Hi there! ; )
After an amazing, and long, walking tour of Paris, the next day we had it a little easier. We woke up early and, after breakfast, grabbed a taxi to the Musee d'Orsay. The line was a little long but we were there early enough that it went pretty quickly.
Tuesday, August 19th
I had been looking forward to this museum because there were Van Gogh paintings in there! I find Van Gogh extremely interesting and it was amazing to see my first of his paintings in person! Mom and I headed straight to the gallery where his paintings were located and spent quite a bit of time in there.
My two favorites in this gallery were two of his self portraits.
It was a surreal feeling to be standing in front of a person's painting that I had read and researched about. His life has always intrigued me, and to think that his hands drew those lines was amazing! During his lifetime he only managed to sell one of his 900 paintings, the rest were not made famous until after his death. The fact that he put so much of his time and passion into his artwork, yet people only saw him as a crazy and worthless artist, breaks my heart. Today, his paintings sell for millions. He is on the list of most expensive paintings ever sold for his painting, Portrait of Doctor Gachet, which sold for $82.5 million in 1990. I wish he could know that! I wish he could know that people no longer think his artwork is worthless, but that instead he's one of the most famous and successful artists of all time.
There is a song by Don McLean written about Vincent Van Gogh that I have always loved and found so touching (plus its a beautiful song!):
"They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now
For they could not love you
But still your love was true
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night
You took your life, as lovers often do
But I could've told you Vincent
This world was never meant for
One as beautiful as you."
In case you wanna listen, you won't regret it! : )
Ok. My history lesson/proclamation of love for Van Gogh is over. For now.
After the museum we had lunch and then headed to the Eiffel Tower.
I could not believe how big the Eiffel Tower was! I knew it was tall because I had been seeing it from various parts of the city, what I didn't know is how wide it was. I was surprised big time by that. Honestly, I hadn't been looking forward to seeing the Eiffel Tower too much just because you always see it in pictures and everything, so I felt like I had already seen it in a way. However, seeing it in person is not the same at all as seeing it in pictures and I was pleasantly surprised.
The tower was built in 1889 as the entryway for the 1889 World's Fair. At first the French didn't like it and it was to be torn down after 20 years. However, it became known as the most recognizable structure symbolizing Paris, so it was left up.
We rode the lift up to the second level and took some pictures from there and then mom and I went back to the ground level and walked away from the tower so that we could get pictures of the entire thing.
View from the second level.
There is a song by Don McLean written about Vincent Van Gogh that I have always loved and found so touching (plus its a beautiful song!):
"They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now
For they could not love you
But still your love was true
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night
You took your life, as lovers often do
But I could've told you Vincent
This world was never meant for
One as beautiful as you."
In case you wanna listen, you won't regret it! : )
Ok. My history lesson/proclamation of love for Van Gogh is over. For now.
After the museum we had lunch and then headed to the Eiffel Tower.
I could not believe how big the Eiffel Tower was! I knew it was tall because I had been seeing it from various parts of the city, what I didn't know is how wide it was. I was surprised big time by that. Honestly, I hadn't been looking forward to seeing the Eiffel Tower too much just because you always see it in pictures and everything, so I felt like I had already seen it in a way. However, seeing it in person is not the same at all as seeing it in pictures and I was pleasantly surprised.
The tower was built in 1889 as the entryway for the 1889 World's Fair. At first the French didn't like it and it was to be torn down after 20 years. However, it became known as the most recognizable structure symbolizing Paris, so it was left up.
We rode the lift up to the second level and took some pictures from there and then mom and I went back to the ground level and walked away from the tower so that we could get pictures of the entire thing.
View from the second level.
Momma and the tower : )
Forever wishing I had bought this.
Boarding the Avalon Creativity!
As we walked in we were greeted by the majority of the staff on board and were given welcome champagne and snacks! Before dinner we had a safety demonstration where they put on the emergency siren and we all had to meet on the sky deck and put on our life vests. I took this as a silly photo opportunity.
Dinner on the ship, on our way out of Paris!
This was filmed with my phone, so please excuse the quality.
Before and after dinner I walked around exploring the ship. I was really impressed with how nice everything and everyone was! The sky deck was closed due to low bridges so I had to wait to venture up there.
Mom and I unpacked our things. Being on a cruise is nice because you can unpack and leave your things there the whole time you travel! I was able to Skype with Garrett and show him around our ship and the things we were passing as we sailed.
We sailed overnight and the next morning arrived in Vernon!
OMG, what I would do to jump inside your pictures! The day I see the Eiffel Tower I think I would faint!
ReplyDeleteWe didn't go into the Eiffel Tower but I'd want to next time we go. It is so surreal seeing it with your own eyes...and so huge!! What cruise line or is Avalon the name of the ship?
ReplyDelete