Museum Fever in Paris! (My holiday 7)

The next day I got up bright and early and ate a quick breakfast at a nearby cafe. Then I took the metro to the middle of Paris to visit the Sainte Chapelle, a small church that is nearly 900 years old. The chapel is much smaller than Notre Dame, but it is full of light as it has huge stained glass windows. Just beautiful!

The beautiful stained glass windows of the Sainte Chapelle. If you visit Paris, don't miss it!

A gargoyle outside the Sainte Chapelle. Really ugly!

After that visit, I went next door to visit a museum about the French Revolution. Very interesting. I visited some of the jail cells where they kept prisoners before being killed. For a few years during the French Revolution the revolutionaries killed thousands of people they did not like. This became known as the "Reign of Terror."

I then took the metro over to the biggest, most famous museum of all, the Louvre. What a dissapointment! It was terribly crowded and very noisy. So many tourists! I talked with some attendants and they said it is ALWAYS like that, EXCEPT the evenings. So if you ever visit the Louvre, go in the evenings. I decided to leave after 45 minutes.

The Venus de Milo, one of the most famous statues in the world. But most of the people weren't really interested in learning about it. They just wanted a photo of themselves in front of it, like this man. He didn't even turn off his music!

The art galleries in the Louvre are so long - almost 200 metres. So so noisy!

A view from the underground entrance to the Louvre, looking up through the famous glass pyramid.

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I walked across the Seine River to the Orsay Museum, which has all the art from the 19th Century, including the Impressionists. The museum used to be a large train station, but it is now a large museum and very cool, much nicer than the Louvre, and not nearly as crowded. I spent about two hours there enjoying the beautiful art.

The Musee d'Orsay (Orsay Museum). It used to be a train station, but now it is the home for some of the best art in France.

A tour boat going down the Seine River towards Notre Dame Cathedral.

The inside of the Orsay Museum. Very elegant and fashionable. And much quieter and less crowded than the Louvre.

Inside the Orsay Museum I saw a painting by our old friend, Paul Cezanne, from Aix en Provence. Here is another painting of Mont Ste Victoire!

The museum has a terrace on the fifth floor with a cafe. This is a beautiful view right across Paris -- several kilometres -- to another huge church, Sacre Cour (Holy Heart). It stands on the highest hill in Paris.

This is a view through the huge old clock in the Museum, looking out across Paris.

By this time I was getting tired! I had been walking almost every day for 16 days! But I had so much to see! I walked around Paris some more and that evening went to the Pigalle neighbourhood, which is what we call the red light district. I must have looked lonely as several attractive young women asked me if I wanted to have a good time! They were so friendly! :-)

The famous Moulin Rouge (Red Windmill) nightclub in the Pigalle neighbourhood of Paris. Lots of men were standing in line outside the club. I wonder where their wives were? :-)

Pigalle is the red light district, with lots of sex shows and prostitutes. Here we see a Macdonalds next to a sex show! That would never happen in Abbotsford!

I finally returned to my hotel to get a good sleep. Tomorrow would be the last day in Paris and I became sad thinking of it. I didn't want to leave!

Many musicians busk in the metros in Paris -- they sing or play music and then ask for money. I passed these eight musicians -- almost a complete orchestra -- playing classical music. Beautiful!

The metro stations are full of large wall advertisements, which I enjoyed taking photos of. Here we see an ad for a large elegant department store, Galeries Lafayette.

Another wall advertisement in the metro.

And another!