Paris, day 2

The next day we bought our Museum Pass.  If I will give you a tip for traveling in Europe it is this: take advantage of the metro pass in London and the Museum Pass in Paris.  The first saves you a ton of money,especially if you are site hopping like we were.  The second, saves you money AND time, because you get to skip a lot of the lines.  But only buy for adults; kids get in free to most everything anyway.  Second, be sure it is a Museum Pass--the chunnel tried to sell us a Paris Pass for a lot more money (and no real extra benefits).

 It also helps you plan your itinerary.  First, we went to Notre Dame.  It has beautiful architecture, stained glass, memorials dedicated to Joan of Arc and Mother Therese.  But I had a hard time enjoying myself.  It was dark and despite the high arches felt somewhat oppressive.  The touches of gold and and the bright stained glass seemed guady rather than regal.  We bought a couple of audio guides, but there were so many people, and it was so dark, I kept losing the kids everytime I stopped to try to listen.

We were sitting in chairs, letting the kids listen to the audio guide, in front of this rather touching statue of Mary taking Jesus off the cross, when a lady came in and immediately crossed herself, and wept.  I was amazed at her reverence and a little ashamed that I didn't feel the same thing.  But with tourists snapping photos, school troops streaming in, tour guides in a dozen languages pointing out the rose window, I reflected that though our temples are not so old or storied, they are quiet, light, and peaceful.  The Notre Dame was interesting, but it was not holy to me.

The audio guide made sure to point out the stories the mason work outside the church told.  This is a picture of John the Baptist's beheading.

Then we went to the Centre Pompideau which is Paris' art museum.  This is what we were hoping the Tate Modern would be like.   We loved it.  Even people who hate modern art would love this museum.

This was by El Anatsui, an artist that uses recycled material to make art.  Athena and I were first introduced to him when we went on a field trip to the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, so to see him in Paris as well was really cool.

 This was a choose your own adventure story in 3-D.  So awesome!

 I had a postcard of this Braque painting when I was in high school and college.  Again, so amazing to see it in person!

It seemed like every tourist attraction in Paris had a view.  The Pompideau was no exception.  The building itself was very modern and interesting.  Notice I am holding my coat.  It was finally warm!