Let's try again! This time Brynne drove us to the airport. We had to make sure our luggage had been sent from Atlanta to meet us at JFK. At JFK we took a shuttle bus from one section of Terminal 2 to another, then walked over to Terminal 1 in drizzling rain. Went through security again... and waited for our 17:35 flight to Paris.
We left the gate on time, joined the line to taxi for the runway, and started to speed up to take off. All of a sudden, we screeched to a halt. OMG! We returned to the gate, but backed up into an open area. Apparently there was some instrument failure, and we sat in the plane to wait for repairs to be made (they turned on the media screens for us). Three hours later, after refueling, we finally took off, but there went our hopes for at least a full day in Paris!
Sunday, March 26, 2017
I apologize to anyone wanting to learn what is done and seen on the Viking Paris to the Swiss Alps trip. We missed the first day and a half, and since we had visited some of the destinations already, we did our own tours. For instance, we had done Viking's Paris City Tour in 2016.
We arrived in Paris at 11:00, where the Viking transfer driver had been waiting since 7:00! At least our hotel room was ready at the Hotel Pullman Paris Tour Eiffel. A Viking staff person directed us to the nearest ATM, where HSBC "captured" Kent's debit card for security purposes. No chance to enter a PIN or anything; just swallowed it up in the machine! Another Viking staff person sent us to another ATM, one partnered with our own bank, where I used my debit card to successfully get Euros. Whew!
This was our first time with a land portion of a Viking cruise, and although we have a Program Director with us from start to finish, the hotels have a Host at a Hospitality Desk in the lobby. At the time, the hotel had passengers from three Viking ships, so there were three hosts. We had help from two of them, neither one was ours!
Finally stopped for a late lunch on our own at the Brasserie le Beaujolais, having the plats du jour/daily specials of lasagna and chicken curry. Kent's draft beer was the French Kronenbourg 1664, a Euro Pale Lager style, which he judged as average.
After lunch, we took the RER C-train to the Musée d'Orsay to spend a couple hours before it closed for the day.
Avoid walking under pigeons in Paris! |
Memorial to Aristide Briand (1937 by sculptor Henri Bouchard) on Quai d'Orsay in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
The Musée d'Orsay is located in the former Gare d'Orsay (train station built 1898-1900, designed by Victor Laloux for the Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans/Orléans Railroad Company). The station was built to bring visitors close to the Exposition Universelle de 1900, and the metal structure was clad in limestone in the Belle Epoque style.
Musée d'Orsay (7/9/2016) |
The Musée d'Orsay seems to pick up where the Louvre leaves off, covering art from 1848 to 1914, displaying Western artistic creation from when revolutions swept across Europe to World War I, and as we entered the industrial age.
The Great Hall where train tracks were once located, with a ceiling designed by Maurice Denis |
La Source/The Source (1820-1856) by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres; like a Greek statue on canvas with balanced opposite motions, idealized beauty |
La Naissance de Venus/The Birth of Venus (1863) by Alexandre Cabanel, was popular at the juried art Salon of 1863, and was purchased by Napoléon III |
La Buveuse d'Absinthe/The Absinthe Drinker (1901) by Pablo Picasso, apparently one of several paintings on this subject (this one as he transitioned from his pre-Fauvist to the Blue Period) |
Cross section of the Opéra Garnier (1861-1875 in Second-Empire Beaux-Arts style) |
Next we climb (via several escalators) to the top exhibition floor.
A look back in the former train terminus with its clock |
View through the façade clock towards the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur/ Sacred Heart Basilica on Montmartre |
La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans/The Little Dancer Aged 14 (1881) by Edgar Degas |
Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe/Lunch on the Grass (1863) by Édouard Manet shocked the staid citizens although it had a classical pose |
Coquelicots/Poppies (1873) by Claude Monet, was shown at what became known as the first Impressionist exhibition in Pairis in 1874 |
Bal du Moulin de la Galette/Dance at the Galette Windmill (1876) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, of common Parisiens with filtered sunlight, is a masterpiece of early Impressionism |
Danse à la Ville/Dance in the City (1883) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, is paired with... |
Danse à la Campagne/Dance in the countryside (1883) |
Le Berceau/The Cradle (1872) by Berthe Morisot, was shown at the Impressionist Exhibition of 1874, the first woman to exhibit with the group |
Sur la Plage/On the Beach (1873) by Édouard Manet, where he moves away from the light colorful palette of Impressionism, is displayed in an unusual Art Deco frame |
Femme Cousant/Young Woman Sewing (1880-1882) by Mary Cassat, an American painter who exhibited with the Impressionist group |
Les Joueurs de Cartes/The Card Players (1892-1895) by Paul Cézanne, is considered Caravaggio-inspired because of the chiaroscuro/light and dark effect |
Café des Hauteurs or Café Campana, with décor by the Brazilian design duo, Humberto and Fernando Campana, behind the second clock in the building façade |
Portrait de l'Artiste/Self-portrait (1889) by Vincent van Gogh, done a few months before his suicide |
Arearea (1892) by Paul Gauguin, is intentionally primitive |
Ugolino (1882-1906) by Auguste Rodin; Ugolino was a character in The Divine Comedy by Dante |
L'Age Mûr/Maturity (1899-1903) by Camille Claudel, is auto- biographical as she implores Rodin not to return to his wife |
Pomone Drapée/Draped Pomona (c. 1921) by Aristide Maillol (Pomona was the Roman goddess of fruitful abundance) |
Pavillon Amont lighting fixture |
We came to the rooms of Art Nouveau, from the opulent fin de siècle/end of the century, which in French is Style Nouille/noodle.
Choker necklace (c. 1899) and bonbonnière, designed by René Lalique |
Banquette de fumoir/Smoking bench (1897), designed by Hector Guimard, who is better known for designing entrances for the Paris Métro |
Caën/Cain (1880) by Fernand Cormon, a Naturalist; this painting was created at the time when the Neanderthal skull was recently discovered |
Gorille Enlevant une Femme/Gorilla Carrying off a Woman (1887) by Emmanuel Frémiet, a leading sculptor of animals in his day |
Salle des Fêtes de l' Hôtel du Palais d'Orsay/Ballroom of the Orsay Palace Hotel (1900) designed by Victor Laloux in the opulent styles of Louis XIV to Louis XVI |
The former hotel dining room is now the museum restaurant, with funky plastic chairs |
Next: Evening in Paris.
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