France 2024

This morning we had reservations for Sainte-Chapelle , which is at the Concierge where we were yesterday. While we had said with so many good restaurants to choose from we wouldn't go to the same restaurant twice, our breakfast yesterday was so good and so quick we decided to go back. We ordered the same thing as yesterday except instead of a crepe with sugar we ordered a crepe with strawberry jam. It was just as good as yesterday and the café au lait was definitely the best coffee drink I have ever had.

After finishing breakfast we once again walked across the Pont Saint-Louis bridge, but this time we took a slightly different path so we could get a little different scenery. While our reservation got us quickly in the security line for Sainte-Chapelle, the line was very slow getting through security. They had everyone walk through both a metal detector and a back-scatter scanner. Once through we entered the first floor of the Sainte-Chapelle which is fairly impressive, but seemed mostly like a large gift shop. We then went up the stairs to the main sanctuary which is completely surrounded by stained glass that tells the entire story of the bible from Genesis through the Apocalypse.

Our next destination was the Musée d'Orsay as we had missed it last night due to dealing with my stolen phone. While there was a long line to enter the museum, with our Museum Passes we were able to get into a priority line and enter fairly quickly. Despite the long line to get in, the museum did not feel as crowded as the Louvre and we were able to walk through at a fairly relaxed pace and just enjoy the museum. The art is more contemporary than most of what is found in the Louvre and had a large collection of paintings from French Impressionists such as Renoir, Cézanne, Monet, Manet, Cailbot and Van Gogh.

As it was now lunch time we decided to head over to Invaldes and just pick up some sandwiches from a street vendor. As soon as we came up from the Metro we spotted a food truck across the street who had a good selection of sandwiches. I had a tuna, tomato, and mozzarella on a baguette and Alexandra had chicken on a baguette, both of which were very good. We found a nice park nearby in front of the train station where we were able to sit and enjoy our lunch while also enjoying the sunny and warm weather. Considering the forecast before we left was overcast and rainy the entire trip, we were pleasantly surprised that the entire trip ended up being sunny and warm with only a few stray showers.

Due to construction in the park in front of Invaldes we had to walk around to get the entrance of the Musée de l'Armée . Trying to figure out where to go once we passed security was a little confusing, so we started at Napolean's Tomb before entering the Musée de l'Ordre de la Libération, which unfortunately had very little English. It turned out they had an audio tour that was in English, but as we were tired and wanted to go through quickly an audio tour didn't really appeal to us. We then went through the army museum which is split up into several sections. We started with the extensive collection of armor and weapons, which was quite interesting. You could see how the armor was specialized for the type of fighting with some specific to jousting, other specific to sword battle. There was also a wide variety of guns of varying design such as ones that could fire multiple rounds and the same time or ones that could fire several rounds without having to reload. The next section we explored was the world wars. As we were getting tired we went through this section rather quickly.

With both of us complaining that our feet hurt from all the walking, we decided to head back to the hotel and relax a bit before changing clothes to something nicer and heading out for dinner and a boat cruise on our final night in Paris.

For dinner we went to Ma Salle à Manger where we had a very nice French dinner.

After dinner we walked along the Siene before heading to the boat for our evening sightseeing cruise.

After the cruise Alexandra was a little upset that she hadn't seen the Eiffel Tower all lit up. We had decided to take a bus back to the hotel, but the sign said it would be several minutes before our bus would show up. The next time we checked it said 20 minutes until our bus at which point we decided taking the Metro would be better. As we walked to the Metro stop we looked back and there was the Eiffel Tower all lit up and sparkling, so we walked over to a better vantage point to watch. Unfortunately with it now getting dark, none of our photos could do justice to seeing it in person.