Day 4 - Tuesday September 4

I had set my sports watch for an alarm to wake up but didn't hear it as my arm was under the pillow, so I was getting a late start. After this I also set the alarm on my phone so not to lose time. Today's objective, Musee D'Orsay.

I had an pre-purchased entry ticket so I could go to the shorter of the lines to enter the museum and headed up to the fifth level where the impressionist paintings are located.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The D'Orsay is a repurposed building, formerly a train station, is a beautiful as the contents. The first picture is a view from a stairway showing the length of the building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The next two pictures are from the restaurant where I ate lunch. Not a bad view for a lunch.

 

 Sculpture inside and out, a beautiful horse outside. Lots of interesting figures on the inside as well. The museum mainly houses art from 1850 and later.

 

 

 

 Nice backside, nice frontside too! LOL!

 

 

This is a footbridge across the Seine by the D;Orsay, which is called Passerelle Leopold Sedar Senghor - Formerly named the Passerelle Solférino. This is not the original bridge where locks were being attached, that was the Ponts des Arts just a bit farther upstream. This bridge is purely a pedestrian bridge and not for vehicles. Paris has been removing the sections and here it appears that they have wire that can be removed with the locks to help keep the weight down. 

A picture from inside the D'Orsay, you can just make out the Basilica of Sacre-Coeur. I would be up close and person with this in a few days.

Plus I had an upclose and personal interaction with a gypsy. I was walking way from the D'Orday towards the bridge when this girl bumped me while seeming to pick up a large gold ring from the ground. Oh you dropped this! Nope, not my ring, doesn't fit, no I don't want this, you found it, you keep it. I kept walking while she kept trying to press the ring on me and then asking for change for Coca-Cola. Nope, not stopping, not opening my bag, just keep walking. I kept going until she dropped back and I was halfway across the bridge. I looked back and she had picked out someone else to bug. I told the rest of my group what happened so they could be aware of this and some others on the trip had the same thing happen a few days later, but with a man. We had been warned of pick pockets, gypsies and people who would try to stop us to sign petitions while hoping to lift something off of us. Thankfully none of us lost anything to them.

Day 5 - Wednesday September 5

Transfer day to our river cruise ship today. Breakfast, then get big suitcase out for pickup, wait in the lounge for the bus to transfer us.

Bus was picking up people at the ship who would be staying in Paris for a few extra days, then our luggage was loaded, we got on the bus and headed off. Slow ride due to traffic even at 11 AM in the morning. Oh well, you just enjoy the sights. We passed by the back of the Paris Opera, drove down the street where Kim Kardashian was staying when she was robbed!

 

 

 

 Back of the Opera House (the Phantom of the Opera was not seen) and the Madeleine Church.

 

 Place de la Concorde and the Obelisk. This was where during the French revolution that the guillotined was located. So heads rolled here!

 A closer view of the Eiffel Tower, getting closer. No I did not go up the tower. I don't do well with heights.

 First views of my home away from home for days, the M/S Bizet.

 

 

 We waited in the lounge until we got our cabins assigned and began to meet a few more of the 113 people who would be on the cruise.

 My cabin, I paid a supplement to have single occupancy. Room to put all of my junk and not deal with a stranger. I don't adapt well to roommates, so better off on my own. The supplement wasn't huge, not as bad a some tour companies which almost double your cost. I think it was $500.  

 What it looked like with the bed made up for the night. Usually they make it up with the head on the other end, as the light is there, but I preferred the opposite. My cabin boy adapted to my request after the first night.

 My view from the cabin, I was in the middle of the ship so just off the entry way, so needed to be careful or pull the curtains if changing clothes!

 

 Party boat/area near where we were moored. No need to go there, I could drink for free on board. House wines, beer and soda were included.

Had a short walking tour after we got settled in a bit. Showed us where the train station was if we wanted to take the train into central Paris. Then also a walk through a local park and shown where a market was if you needed something or the local pharmacy.

Day 6 - Thursday September 6

Today was a short in distance but long in time bus ride. We were taken to the Latin Quarter of Paris to see a neighborhood where people live.

 Ben Franklin, he lived in this area when he was in Paris way back when. 

 The Eiffel Tower from the Trocadero, so a nice elevated view of the Eiffel Tower from across the Seine.

 Arc de Triomphe, surrounded by 12rings of traffic, when we went through it wasn't bad. But the delays started after this. From what they figured out, due to the high number of emergency vehicles was that there was a gas leak!

 Finally made it to the Latin Quarter, Ernest Hemingway lived in the area in several places, and we stopped for a break in a small square surrounded by cafes. Here if you want to use the toilette, you need to buy something to be polite. Not like in the US where we just go into a fast food place and do your business but don't buy anything.

 

 

 Little shops selling seafood and fruit.

 

 

 Bus ride back, we pass right in front of Notre Dame and right under the Eiffel Tower.

  After dinner the captain unmoored the ship and we went a short distance up the river so we were closer to the Eiffel Tower. The still shot shows a small version of the Statue of Liberty in France which was given to France by the US to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the French revolution. Initially the statue faced the Eiffel Tower, but it was switched and now faces its counterpart in the New York harbor.

At night the Eiffel is lighted but additionally at the top of the hour lights are flickering, so by moving us closer we had a much better view.

 Yes, I really was there, me and Eiffel in the same shot!