Hi friends, welcome back to my Paris and London Anniversary series 🙂 After wandering the streets of Montmartre, Jon and I briskly walked back towards Saint Germain for our second excursion of the day, The Musee d’Orsay. We were very glad that the walk was downhill this time. We walked through the elegant Place Vendôme. This area was originally designed by Louis XIV and called “Place Louis le Grand”, but Napoleon removed the statue of Louis and replaced it with this large column to commemorate the victory at Austerlitz. The Place Vendôme is now filled with high end luxury stores and the Ritz Paris, one of the fanciest hotels in the world. The hotel is also where Princess Diana had her final meal before her fatal car crash.
If you look closely, you can find one of the original meter signs around the city in the Place VendĂ´me.
Jon and I were a bit tired from our trek by the time we got to the museum, but we were determined to make the most of it. The Orsay Museum is located inside the old Gare de O’rsay train station that was almost demolished before becoming a museum in 1986. It showcases art from 1848-1914, beginning right where the Louvre’s collection ended. This museum is most known for its expansive collection of Impressionist art, including works from Monet, Renoir, and Van Gogh.
The Birth of Venus by Alexandre Cabanel
Some work by Monet. Unfortunately we didn’t make it to see his famous Water Lillies at Musee de l’Orangerie.
I liked this polar bear called Ours Blanc by François Pompon.
The highlight of this museum is the Vincent Van Gogh collection on the top level.
His last self portrait.
You can see all the way to Sacre Coeur where we were that morning! We definitely got our steps in.
After our busy morning we were a little tired to truly enjoy the museum. We thought the Musee d’Orsay was cool, but we personally liked the Louvre a lot better. The more modern style art isn’t our cup of tea, but the museum is definitely worth visiting. We spent about two hours in here but you could easily spend more time than that. I also think we also had a bit of museum fatigue after seeing Versailles and the Louvre the days before. I felt like this lady below by the end of our excursion 🙂
For dinner we had our first and only crepes of the trip at Café Breziah. I can’t find the English menu to say what we ordered, but the crepes and gallettes were delicious! Galettes differ from crepes because they are made of buckwheat and typically are more savory filled with ham and/or eggs. This wasn’t the most filling dinner, but we thoroughly enjoyed the gourmet crepes and galettes.
We had the best first wedding anniversary and fourth day in Paris! Being able to spend our anniversary exploring Paris together was so special. We walked over 24,000 steps this day and were very exhausted by the end of the day. We were supposed to have our anniversary photoshoot the following morning, but we rescheduled due to a rainstorm, so we were looking forward to sleeping in a bit the following morning and a slower day. Stay tuned for day 5 🙂
Posts in my Paris and London Anniversary series:
- Day 1 – Saint Chapelle, the Concierge, and Notre Dame
- Day 2 – Palace of Versailles
- Day 2 – Versailles Garden
- Day 2 – Touring the Versailles Summer Homes
- Day 3 – Louvre Museum
- Day 3 – Champs Elysees & Arc de Triomphe
- Day 4 – Montmartre & Sacre Coeur
