Observation of the day: Paris fosters art in any and all ways. Whether seeing the fashionably dressed locals or appreciating one-of-a-kind artwork in a museum, it is easy to see why artists of all types have flocked to this city for centuries and continue to keep coming.
HM: Upon my request, we began our morning at the Louis Vuitton Foundation Museum. VM and I were both excited for this outing as the museum currently holds a collection of impressionism works—a genre we both enjoy.
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| Gehry does it again! |
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| The Eiffel never gets old. |
The museum is one of Paris’ newest and was opened in 2014.
Designed by famed architect, Frank Gehry, the building itself is beyond beautiful. VM and I were particularly proud of the fact that we felt like our new clothes made us blend in with the locals as they kept speaking to us in rapid fire French! We felt very authentic!
The museum is currently featuring an expansive collection of impressionism pieces from The Courtauld Collection. A Brit by birth, Sir Stephen Courtauld was what today we would call a “Renaissance man.” He was a massive collector of beautiful works from masters like Monet, Renoir, Manet, Cezanne and Van Gogh. He and his wife loved displaying them all in their London apartment and we enjoyed appreciating them all in Paris! In addition to his collection, we also liked taking in the rest of the museum’s collection even though it is a bit more modern in style.
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| The Courtauld collection includes some wonderful pieces from Van Gogh. |
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| Richter's "grey" canvas couldn't convince HM. |
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| But she was sold when we saw this other magnificent piece by him! |
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| The LV Foundation museum includes some fascinating works including this "Infinity Mirror Room" created to be appreciated by an individual or very small groups one at a time. |
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| Some visiting brothers loved this interactive piece by a Venezuelan artist based in Paris. |
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| We could see why! |
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| Even the Dior store inspires with its artwork! |
While chit chatting with the cashier, she mentioned to me that I could get my new LV wallet hot-stamped here at the flagship store for no charge. And, of course, we had to get that done! The custom stamp is the shape of the Eiffel Tower and can only be done in France.
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| HM assuring she got her custom Eiffel stamp from LV! |
After our second LV visit, we strolled with a million other tourists along the Champs Elysees, people-watching along the way and deciding what we wanted to do next. We finally came to the Galeries Lafayette (https://www.galerieslafayettechampselysees.com). While a place for high-end shopping to most, we used it for its beyond delightful bathroom facilities (bidet anyone?) and gourmet food court. After nourishing and cleansing our bodies, we headed home for some rest.
Later in the evening, we trekked back to our beloved Metro to visit Montmartre. At the heart and top of Montmarte is the Basilica of Sacre-Coeur (http://www.sacre-coeur-montmartre.com/english/). It sits at one of the highest points in Paris. While Montmarte is somewhat overrun with tacky tourist shops and restaurants, it is also historic in that it was where all the famous artists and poets hung together at one point.
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| Our lovely dinner view. |
Our original plan included visiting the Basilica for Easter mass, but with all the craziness in the news, we chose to simply dine in its shadow instead. Again, using Trip Advisor, I found a local spot called Le Lamarck (https://www.lelamarck.fr/?utm_source=tripadvisor&utm_medium=referral) and we were so glad. We sat outside just down the hill from the Basilica and enjoyed a delicious gourmet meal prepared by a young up and coming French chef.
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| Sunset at Montmarte. |
Afterwards, we climbed yet another set of stairs (in case you are interested, since Friday, we have gone 25 miles by foot and up 88 floors!) and went to see the Basilica. Similarly to the Eiffel Tower, we weren’t totally comfortable with what we found. Because it is such a beautiful spot, many, many people gather here for sunset. And because sunset in Paris isn’t until nearly 9PM, this very quickly becomes a crazy party scene. Unfortunately, what might have once been as innocent as sunset at Mallory Square in Key West, made us uncomfortable with the unruly crowd and again, many illegal hawkers who weren’t Parisian locals. We knew it was time to leave.
We hailed an Uber and before heading home, we decided to take one pit stop to a spot in Paris known as the Trocadero Gardens (https://en.parisinfo.com/paris-museum-monument/71144/Jardins-du-Trocadero). This gorgeous plaza has an unequaled vista of the Eiffel Tower and we had visited it briefly with Dad and Emma when we were here four years ago. Yes, we never tire of seeing it! And at night, when it has its periodic sparkling periods, we love the Eiffel even more!
After indulging in some pictures and doing our share of capturing memories for others too, we hopped on the Metro to head home. It was another magical day in Paris.
Random Pic of the Day
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| Looks like a museum, right? Nope. It's the inside of the Louis Vuitton store. It is a big and inspiring WOW. |
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