Paris, France, Day six
After shopping yesterday, we thought it was about time we headed to some museums for a bit of culture. We first went to Musée Rodin, which was quite close to where we are staying. This museum is mainly set in some beautiful (and surprisingly large) gardens, with Rodin’s sculptures scattered around the grounds. We saw his most famous work, ‘The Thinker’, but there were also a lot of other great pieces, including a very large piece that you could use a telescope nearby to look through at the detail.
The next stop was Musée d’Orsay, full of Impressionist works and set inside what used to be a train station. This meant the layout inside the museum was quite different and included a scale model of Paris set into the floor. It was amazing to be able to see so many great works here and the list reads like a roll call of great artists: Van Gogh, Monet, Cezanne and so on. We climbed out to the roof to look at the view, but unfortunately, the view from the back of the clock face was roped off.
We then had a quiche and delicious fresh raspberry tart for lunch and continued along the Seine to the Louvre. We skipped straight past all the queues with our museum pass and slipped straight into the museum under the big glass pyramid. Now this place has a lot of stuff! First up was the biggie: the Mona Lisa. It really is a charismatic painting and you could stare at it for ages. After previously hearing everyone’s surprise at how small it is, we may have been the only people there surprised by how big it is in reality! We then continued through the halls, passing by so many amazing paintings until we reached the Venus de Milo. It is a very strange feeling actually seeing these famous sculptures and paintings first-hand!
We’ll try to get back to the Louvre again before we leave, although I think you could spend weeks in there! Simon
