Yes, it's true... I am back in the states. Actually, I have been back for almost a week, but am finally getting around to posting some pictures and some stories.
We arrived in Paris, France to a sunny, yet chilly city. Our hotel, Hotel Napoleon, was right down the street from the Arc du Triomphe. We then walked down the Champs d'Elysees, which is a large street with lots of shopping opportunities. At Le Grand Palais (a HUGE building that was built for the 1900 World Fair), we walked across the bridge, where we caught this sight of the Eiffel Tower.
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| Eiffel Tower |
Across the bridge, we came across the Hotel National des Invalides, which is mostly used as an Army museum currently, but also remains a hospital for about 400 veterans. Around the corner from this hospital/museum, we arrived at Musee Rodin, where we checked out tons of sculptures created by Rodin. Here is "The Thinker"! I loved looking at the sculptures - they were so intricate; I am awe-inspired by those who have the insight and ability to bring their imagination to life via art and sculpture.
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| Rodin's "The Thinker" |
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| Flower found in the garden in Musee Rodin |
After, Musee Rodin, we headed to Musee d'Orsay, which used to be an old train station, but is currently used as an art museum for impressionist art. We were pretty exhausted from our red-eye flight, so this was about all we did on the first day. The next day we had a driving tour of the city of Paris and started off checking out the Eiffel Tower (up close) and also to my favorite place in Paris, Notre Dame.
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| Notre Dame |
Notre Dame also included intricate details that are just impeccable; did you know it took 200 years to build? I am absolutely fascinated and amazed by the enormity of such a feat! We also checked out the Louvre, which was amazing. I never knew that the museum was as large as it was - it would have taken days to see every single piece of art. The Mona Lisa was cool; extremely crowded - almost like it was a popular painting or something haha...
When we left the Louvre, it was raining and we headed back to our hotel and grabbed an early dinner since we were leaving the next day for Southern France. We left rainy, cool Paris by train and arrived in Montpellier three hours later. It was cool here as well, but at least it was sunny! We were talking to the locals who said that this was the coolest season they had had in a while. Lucky us! ; )
Our hotel La Mercure: La Grande Mott, in Montpellier is right along the Mediterranean Sea, but it was much too chilly to do any beach time when we arrived. The next day, which was going to be warmer, we tried to sit out by the pool, but the wind was insane (this area is known for its wind and the windows at the hotel have special safety features for this reason). So, we decided to go exploring and headed to a small town, surrounded by ramparts, called Aigues-Morte, which I learned means "dead port". This town, known for housing Saint Louis, at one point was an important port, but the waters have dried up and are really just marshes now, hence dead waters/dead port.
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| Small town charm in Aigues-Morte |
While in the town of Aigues-Morte, we checked out some local shops, which had soaps, lavender, herbs de provence, as well as other pottery and figurines made my local artists. We then had lunch at a restaurant called Les Templieres, which is part of a hotel. During lunch, we noticed that there were three turtles walking around the outdoor patio where we sat. In the picture below, the smaller turtle kept ducking his head in and crashing its shell into the back of the larger turtle -- I guess the larger one wasn't moving fast enough! They were too cute!
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| Turtle silliness at Les Templieres |
The next day was the warmest day of the whole trip; possibly reaching 70 degrees Fahrenheit. We headed to the beach and put our feet in the Mediterranean! Let me preface this by saying that when I head to the beach, I generally head up north to Hampton Beach, New Hampshire where even on hot days at the end of the summer, the ocean water can still numb your ankles in less than five minutes. That being said, the water was relatively warm, but the beach was too windy for me to lay out. That did not stop several nude bathers though. I did sit out at the pool, and even swam some laps in it, but I didn't venture far enough and adopt the practice of bathing and swimming nude.
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| Feet in the Mediterranean Sea |
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| Along the port in front of our hotel |
On Friday, we had a full day driving tour planned and we headed to Arles, St. Remy and Le Baux, which are all in Provence. Technically, Montpellier is part of the Camargue region on France and is part of Arles, making Arles the largest city in France. This is due to the amount of land only though, not the population. I thought that was interesting! Once you cross the Rhine, you enter the Provence area, and that is where we started off in the town of Arles, which is well known for being the inspiration of many of Van Gogh's paintings, including the hospital where Van Gogh tried to go after cutting off his ear. The working staff and other patients were nervous to have him there though and they sent him to an asylum in St. Remy, where he also got inspired to create some of his paintings.
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| Le Café La Nvit - one of the inspirations for a Van Gogh painting |
After Arles, we headed to St. Remy and I noticed as we were driving, that many beautiful wild flowers covered the landscape. My favorite flower by far were poppies; the color was so rich and they were so beautiful! My camera could not capture the beauty as well as I would like...
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| The Poppies of Provence |
We also headed to the town of Le Baux, which was carved into the top of a mountain. The next day, we took the train back to Paris and checked out the Montmartre area of Paris. This section is well known for Moulin Rouge, Sacre Coeur church, and being a location that houses many artists: musicians, theaters, actors, artists, etc. We walked around this area, with many cute shops, although highly geared towards tourists, walked down Champs d'Elysees again and got an early dinner.
The next day was Sunday, and we flew back to the United States from Paris, France. It was an amazing trip, with beautiful sights and cool culture. I even picked up enough French (a couple of phrases and words) to help a cute couple on the plane order their coffee! I will have to write another post on the culture and food of France; this is enough for tonight!
As much as I enjoy traveling, coming home to my hubby-to-be and my lovey cat Filbert makes me insanely happy. Hope you enjoyed hearing about my travels! Stay tuned for food and culture sometime this next week!
