Friday, October 16, 2009

France Day 3: Musée du Louvre, Basilique du Sacré-Coeur, Jardin du Luxembourg, Tour Eiffel

Pls. note that you can click on the pictures to see a larger view.

Who doesn't know the Louvre Museum. Our third day was even more fantastic! We mixed it up with a bit of museums, visiting a really cute square called place du Tertre. And ofcourse this day too was packed with tons of street-walking. I think I am really proud of the fact that A and I got to know the streets so well. They are the arteries of Paris.



Louvre - It was a surreal feeling to read Davinci Code by Dan Brown and visit these inverted pyramids



Tour Eiffel



Us in Jardin du Luxembourg



Jardin du Luxembourg



I thought that everything-I mean everything-in Paris from street signs to ads, from chairs to hoarding signages, from restaurant signs to metro maps, everything was just beautiful!



Basilique du Sacré-Coeur
Church of the Sacred Heart offers the most beautiful and stunning views of Paris. You can see the people sitting on it's steps soaking in anything they can on a rather cloudy day.



Front facade of Basilique du Sacré-Coeur



This artist named Paris drew a modern water color portrait of yours truly. He was quite demanding on how I should frame his work of art. I shall follow his directions loyally. :)



I saw so many beautiful bouquets of sweeping flowers and plants bursting out of pretty pottery on every street corner, hanging outside every window, bordering every restaurant and pretty much randomly appearing wherever my eyes went. Apparently the towns and streets of France are constantly competing with each other on how they can look more beautiful with their flora and foliage than the next town. Wow! What a healthy competition!



Mime with an umbrella. They aren't immune to the weather either. :)



This is the square I mentioned above, place du Tertre. It was full of artists waiting for tourists. They were all so relaxed however. I felt that time moved so slow in this square. There was an underlying harmony being created by all these artists. You have to be there to feel it. And look at her cute hairstyle!



View from steps when we were on our way to Basilique du Sacré-Coeur on a cloudy day.



Musician relaxing, smoking, singing, strumming.



These are houses.



Leading up to place du Tertre, I noticed this type of artwork pop up on walls of shops.



Here too!



This is what I am talking about. Look at the signage!



So cute



Love the yellow seats



I decided to take a pic of their ads. They have huge real estate on metro walls. I found their marketing ads particularly enormous.



Exactly like NY Metro! I am sure the designer/agency was the same.



The tables were small. The chairs smaller. And no one seems to mind eating on a busy street. It's all good.



Who needs orange cones when you have stark black office chairs? C'mon people!



Yes this is true. The streets are that small. You can walk on it. You can sit alongside a wall on it. You can drive your motorcycle on it. Or your bicycle on it. You can do anything in the world.



A's espresso at Restaurant du Musée d'Orsay



I hate coffee ice cream with a passion. I hate pistachio ice cream even more fervently. But there is one country in this entire world where I will happily gulp it down, licking the spoon and plate until they exist no more! That is France!



White fish with mashed potatoes at Restaurant du Musée d'Orsay



Yumm - fish with polenta.



Musée d'Orsay



Musée d'Orsay



Musée d'Orsay



This is a humongous clock at Musée d'Orsay. When I say humongous I mean that in my life I have never seen a clock this big and this ornate.







Louvre (outside)



Louvre (inside)



Louvre (inside)



Louvre (inside)



Louvre (inside)



Imitation in Louvre (inside)



Louvre (inside)



Louvre (inside)



Bakery!



Louvre (outside)



Coming out of the backdoor of Louvre







Through a window



Okay. I love her socks here.


3 comments:

  1. the water color portrait is amazing! love day 3. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Uma says...
    Lovely! a different world out there!

    ReplyDelete
  3. beautiful images.loved the plants outside the shop.loved the weeping ones.think should have one like this in the balcony

    ReplyDelete