Rain, Rain, Go Away!
Trip Start
May 12, 2012
1
4
19
Trip End
May 29, 2012
Where I stayed
Paris, Île-de-France, France
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
This morning we went to see the Sacre Couer basilica, which sits atop a hill overlooking Paris. I had been there before, but it had been so hazy that I didn't even bother climbing up the bell tower. Today it was cloudy but visibility was good. So we climbed. It was 300 steps. My legs were kind of tired after 294 steps on Sunday and 400 on Monday. But I made it. And the view from the top was incredible. Way better than from the base of the basilica. We stayed up quite awhile admiring the view, even though it was pretty cold in the wind.
As we left the basilica it started to rain, so we decided to wait under some trees and hope that it was a quick shower. That was a bad idea. It just got worse and worse. It poured so hard that even the trees weren’t much shelter. Then it even hailed for a while. I also made the mistake of sitting on a stone wall. That was an even worse idea. By the time we finally left my derrière was soaked.
Catacombs & Rain:
Our next destination was the Catacombs. It was on the complete opposite side of the city and involved a pretty long ride on the RER train. I knew going in that there might be a really long line, but thought it would be worth it. What I didn’t know was that the line was outside. And it was still raining. We suffered through it for a little while, but finally gave up and went to have lunch at a nearby Creperie. I had a ham & cheese lunch crepe, which was made of buckwheat. We had a fun time trying to interpret the French menu using my Rick Steves phrasebook. Anyone want to guess what "Oeuf" means? It was also in my crepe.
Rodin Museum & Rain:
Our next destination was the Orsay Museum, which had incredibly long lines. The weather was looking really nice by that point, so we decided to walk over to the Rodin museum first (which has a lot of sculptures outside in a garden). I’d been before, but was still amazed by the emotion that Rodin conveys in his art.
Just as we were finishing up the outside garden, it started to rain again. So we headed to see the inside of the museum, along with everyone else. It was very crowded.
Orsay Museum & Rain:
By the time we left the Rodin Museum the weather was once again looking really nice. It was even a little sunny. So we headed back to the Orsay. The line was still pretty bad, but this was literally the only day we could see the museum. And there was no way we were missing it. So we waited in line. It was kind of like torture, though, my back and feet were not feeling good after carrying around a backpack for two full days. I even almost bailed at one point to go back to the hotel and blog. Because once again, I had been before. But I toughed it out and was very glad I did. About 4 pm they started letting people go through the group entrance and the line went much quicker after that.
But oh my, the art was amazing. The Orsay is famous for its impressionist paintings, which are my favorite. And I thought maybe it wouldn’t be as intoxicating a second time. But it was almost better. I had forgotten how seeing art in person is way different than looking at a picture. You just don’t get all of the details in a picture. And I think the reason I like impressionist art so much, is that I like looking at the detail close up. It amazes me how the painters can create such vivid pictures using random-like brush strokes. I was very moved.
Unfortunately I can’t post any pictures from the Orsay, photos are no longer allowed. But you can go check out my blog from three years ago if you’re really interested:
http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/zolina/1/1254376593/tpod.html
Oh, and on the train ride back to the hotel it rained again! We could see it dripping onto the RER when we transferred lines. But thankfully it had stopped by the time we got back to Rue Cler.
Evening:
After our long day of getting rained on, again and again, we were all in desperate need of some liquid refreshment. So we stopped inside a bar on Rue Cler to have a drink. I had a Pelforth, which is a blonde ale and wasn’t very strong. We had such a fun conversation that we stuck around for a second beer. But the food there wasn’t enticing at all. So we stopped for some more crepes. The bakery was closed so it was our only quick option. I got another ham & cheese and it was very good again.
By the time we got back to the hotel, I was really wiped out from all of our walking and beer-drinking. So I was in bed before 10 pm again, with no time to blog.
