Day 64- 18 October 2008
Today i took the train to the Louvre and then walked to the Musee d'Orsay. The trains here are interesting as random people come aboard and start performing. Today, there was a guy who had a amplifyer (large speaker) on a trolley and a mic stand and mike about 1.5 metres tall and was carying a guitar, got on our train, cranked up the volume and then started playing and singing on the train. Unfortunately his skills and voice will not see him performing on the big stage any time soon.
Upon arriving at the Musee d'Orsay, i decided to get on an english guided tour which took us around the large gallery showing the major highlights and giving a great insight into the building, artists and the general periods of art. I then spent the next good few hours delving deeper in the collection and looking at the all the wonderful artwork from Renior, monet, manet, van gough, picasso, pissaro etc. The building itself is impressive as it was a train station made of iron but decorated on teh interior and built for the world expo and then eventually converted to the gallery.
From there i headed down along the Sein and across the bridge to the Place De La Concorde which is a very large square which is the start of the Ave des Champs Elysees. At the centre of the square sits tall the Place de la concorde obelisk which i learnt from my trip in Aswan, Egypt that it was given to france by egypt and was one of the obelisks from the Karnak temple. Unlike the one in egypt, france has made the top of the obelisk gold (as it was meant to be).
I enjoyed a nice lunch of crepes and waffles which were pretty good and a must in Paris.
From here i took a slight detour to the Eglise de la Madeleine which from the outside looks like a roman government building, but is in fact a church. This large and impressive church which has a very impressive fresco at the end in teh dome. In 1806 Napoleon made this as a Temple to the Glory of the Great Army.
After the fall of Napoleon, King Louis XVIII determined that the structure would be used as a church, dedicated to Mary Magdalene in 1842 or thereabouts.
From here i took a stroll down Av des champs elysees which is lined with trees and very enjoyable, until you reach the shopping area where you fight your way with thousands of pedestrians for the next kilometre until you reach the Arc de Triomphe. I decided to go up to the top of the 50 metre high Arc De Triomphe which greeted me with fantastic views of Paris and the Champs Elysees.
From there i headed back to the hostel to put up my feet.
Day 64- 18 October 2008
Today i took the train to the Louvre and then walked to the Musee d'Orsay. The trains here are interesting as random people come aboard and start performing. Today, there was a guy who had a amplifyer (large speaker) on a trolley and a mic stand and mike about 1.5 metres tall and was carying a guitar, got on our train, cranked up the volume and then started playing and singing on the train. Unfortunately his skills and voice will not see him performing on the big stage any time soon.
Upon arriving at the Musee d'Orsay, i decided to get on an english guided tour which took us around the large gallery showing the major highlights and giving a great insight into the building, artists and the general periods of art. I then spent the next good few hours delving deeper in the collection and looking at the all the wonderful artwork from Renior, monet, manet, van gough, picasso, pissaro etc. The building itself is impressive as it was a train station made of iron but decorated on teh interior and built for the world expo and then eventually converted to the gallery.
From there i headed down along the Sein and across the bridge to the Place De La Concorde which is a very large square which is the start of the Ave des Champs Elysees. At the centre of the square sits tall the Place de la concorde obelisk which i learnt from my trip in Aswan, Egypt that it was given to france by egypt and was one of the obelisks from the Karnak temple. Unlike the one in egypt, france has made the top of the obelisk gold (as it was meant to be).
I enjoyed a nice lunch of crepes and waffles which were pretty good and a must in Paris.
From here i took a slight detour to the Eglise de la Madeleine which from the outside looks like a roman government building, but is in fact a church. This large and impressive church which has a very impressive fresco at the end in teh dome. In 1806 Napoleon made this as a Temple to the Glory of the Great Army.
After the fall of Napoleon, King Louis XVIII determined that the structure would be used as a church, dedicated to Mary Magdalene in 1842 or thereabouts.
From here i took a stroll down Av des champs elysees which is lined with trees and very enjoyable, until you reach the shopping area where you fight your way with thousands of pedestrians for the next kilometre until you reach the Arc de Triomphe. I decided to go up to the top of the 50 metre high Arc De Triomphe which greeted me with fantastic views of Paris and the Champs Elysees.
From there i headed back to the hostel to put up my feet.
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