Endless things to do and see!

Bob and I are overwhelmed with the possiblities of things to do and see here in Paris.  Each day is a new opportunity to discover a new neighborhood, park, market, festival, burst of color, you name it! Our visit here has been greatly enhanced by our Landlady Marilee's recommendation of the website Meetup.com.  It has opened up a number of opportunities to pursue our interests, and take walking tours of the city.  

Last week after we took our good friend Caroline to the train station to continue her holiday in Switzerland with friends, we took off on foot from the Gare du Nord and found ourselves in the Jardin des Plantes, a lovely park/garden that we had visited 10 years ago.  

from there we contined along the Seine, which is always a beautiful walk.  Although Paris is a huge, bustling city, you are never far away from greenery, trees, or the river.

Another day we headed to the Musee D'Orsay, our absolute favorite museum in the entire world, to buy a yearly pass that ourl allow one of us and a guest to visit it and the Orangerie whenever we wanted for only 70 euros!  We have been to Paris on two other occasions, but each of those times the Orangerie was closed. It is the home of Monet's famous water lilies and other priceless art pieces.  We arrived at the Orsay first thingin the morning only to find a HUGE line of people waiting to get in!  We decided to return an hour before closing to purchase our pass.  With time on our hands and a 5 euro set of plastic Petanque balls in our posession, we headed to the Palais Royal to play a game.  There we encountered the most beautiful, colorful Metro entrance in Paris! (see photo collage below). We also happened into a little piece of Azerbeijian, right across from the Palais Royal). 

Later that day, when we returned to buy the pass, the line was non-existant and we were able to get the pass with very little problems.  Since we had an hour before the museum closed, we went through to revisit the Impressionists!  Above you will see a lovely cafe that has been added to the Orsay since our visit 10 years ago!

Another day we stopped by the Orangerie for a quick visit.  There was no line, which surprised us!  As we reached the entrance we discovered the reason: Monet's Water Lillies were not there!  No problem for us... we will be here until November.  We went inside and enjoyed more Impressionis and post Impressionist art! Here are a few of my favorites:

I intended to share some about our Meetup activities in this post, but will save that for the next one.  Stay tuned!