petit palais, sacre coeur

(post written July 2018 as I sort through photos and discover I hadn't quite finished writing up the Paris trip...)

Looks like it was raining in the morning.

We went to the Petit Palais in the morning and looked at art in a cool building.

The front door of the Petit Palais

 Emile Gallé, ~1878. Vase decorated with Chrysanthemums and Praying Mantis. Enamelled glass.

Eugène Feuillâtre, ~1912. Vase "La Mer." Translucent enamel over copper.

Greek vases

The Grand Palais across the street

Lunch was at Angelina... again...

And then we discovered that next door to Angelina, there is a bookstore... one that carries English books. How we missed it after passing by so many times, I don't know...

The weather cleared up, so we headed towards le Sacré Coeur.

We walked up the front stairs (and stopped for a bit for a snack and drinks at a café with a brilliant view of the building)...

We enjoyed the view from the top...

The building itself, both outside and in (though I don't think we went up to the top, I think it was too late in the day? I don't remember).

We went around the corner to take a look at the other church, St Pierre de Montmartre.

Then we walked down the side stairs...

Dinner was with friends at an Ethiopian restaurant. Giant (I think the plate was a foot and a half across) flat soft crepe-ish thing, with various foods. Tear off a piece, scoop up whichever glop you wanted, eat with your fingers. Quite tasty.

weird and wonderful colors and shapes

The Natural History Museum in Paris is a collection of associated museums (they're not apparently actually one entity; you have to pay separate to get into each section, though there is a discount for having been to another). They consist of a large garden with buildings around the perimeter, plus a zoo. Of course, in February, the gardens are perhaps not at their best.

fancy

Last time we were in Paris, the closest we got to Le Palais Garnier was across the street. This time, I insisted we go in, since I'd heard it was interesting. We expected to spend maybe half an hour or an hour... we were there the whole morning.

shiny gold

We went to Versailles without much of a plan. We knew, because I'd looked it up beforehand, that there was some kind of equestrian performance, and that tours existed.

history and height

arrival in paris

(It is now the beginning of April, and I am finally getting to writing up our trip to Paris - I've backdated the posts.)

This time, we decided to fly to Paris, instead of taking the train. This was not a bad idea. We took the RER and metro into the city, and when we emerged, the first thing both of us did was be tourists.