France Day 2: l'Orangerie & Montmartre

Yes, I am aware that day 2 is apparently the longest day in the history of ever, but this is the last "Day 2" post! We saw so much and, looking back, this was probably one of my top favorite days of the entire trip!

After seeing the Love Bridge and having lunch, we hopped onto the metro and headed to the Tuileries Gardens and the Musee De l'Orangerie. The Tuileries is a garden area where the French go to relax and spend time outside, and it is right next door to the l'Orangerie museum. The l'Orangerie is home to many impressionist and post impressionist paintings such as Monet's Water Lilies. Several paintings by Picasso and Renoir live there as well!

While walking to the museum we saw this wall that has "I love you" written in over 2,000 languages on it!

I love you.

Je t'aime.

 Waiting in line to go into the museum, we took advantage of the fact that the Eiffel Tower was just right there. This was the closest I had been so far!

Tuileries Gardens

I would definitely suggest going to the l'Orangerie museum if you are ever in Paris! It was great because it wasn't one of those overwhelmingly massive museums like the Louvre, it was just the right size! Plus, there are Monet paintings in there! You aren't supposed to take pictures of the paintings in this museum, but I snapped several with my phone anyways. (Sorry mom, I know how annoyed you were with the people sneakily taking pictures, but I was one of them. Forgive me?)

Claude Monet

Renoir

Picasso (and the first and only booby you will see on this blog).

After the museum we headed to Montmartre! Montmartre is a hill in the North of Paris that is home to the gorgeous Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur (my mom's favorite place in Paris). When I say hill, I mean hill! It sits pretty above the rest of the town, it is the highest point in the city, and was visible from our hotel room.

The stairs up to the top were ridiculous so we rode a lift up. The Sacré-Cœur is gorgeous and the view of Paris from it's steps is breathtaking. Just like any other major tourist spot in Paris, it was crowded!

The Sacré-Cœur is a Roman Catholic church built from 1875-1914. 

View from the hill.

We toured the inside (where there were hundreds of lit candles!) and on our way out a pick pocket/gypsy/thief/asshole tried to steal something from Cindy's purse! It doesn't matter if you are in a church, people are going to try and take advantage of you. Thankfully Sue slapped their hand away saying, "Get your hand out of there!" and nothing was taken. 

Afterwards, we headed to an artists' square in the neighborhood and, after looking at the artwork, snacked on some crêpes!

Nutella & banana crêpes.

Sue's pretty drink!

After we finished up we headed back to the hotel and went to dinner later that night. I had chicken pasta that was only ok, but this crème brûlée was delicious! 

After dinner it was shower time. Taylor Swift was having her Yahoo Live Stream that night so I got into bed prepared to watch that. I was able to watch some of it, but my service wasn't great. I talked to Garrett afterward via Skype and he had watched it for me and taken notes so that he could tell me what the surprises were. How sweet is that? #34839 why I love him: He watches Taylor Swift Live Streams for me and takes notes.

The next day we see the Eiffel Tower and finally set off on our river cruise!!

Ps. If you are viewing this on your phone, are some of the pictures upside down? For some reason when I look at my blog on my phone, the pictures I took with my phone are upside down! Help!