Honeymoon Tour: Paris - Day Three

We set our priorities for Paris like this...(1) Eiffel Tower, (2) fabulous food, (3) champagne, (4) sightseeing. By Day Three we had already accomplished the first three things on our list and it was on to the sight seeing portion of our visit. It also rained (and I mean RAINED) on Day Three so it was the perfect day to spend sightseeing indoors, not that we escaped the rain 100%.....you'll see.  

We started our day at Musée de l'Orangerie, which is located near the Tuileries Gardens next to the Place de la Concorde. It's not a very large museum and we spent about an hour ogling impressionist and post-impressionist art. If I sound like I know something about art...I don't. Don't be fooled. I'm just good at reading signs and informational pamphlets.

We did see some of the most beautiful Monet pieces, including many that spanned whole walls!

We then stopped by the Musée d'Orsay....or M|'O as the sign said...

Musee d'Orsay was a particularly neat museum because it is built in the former railway station, "Gare d'Orsay," which was built between 1898 and 1900. That explains a lot about the architecture, right?

In addition to the artwork, this museum also had the coolest clock I have ever seen.

After the Musee d'Orsay we took a break from museums and ventured outside for some sightseeing at the Arc de Triomphe and Notre-Dame. Here's a photo of the Arc, the tunnel passage to it, and Andrew doing something on his phone while I ham it up for the camera. Don't worry, I got a good one of both of us in this same spot. I just think this one is funny for here on the blog.

The Arc de Triomphe was especially fun to get to because you couldn't walk across the street to get there (or I guess you could--you would just get hit by a car!). You had to take an underground passage and then pop up under the Arc. This is what you see when you pop up.

Then you can go up the stairs to the top. So. many. stairs. This is actually a photo from the top looking down so you can actually see the steps.

Good thing I'm decently in shape.....not. I was winded.

It was worth it though because the views from the top were pretty spectacular, even in the bad weather.

I spy with my little eye, Monmartre and Sacre Coeur!

After the Arc de Triomphe we wanted to refuel and ended up stumbling upon a cafe I found on google maps when I was just looking at the city one day. I saw a random location called "Honest Lawyer." Naturally, because I'm a lawyer and all, I wanted to go. But I wasn't sure we would actually do it. Turns out it is about 10 minutes walk from the Arc! And let me say this...it's authentic! And by "authentic" I mean it was not a tourist trap. It is supposed to be an English pub but the waitress only spoke french and the lunch time crowd was mostly French businessmen so I think we found a good local spot. I was so excited to try out my french ordering and we managed to make it through the whole meal without a problem. Plus the food was delicious! How funny is the sign??

After le dejeuner, we headed to Notre-Dame Cathedral. At this point it was POURING. We spent plenty of time walking around inside the cathedral safe and out of the rain's way...

But we knew we would have to brave the rain in order to go to the bell tower. Luckily, we made good use of our raincoats and my mini travel umbrella and managed to stay somewhat dry. Mostly I was just concerned that my good camera was getting wet in my bag, which it was, and Andrew ended up putting it under his raincoat. Yes, my purse was water-resistant but NOT waterproof.  We took some quick photos outside and then went into the bell tower. Like the Arc de Triomphe there were so many stairs...but we finally made it to the top. You can see Andrew's hair is wet here but overall we look in good spirits. This is when we were walking around the top with all the gargoyles.

And check out the tiny door to the bell tower! Now I know why Quasimodo was a hunchback!

Notre-Dame was so so so beautiful. You hear about the stained glass windows all the time but to actually be there and to see it in real life was a really special treat.

After Notre-Dame we wanted to get back out of the rain so we headed to the Musee du Louvre for the rest of the evening. It is open late on Wednesdays so we had quite a few hours even though we showed up around...2 or 3 pm?  I was so worried I wouldn't get a photo in the pyramid because we entered the museum from underground. 

This entrance is much less cool. Although we did get a photo with the inverted triangle...

Luckily, we exited that way at the end of the night (the Louvre was open late on Wednesday) and I grabbed my selfie then! Still raining...

Did you know that the Musee du Louvre is actually a part of the Louvre Palace, a former royal palace that was originally built as a fortress in the medieval period? It because a royal palace in the 14th century under Charles V and was used as the kings of France's main Paris residence from time to time. In 1793 the museum part of the Louvre opened....which has expanded to be most of the building now. Fascinating, no??

We made sure to see the highlights. Like the Venus and the Mona Lisa, of course!

Everyone always told me how small the Mona Lisa was but I impressed to see if was not as small as they led me to believe. It was protected by super thick glass...and four security guards. Sheesh! 

Afterwards we headed back to the Eiffel Tower briefly before calling it a night. 

If you're not tired of me yet, join me next time to see what we did on day four of our honeymoon!