A Visit to The Pere-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris

I know it might sound odd, but the biggest surprise on our favorite places of Paris list was the Pere-Lachaise Cemetery.  Tucked away on the edge of the 20th arrondissement, the cemetery holds the reputation of being the world's most visited--though I'm wondering how anyone could prove that.  Called "la cite des morts"--the city of the dead--by Parisians, the cemetery websites boasts that its grounds hold over a million graves.  The thing that blew me away was that cemetery plots are most commonly bought for only 30 years--after that, the cemetery can dig up the remains and sell (rent, I'd call it) the plot to someone else (but this apparently only happens if the family chooses not to renew...) The cemetery was strangely beautiful...in an eerie sort of way. We followed the map in the Rick Steves book to visit  most of the famous "resting places", including Jim Morrison, Colette, Oscar Wilde, and Chopin to name a few.  What impressed me the most was the amount of graves in the cemetery and also the splendor of so many of the mausoleums! Many of them were huge! It was an easy, yet a little long, Metro trip out to the cemetery, but well worth it in my opinion.

Center of the cemetery.  The place was HUGE!! We were there for hours and didn't even come close to covering it all.

Siblings who were still children when they died...

Jim Morrison's grave...

Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas--they are buried together

Oscar Wilde

Memorials to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust...I thought it was fitting that all of the statues were so emaciated. It was a very moving section of the cemetery. 

I loved this little series of photos that I took of the brats!

I'd love your vote--just click of the picture of the smiling mommy below to vote for my blog!

The Orsay

Ready for a shocker: The number one rated attraction (by Trip Advisor) in Paris isn't the Eiffel.  It isn't the Arc de Triomphe.  And it isn't the Louvre.  It's the Musée d' Orsay.  I know, right?  I was shocked, too.  And then I went to the place, and I have to say, I was pree-tee impressed with it.

The Orsay was totally one of the places that ended up on our "Ok, if we get to it, but we won't break our necks trying to get to it" list.  We actually hit it on our last day in Paris, just mere hours before we caught the train back to CDG.  Everything we had read about it RAVED, so we made a little time for it--and when I say "a little time", I mean an hour.  We literally covered the good parts at a brisk walk, with whining children in tow, unfortunately.  

It's probably one of those places you'd recognize without realizing you'd recognize it.  It's the museum with the big clock that used to be a train station--which totally appealed to the kids (and me, honestly), but was repurposed into a museum when the train tracks became too short for the longer trains.  It's also the building that's featured prominently in the movie "Hugo", if you've seen that. 

Although I still loved the Louvre and would pick that over the Orsay if I could only pick one museum to see in France, the Orsay gave you a more condensed "bang for your buck" (it's covered on the Museum Pass) and it would be a very close second.  It was smaller than the Louvre and even Jackson recognized many of the paintings--thank you Mrs. Tramm.

I was talking to my friend Jen about writing this post and about my feelings for the Orsay.  It was an awesome museum, with a spectacular collection of famous art.  And I understand *why* just so many people love it.  It really comes down to what's on your art bucket list, so to speak.  More than anything, I wanted to see the statues of the Venus de Milo and Winged Vicory and both of those were at the Louvre.  I'm sure that plays heavily into my feelings. Honestly, the architecture of the Orsay was beautiful--and to think that there was serious discussion of tearing it down when the local officials of Paris realized it couldn't be used as a train station anymore!

Sadly, they had a strictly enforced "NO PHOTO!!!" policy.  (But apparently I don't follow directions well)

 This picture says a lot...

Most of my pictures taken at the Orsay look like this...

Seeing Whistlers Mother was the highlight of my trip to the Orsay.  It was huge and discretely tucked into a corner! I actually walked by it the first time and didn't notice it (This is truly hard to imagine now because it actually is SO big).  

I absolutely *love* this picture.  It was one that I snapped quickly without really realizing what the entire frame looked like.  I wonder if these two guys know each other.  Or are they perfect strangers sharing a moment...

I'd love your vote.  All it takes is one little click on the picture below! Thanks!

The Mona Lisa (and a little Blog Hop!)

At the end of this fab post on our visit with Mona, My friend Casey is hosting a Fresh Face Blog Hop!  Be sure to link up, friends!

And now on to the Mona Lisa. Seriously, she's the size of a postage stamp.  Ok not *really*.  But honestly, it's really quite small.  I was surprise.  She seemed SO much bigger in The Da Vinci Code, which, in all honesty, I actually re-watched SEVERAL times before our visit to Paris, just so that I'd be that much more prepared for the Louvre. But Sophie and Robert got it SO wrong.  The actual Mona Lisa is so much smaller than they make her out to be, although I did totally recognize exactly where I was in the Grand Gallery because of the Parquet floors. When I saw the sign that said Grand Gallery, I totally wanted to run to the first painting that I saw to look for hidden messages written on priceless works of art with the black light I had strategically placed in my purse, or to look for hidden keys behind the paintings.  I could be Sophie and Steve could be Robert, right?!? But, sigh, Steve wouldn’t let me.  I swear, he ruins all the fun. And keeps me from getting arrested I suppose.  Maybe when we retire to Paris is a few years, I get a job giving Da Vinci Code tours in the Louvre.  I’m sure they’d LOVE that….

