Joyeuse Fête des Pères! 06/19/2011

Happy Father's Day! :)

I told my dad before I left his father's day present was me worrying him to death by leaving the States. :) Sorry pops! I did make it here safe and sound though! :)

I had a lovely flight. Air France out of Chicago direct to Charles de Gaul (Terri - the flight did exist. ;). It went quicker than I thought it would and the food was great (I feel shameful even writing that about airline food). I stole the menu card to see if I could find a recipe for one of the items. I've been told since arriving that that is the difference between the European flights and the American flights, better food.

Sleeping on the plane was torture. It was like seeing a small child asleep w/ their face planted in a plate of spaghetti. As my mom would say, "that just looks uncomfortable." And so it was! The lady in the seat diagonal from me played Mahjong Tiles for the entire flight, with the exception of dinner and an hour attempt at sleep. I'm guestimating she played 6.5 hours of Mahjong Tiles. She gasped when the game suddenly turned off due to landing. :)

Also, I couldn't find a carry on bag to work, so Nick hooked me up w/ this:  It was against my better judgement and as the travel day went on I tured it so you couldn't see it... a Hawkeye bag in the land of fashion...

I spoke in Spanish to the guy who brought me to the hotel. :) He was of Portuguese decent and raised with Portuguese and Spanish, but had lived in France his entire life. So, between smatterings of Spanish and English, we got thru quite nicely. :)

From there it was off to Musee D'orsey. For those of you who know Nancy, it was the greatest feat I've seen her accomplish yet. She found a Museum guard and sweet talked her way out of a two hour line. I told Pam while she was working her magic, that sometimes you're better off just waiting in line, I shouldn't have doubted.

Musee D'orsey was lovely. Monet, Manet, Degas, Renior. Pieces I had studied in a couple art classes. It was amazing to see them in person. There were a few pieces that were really amazing, touching. On a side note, I’ve always wondered why at that time all the women went to picnics without clothing and all the men went fully clothed.  I have a feeling this was more a fantasy then a reality of the time… but who could know.  J

I will say, I was soooo exhausted. I literally thought at one point, "I'm going to be the first person to throw-up in the Musee D'orsey," then I thought, "I'm going to be the first person to fly into a painting because I passed out." When we were waiting for lunch I almost turned my head to the wall and just slept. But lunch helped. God Bless America and Coca Cola.

The rest of the day was pretty much about trying to win the battle to stay awake. I hate to say it, but it was difficult to focus or appreciate much of anything for the exhaustion. I'm looking forward to absorbing tomorrow. Also, the hotel is very close to a street like Michigan Ave in Chicago, so there's likely greater beauty to be found. Honestly, how does a GAP have a home in Paris and it can't survive at Lindale Mall!?

Grabbed dinner w/ Pam and then headed back to the hotel. We were crossing the street to head back and there was an old friend standing across the street. That's when I knew I'd never be Parisian. I screamed and ran across the street to hug him. :) I think I alarmed a few people. What can I say, I'm an American girl. Fortunately, he didn't seem to mind.

Here is where we lunched - the Musee D'Orsey is a refurbished train station and this is where people waiting for their trains would have had lunch:

Outside of Museum

This and that:

 Not sure what is up w/ this building, if you look closely at the left hand side it's a picture of the building over the building... maybe they're working on it or something...