On our way
Shortly after Mary arrived home from Boot Camp’s make-up day, we started getting notifications that the Boston bound Amtrak train was delayed. The last notification before leaving the house said there would be a twenty minute delay. By the time Uber dropped us off at Kingston Station, the delay had increased to forty-two minutes. Within a few minutes it spiked to fifty-four minutes. By the time we actually boarded the train it was an hour behind schedule. Despite the hour delay, we made up some time and arrived at Boston’s South Station forty minutes behind schedule.
Because we’ve traveled so often we have global entry, which includes TSA pre-check and we have Clear, which augments TSA pre-check. We dropped off our bags and shortly thereafter were through security and sitting at the Delta Sky Lounge.
Japan will spoil you. Everything is efficient and runs on time. If a train is delayed, it’s usually by seconds not minutes. Not only was our Amtrak train delayed from Kingston Station to Boston our flight to Paris was delayed by at least an hour. We were scheduled to board at 5:55P however, we didn’t board until 7:00P. Originally we were slated for a 6:50P departure, our flight did not takeoff until 8:15P.
Ferris Wheel
Paris Olympic cauldron
Sunday, June 29th - Paris Arrival
As expected, we arrived in Charles de Gaulle only forty minutes behind schedule, thanks to a good tailwind. \240Despite long lines at passport control, we met our Welcome Pickup driver within the agreed upon timeframe.
Notre Dame
We’ve used Welcome Pickups in the past. Price-wise they’re slightly higher than a taxi, but they monitor your flight for delays and, in many airports, they meet you at the arrivals area. Our driver Yacine, a very tall and broad middle eastern man, loaded our bags into his Tesla and we were at our hotel within fifty minutes.
We arrived at the hotel sometime after 10 AM. As checkout is not until noon, our room was not ready. The reception desk gave us keys to the executive lounge and told us they would notify us as soon as the room is ready. Needless to say, we were both feeling the effects of the overnight flight. Actually, overnight is a misnomer, by the time we arrived at the hotel, it was only 4:00A east coast time.
Cat-napping in Jardin des Tuileries
After nibbling on some lounge refreshments, we both started the dreaded junkie nod. If we stayed in the hotel lounge we would have ended up napping on uncomfortable chairs. We decided to go for a short walk just to stay awake. In the distance we could see the Paris Ferris Wheel. We meandered in that general direction and before realizing it, we were at the base of the Ferris Wheel in the Jardin des Tuileries. We took a ride on the ferris wheel taking in the amazing Paris sights, then walked through the park until we reached the Paris Olympic Cauldron; it’s actually quite beautiful and breathtaking.
Notre Dame Nave
All of Europe is in the grips of a heat wave. The scorching temps have hovered between 92-98. So as we walked towards Place de la Concord in the oppressive heat, we found two of the park’s green metal reclining chairs and sat beneath a row of trees. As hundreds of sweaty tourists and Parisians walked by, we unintentionally took catnaps in the uncomfortable chairs. Realizing this was not the best choice of activities, we grabbed a bite and cold drink from one of the cafés in the park, and headed to Notre Dame Cathedral.
We took the 1 train to the Hotel de Ville stop and walked across Pont d’Arcole towards Notre Dame. The queue for the Cathedral was incredibly long, but was moving relatively fast. We jumped in line and before long, we were in the Cathedral. The Cathedral is still under construction, but it’s open for mass and visitors. When we were here two years ago, the Cathedral was closed because of the fire, so we felt fortunate to see it this time. As luck would have it, as we toured the cavernous nave an organ recital, which reverberated throughout, was taking place. Maybe we were overly tired, but the music from the massive pipe organ was incredibly moving.
It was after 6:00P and we managed to stay awake most of the day, catnaps in the Jardin de Tuileries not withstanding. We took the 7 train back to the hotel, grabbed some drinks and dinner at the hotel lounge and were fast asleep by 9:00P. A long travel day in the books.
Monday June 30th - Opera Day
Grand Staircase Paris Opera
We had 10:00A tickets to tour the Paris Opera House and 12:00P for the Musee l’Orangerie. We arrived at the Opera House entrance gate by 9:40A and there were nearly two hundred visitors already waiting. Once the gate opened, we realized most of the crowd had no advanced tickets. Those of us with tickets were ushered in, but despite being early, by the time we reach the grand staircase, Instagramers and wannabe influencers were already posing on the grand staircase. Phantom of The Opera has always held a special place in our hearts. It was the first play we saw together and we eventually got to see it at Her Majesty's Theatre in London, where it initially premiered. The Paris Opera House was the inspiration for the play, so we were excited to see it.
