So this is our last trip in Europe other than a double conference trip later in June. We decided to swing by Paris on the way home, as it was not too far out of the way. Andi found a cheap museum pass. I wonder how many of the sixty sites we can hit in two days?
We had to get back to the Louvre since we missed few things in January due to terrible crowds and awful kids. We got up and out so early, McDonald's was not even open (opens at 7:30) and made it to the Louvre over an hour before they opened. Luckily, the Louvre had a McDonalds and they were open.
We saw the Mona Lisa and you could actually see it. When Paul and I finally waded through the crowds to the room, we were stuck twenty deep taking pictures over heads. It was awful in January. Never go tour Paris on New Year's eve.
We managed to see maybe a quarter of the Louvre, which is pretty good considering how huge it is. The crowds were nothing. In some of the rooms, we were the only people. It was great seeing the kids next to some billboard sized art. Crazy. And we saw some really old (6,000 year old) statues. Too bad we won't get to Egypt...
We then went toward Notre Dame. We tried to get in the Sainte Chappelle but the line was awful for security. Instead we hit Conciergerie where they jailed people during the French Revolution, including Marie Antoinette.
Then off to Notre Dame, but we had to eat lunch at Subway first. Thankfully, Europe has plenty of McDonald's, Burger Kings, and Subways to keep the family fed cheaply with something they will eat. We still get out there, but sometimes it is nice to have easy and cheap.
Notre Dame was easy to see this time. In January, the line was a block long. We did not do the treasury or the tower, but we did do the crypt with some of the old ruins.
Next we went up to the Pompidou, the Paris modern art museum. The building was awful looking on the outside, but they did have a huge modern art collection. We found strollers and the kids got a little bit of a nap while we pushed them around. This modern art museum had the decency to put warning signs on rooms with questionable content. I still remember the Stuttgart gallery with the two men done in neon that were pleasuring each other...
After the Pompidou, we hit the Metiers, a museum of science and industry. It had a little of everything. Standards, chemistry, models of industrial works, cars, planes, communication and computing. Pretty much everything you would expect to see and all pretty approachable. They had a few of those silly airplanes that never flew, I guess the French can't get over the US with their airplanes. They also had a few rockets and probes, some of which never flew either. I guess they can't handle our space program either. They did have US computers (Cray 2 and old IBM) I guess they could not even find fake French computers to put in.
We found some dinner at the Europe Fried Chicken shop. Classy. But the kids eat nuggets and we were in the wrong neighborhood for food and the natives were getting restless. Then, two blocks later we stumbled into a bunch of restaurants. Just our luck.
Finally, we did the Arc de Triumph. Very nice view.
Strollers are useless in Paris if you use the metro. I carried Ellie in a backpack all day and it was killing me. I always wanted to backpack across Europe and now I am. Just not the way I imagined it.
So, thirteen hours out and about in Paris. Seven sights seen. Not too bad for a days efforts. The family held up pretty well, but we all need some sleep.
No beer. Maybe tomorrow.
Update: Friday was also fairly busy. Top of the Eiffel tower, lunch at Planet Sushi with McDonald's cheeseburgers for the kids, Rhodin museum, Museum d'Orangerie (Monet and others), Museum d' Orsay with a lot of good stuff as well. Lots of art, maybe we should do somethign for the kids...
Update 2: Forgot that we spent a day in Lourdes, France checking out the Catholic healing shrine. We also did a nearby cave with a neat boat ride and train ride inside the cave. We found a place with good cheap pasta. I also tried a beer they had, Amsterdam.
Amsterdam Maximator 11.6% - Not great, but definitely strong.
Amsterdam Maximator