic Wars.
We walked around the museum and found a crypt in a building with very high ceilings and very exuberant decorations. Napoleon wanted to be remembered as a mighty leader who led his people into triumph. Unfortunately, today most people remember him as the short man who led France into war and who has a very extravagant grave somewhere in that country. It's funny how life works out sometimes.
Before heading back to the Musée d'Orsay, we went into the Rodin museum. This is where any of his sculptures are found. Many of his pieces were placed on display throughout the city while he was still alive, but Rodin made an agreement with the city of Paris to display his works at the house he owned in Paris and live there for the rest of his life. In exchange, he agreed to donate the entirety of this works to the city of Paris. I admire Rodin; even while living he accepted the fact that although his paintings were becoming famous, and he could have made a fortune for them, he decided to place them into the care of the state. Art is culture and reflects human nature, and I for one was glad to see most of his works in one place instead of having them strewn all over Paris, or as it the case with other artists (Van Gogh, for example) around the world.
Walking back to the Musée d'Orsay, we finally were able to catch glimpses of so many of my favorite painter's works of art. Let me give you a little background information on Monet. I have a love-hate relationship, although I wouldn't say the negative emotion goes to hate. Perhaps it's better if I call if a like-dislike relationship. There, that sounds a lot less harsh. I can be a very linear thinker at times; alright, I tend to be a linear thinker. My thoughts translate to my art: I am very good at drawing beautiful figures with straight lines or curves as they are mapped out by multi-variable equations. Think back to math class where you had to figure out if two lines we parallel, perpendicular, or neither; think back to calculus where drawing conic figures had you plotting points to create cones and spheres on graph paper. Yes, that is my kind of art. Monet, on the other hand, uses what first seemed to me as specks of colorful paint on a blank canvas to create beautiful scenes?
Here is my dislike: understand it. How can you get such scenes from just patting down the brush against a canvas? Where does the person end and the bench begin? There are no harsh lines delineating boundaries among the various objects in the pictures. To me, that is just messy and unappealing.
And yet, I can't seem to draw myself away from this Impressionism period. It's astonishing how such beautiful works of art are creating by what seems to me a very busy and noisy way to paint. I really like Money simply because every picture of his reminds d me that yes beauty can come from what isn't measured to exactitude and planned down to the very last detail. Yes Nich, life can be messy and unplanned, and yet it can still be thrilling to live. Oh, Monet, can't live with him; can't live without him.
Once finished with the museum, we went to have our very first sit down meal in Paris. Seeing how Anne and I need practice in being assertive and making decisions without worrying about being an inconvenience to others, we have been making each other choose at various times along our trip. Today, it was Anne's turn to pick where we would eat. If I was in her position, I would have asked the other person what they wanted, and I would have based my decision on that. I thought it was best that I say nothing and let Anne choose on her own. She finally settled on a restaurant around the center of town. We rushed through our meal because it took is a while to walk back through Paris as Anne made a decision on where to have our meal. We ate quickly (Nele, oiyou would have been proud of us!) and practically ran back to the metro station to catch our train to Lyon.
Backpacks safely next to us, we are now headed for our next destination: Lyon, France. We will be staying at a hostel so this will be a new adventure for the both of us. I'm looking forward to hearing French being spoken in another part of the country, and I'm also ready to meet new people there!
A bientôt!
This is at Sacre Coeur, the church we visited early on Tuesday.
These are two Italian women I met. I tried talking to them but, sadly, I could only understand some of what they said. They did know lots of places about Sicily though, I was asked so much and felt horrible for not knowing more about it. Definitely have to get on that, SC.
Anne and I before heading over to our first museum. We don't have many pictures together, so I'm trying very much to get us to pose together more!
The demonstration we witnessed on our way to the Army Museum. See the yellow and red signs? Keep those in mind for later posts.
At the Army Museum, these guys in uniform definitely made my day. They wouldn't take pictures with us though. I was surprised; I know of a few guys in uniform who don't mind taking pictures with/for girls...
Also at the Army Museum, this was what Napoleon's army wore as they entered triumphantly through the French border into victory.
And this was Napoleon's grave. I guess his victory didn't last much after all.
This is Rodin's David. I wasn't allowed to take pictures at any of the other museum we visited this day, so you'll have to look up Monet and Van Gogh.
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