Reception Hall, Paris Opera
After touring the Opera House, we again joined a queue to see if there were tickets available for that evening’s performance. There were nearly 400 obstructed view nosebleed seats we could pick from at €12.00 or we could queue up again at seven for a limited number of orchestra and first balcony seats for about €200.00. The show was a modern dance performance called Red Carpet, so after some deliberation we opted for the €12.00 seats as we weren’t certain how good the show would be.
One of eight Water Lilies Murals
One of our favs
Once we were done at the Paris Opera House, we headed to the Musée L’Orangerie. The museum is in the Jardin des Tuileries near the plaza de La Concord. Napoleon had the Orangerie built in 1852, to store and protect the Tuileries garden’s citrus trees from in the cold winters. The L’Orangerie was built out of glass on the Seine River side to allow more light to the trees, but the opposite side of the building is almost windowless.
Beautiful permanent Instulation
The L’Orangerie Gallery has mostly impressionist art. The museum is most famous for its permanent \240collection of eight large Water Lilies murals by Monet. \240It also exhibits works by Matisse, Picasso and Renoir. As we did the first time we saw a Monet, we were awestruck by how beautiful the murals were. After a few hours of touring the museum, we headed back to the hotel to refresh and relax before the show.
Stage & Seating, Paris Opera House
Our tickets for the show were on the fourth balcony, so instead of being seated by the usher, those of us in that section were left to fend for ourselves. We all migrated to the left of the box, where the views of the stage were better.
Empty Grand Staircase During Performance
Paris Opera’s Foyer
The show Red Carpet was interesting at best. The first clue of what we were getting into was the large bucket of earplugs being passed out like halloween candy. The music was energetic in a Bollywood way and the dance performance was enthusiastically erratic in the ilk of Alvin Ailey rather than Pilobolus or Momix , who we tend to favor. We endured the show for about 40 minutes, thankful we hadn’t \240bought the €200 tickets. The silver lining was once we exited the box we had unfettered \240access to the rest of the theater. We were able to enjoy the exhibitions and photograph the grand foyer and grand stairway with no one around.
Paris Olympic Cauldron in flight viewed from hotel lounge
We took the metro for one stop and we were back at our hotel within fifteen minutes of leaving the Opera House. Before bed, we went up to the eighth floor lounge to watch the Paris Olympic Cauldron take flight and snap a few photos of a sparkling \240Eiffel Tower.
Tuesday, July 1st - last full day Paris
Museé d’Orsay
After breakfast, we cabbed to the Museé d’Orsay. The Museum is on the left Bank of the Seine, so rather than the Metro one has to take a bus; hence the cab. Not to deviate too much but we discovered a cool app “G7”, that works much like Uber, but for cabs. Although popular in Paris, Ubers can’t travel in the bus lanes like taxis can. Therefore, to get from point A to point B it takes slightly longer with Uber than it does with a cab.
G7 Taxi App
The Museé d’Orsay was a former railway station, Gare d’Orsay, \240built from 1898 to 1900 and the museum itself is a beautiful work of art. It holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1914. It houses the largest collection of Impressionist masterpieces in the world and It is one of the largest art museums in Europe. If one viewed every piece of art in the museum for about sixty-seconds \240it would take weeks if not months to see everything. We lasted a few hours then headed off to a magnificent lunch.
Van Gogh Museé d’Orsay
The museum restaurant is on the second floor and it was the perfect place to enjoy a meal, especially in a setting that was as beautiful as anything hanging in the galleries. The museum’s restaurant has one of the most impressive dining rooms in Paris. It isn’t your average museum café, but rather a French restaurant filled with history. Its high ceilings are covered with frescoes and a new design incorporates colors and mirrors that complement the original gold detailing. After recharging with a delicious and leisurely lunch, we explored a few more floors of the massive museum.
Museum Restaurant
Although we knew we were too late to enter, we wanted to see Frank Gehry’s Fondation Louis Vuitton. So, after wrapping up at the Orsay, we ordered another cab and headed to the Fondation. We’ve visited \240Gehry’s Biomuseo in Panama City and have had Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain on our bucket list.
Frank Gehry’s Fondation Louis Vuitton
Gehry’s Amazing Architecture
In the shimmering heat, the massive structure was more than we could’ve imagined. It was a stunning example of contemporary architecture, which resembled an iceberg or maybe a glass sailboat. It has 12 glass-like “sails” made up of 3,600 curved panels. The building plays with the light, constantly changing with the time of day. \240Truly impressive!
After a long day on our feet, we headed back to the hotel for some wine, dinner and an evening of repacking; our ride to the train station, Gare de Leon, was scheduled for 5:00A.
