Musee d'Orsay and Grand Palais (Part I)

Yesterday, Sunday, I went to the Musee d'Orsay for a few hours.  It's hard to believe that I was there for about four hours and probably only saw about 1/4 of what there is to see. It will take me weeks to see the Louvre.   Several more trips are in order.  Say, here's a tip, in case anyone plans to go there sometime.  When I got there, the  line was hundreds of people deep....no exaggeration.  When I saw that, I thought, surely there must be a shorter line somewhere that I can buy a ticket , not for today, but for a future date and then I'll come back.  I went to the entrance that was for people with a reservation, i.e., prepaid ticket that they bought online.  I ask the guard if I could go in and just buy a ticket for a future date....and he said no, I'd have to either get in line (the big line) or do it online.  BUT, he said, if you go over there to that newsstand kiosk on the corner you can buy a ticket and use it on a future date, or even today.  Unbelievable.  All those people in line - and I walked right up...no line...got the ticket, went back to the "people-with-online-reservations" line and walked right in.  Boy, did I feel smart!  Thanks to that really cool guard!

Unfortunately, they would not allow picture taking in the d'Orsay.  I did manage to get a few shots in the common areas, before someone came up and made me stop doing even that.  No pictures, anywhere in the Museum.  The Museum was a former Train Depot.  It is a huge building and they have done a fantastic job of turning it into a Museum.  The huge clocks that were once part of the train depot are one of the main attractions of the building.  I did manage to get some interesting shots of the clocks. The pictures are looking through the clock, out towards the river, and the buildings across the river.  Notice in one of them you can see the Montmartre hill with the Sacra Coeur on top.

                                  Here are three pictures of the main central part of the Museum.

Today, Monday, was a really cold day....at least the first part of the day was.  It finally warmed up a bit by about 3pm, but before that the wind was blowing and it was really cold.  I decided I wanted to see the Grand Palais.  I had seen it from the d'Orsay and it looked so gand.  So before I left the house I went on their website to see how to get there, the hours, etc.  It did say that there had been some renovations going on, but no mention of the fact the entire place was closed down, in preparation for a huge celebration beginning next week!

Even with the cold, I saw some lovely things and took some pictures, before the battery on my camera gave out.  Another lesson learned....carry an extra....charged!...battery with me.

This is a very oddly decorated entrance to a metro station near The Louvra and the Palais Royal.

                    

Paris really does do a nice job of landscaping in their public areas.  Here's a nice example.

This, believe it or not is the entrance to a passage way leading back to the Abacrombie and Finch store on the Champs Elysees.

Here's a picture of the  Petit Palais (I think) from the outside....since it was also closed!

The sky was starting to clear up a bit....but it was still really cold.  Windy because it's right next to the river.  So here's the Grand Palais.  It's probably nice and warm in there under that big glass dome!

The Grand Palais is just across the Boulevard from the river and the Pont (that's bridge)  Alexander III.  Quite an ornate bridge.  Very decorative lamp posts and lots of statues and decorations.

All up and down the river there are barges which people live on and other boats that people use to take groups on river excursions.

I would have had pictures of Place de la Concorde, the Jardin des Tuileries, and the big underground shopping area under the Louvre.....but my battery gave out.  I will go back there....I want to anyway...once the trees are all green and there are lots of flowers in the Tuileries, it should be beautiful.