Paris

Paris Sept 1 - 4

 You know you're in Paris when you see the Eiffel Tower !

Hard to miss, just about anywhere in Paris.

Here, with the newly restored Luxor Obelisk

On our first day, we went to see the Louis Vuitton Paris Museum. We knew it would be closed, but we wanted to see the exterior.

It was designed by Frank Gehry and apparently cost around $800 million to build. On a cold, rainy day, Kristine wasn't impressed

By chance, we came across a temporary shrine to Princess Diana, close to the spot where she died.  Apparently, it was 25 years ago.

It was clustered around the base of a copy of the flame from the Statue of Liberty which is just above the underpass where she died.

As it wasn't a very nice day, we went to the Paris Museum of Modern Art, which we hadn't visited before.

Paris Museum of Modern Art

A highlight was a huge mural "The Electricity Fairy" showing the history of electricity from ancient times up to the modern day. It was painted by  Raoul Dufy  for the French Pavilion of the world exhibition in Paris in 1937.

The weather improved during the day and later in the afternoon, we took a "Bateaux Mouche" on the river Seine.

Kristine with Notre Dame in the distance

Paul with the Eiffel Tour behind him

The Museé D'Orsay from the river

Notre Dame undergoing repairs and restoration after the disastrous fire in 2019

The next day, we took a train trip to Lagny-sur-Marne, about 20 miles outside Paris, where we lived for almost two years in 1991 and 1992, when we were working for what was then Euro Disney, now Disneyland Paris.

The charming town with its many shops and eateries and pretty center had not changed very much in the past thirty years.

The town is built on the Marne River and we found an excellent  riverside restaurant for lunch.

Lagny is actually on the left side of this picture and Pomponne, where we lived, is on the right.

This was the apartment building we lived in. Ours was the ground floor flat on the left.

This was the view from our patio

That evening we went to see the Eiffel Tour at night. After dark it "sparkles" every hour on the hour.

On our last day, which was a Sunday, we spent several hours at the Museé D'Orsay, always a favorite of ours.  

Museé D'Orsay

The museum has a wonderful collection of paintings and sculptures.

"A starry night" by Vincent van Gogh

"Dans un café" by Degas

 "Little Dancer" also by Degas

"War" or "The Ride of Discord" by Henri Rousseau (1894)

On  our way back to the hotel, we stopped at Galerie Lafayette, just to take in the fantastic dome.

Galerie Lafayette

We also had just a few minutes inside The Church of the Madelaine, which was about to close.

Church of the Madeleine

Next morning, we left for Malaga