 See! She's tiny!  Impressive, but tiny.  I texted my dad a this picture of us and he said he was surprised that the room with the Mona Lisa wasn't more crowded--so I sent him this one from the back of the room.

Tory and Jackson with the Mona Lisa.  Jackson was less than thrilled since he wants to be an artist when he grows up and we told him we were taking him to see the most famous painting in the world.  He couldn't figure out why "some painting of some lady" was so famous.

See that smiling and happy momma above standing in that field of sunflowers? That's ME!  I'm so happy that you decided to stop by today and to visit my little blog about our family's adventures as a military family stationed in Italy.  We've got some great stories to tell you about and some even more awesome places to share with you, so please join us in our adventure by following my blog.  I love followers :) And you just never know when I'll decide to have a little give away for them.  And while you're here, please click on that little picture of that other tiny momma below.  Your click will count as a vote for me for Top Momma Blog! Thanks and see you real soon!

Welcome to the

FRESH FACE FRIDAY BLOG HOP!

No prompt, just fun!

Hosted by: Casey @ We Took the Road Less Traveled

Rules for hopping:

1| Follow your host & co-hosts (first 3 links), pretty please! 

2| Link up your blog's homepage or Bloglovin' page.

3| Hop around, meet new bloggers, and leave them love!

4| Have fun? Spread the word and share this blog hop with your friends!

5| Want to be a co-host? Click here for more info! 

Grab a button and share the blog hop love!

<center> <a href="http://www.wetooktheroadlesstraveled.com" target="_blank"><img alt="We Took the Road Less Traveled" src="http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff460/AFWife728/FRESHFACEFRIDAYNEWLOGO275x175_zpsc82dddae.jpg"/></a></center>

Tweet about this blog hop! Tweet

An InLinkz Link-up

See that blue link up there?  The one that says "An InLinkz Linkup"?  You have to click it to join the blog hop (sorry...just wanted to make sure everyone saw it....I'm old....I need directions, too!!!)

The Eiffel Tower, Some Tips

So, it's time to tell you about our visit to the Eiffel Tower.  I could start by telling you lots of important info about the tower itself--how it was built by Gustave Eiffel in 1889 for the World's Fair, it's still the tallest building in Paris, and millions of people visit it each year., but I don't want to waste your time with a bunch of facts by sounding like a tour guide.  You can google the rest, just like I did.

I'll be honest, I was a little disappointed in the tower. (I know, many of you are shocked and I've ruined your dream.  Sorry.) It's not that it wasn't beautiful, because it was. And it's the icoinc sight in Paris, and I'm nothing if I'm not a landmark groupie. I cannot tell you how many times I have said to the brats,  "Here stand in front of _________ (insert name of famous landmark here) and let me take your picture....stop wiggling and smile!  Lord, y'all are driving me crazy!!!! You'll appreciate this one day!!"

It's hard to describe being disappointed when seeing one of the most iconic landmarks in the world, certainly in Paris, but I was.  I saw a movie once where the main character walked around in Paris looking everywhere for the ET but kept missing it.  Impossible.  The tower was everywhere. 

It is everywhere and completely impossible to miss.  We made a big deal about buying the tickets to climb the tower.  Everything, literally everyone I talked to and everything I read said BUY YOUR TICKETS TO CLIMB THE TOWER AHEAD OF TIME AND ONLINE.  So I did. When everyone tends to tell me to do something, I tend to just do it.  I'm a follower that way. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason when they were put on sale and so my friend Shannon just continued to look at the website.  Finally the company that manages the tower released the block of tickets for the time period when were would be there and we bought ours.  That time period was literally sold out in a day. So my advice to you is, if climbing to the top of the tower is a must, BUY YOUR TICKETS TO CLIMB THE TOWER AHEAD OF TIME AND ONLINE--EARLY. Stalk the website. Here it is, by the way. 

Sorry, I digress.  When you pre-buy your ET tickets online, you're given a time to climb.  They are pretty strict about it, too, because we actually arrived 15 minutes early and they wouldn't *think* about letting us get in line until it was our time.  The cool thing (literally and figuratively) about the prebought tickets is that you get to take the elevator up.  I suppose you can skip the line and climb the stairs if you wanted to....you crazy person... We just took the elevator; we are smart that way.

The view from the top was nice.  Just nice.  It was a hazy and cloudy day, so everything was hazy and cloudy.  Meh.  I remember thinking, "I should be impressed.  I should be more excited!" But I just wasn't.  Climbing the tower was ok.  The view from the ET was ok, but honestly, the view from the Arc was just SO MUCH BETTER because it included the ET, I was less than impressed.  Would I do it again?  Probably not.

Once is enough. 

Here's some pictures: 

View of the tower from our apartment in Paris 

Oh my God, There it is!!

Under the tower: long lines of people waiting to climb to the top

Views from the top

Everything was just starting to bloom...

See that cute picture of the smiling momma below?  Would you do me a favor and just click on it.   By clicking on it, you'll vote for my blog as top mommy blog.  What do I win...nothing.  But it helps bring more readers to my blog and I'd appreciate that.  Thanks!