Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Paris Centre Pompidou


Centre Pompidou is also known as the Pompidou Centre in English because English likes to annoyingly rename things even if it's only to change the order of the words. Regardless, or with less regard, the Center of Pompidou (because Americans like their -er endings to spell like it sounds) is a really cool looking modern art museum.

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Paris Louvre


The Louvre is world renowned and amazing so I don't need to write much. It's more fun and challenging taking pictures of statues from different angles instead of the paintings so most of my pics appear to be of statues and ceilings.

There was a longish security line outside. We immediately got our tickets from a kiosk after going down inside the pyramid since the lines inside were non-existent. The national strike reduced the crowds but the museum had several major sections closed. I think it was a fair trade with all things considered.

Monday, December 16, 2019

Paris Palais Garnier Opera House


Palais Garnier is the national opera house. I don't usually like being led around on a guided tour but this guided tour was great for the stories behind the building. The building is opulent but it'd be a shorter visit without the guide. The guided tour gets to sit down in front of the stage so that was a bonus and then you're free to walk around again afterwards for a fuller experience.

I wouldn't have thought of this as a destination but it was within walking distance of our hotel during the national strike. It was highly recommended through one of my wife's local friends. There's many other great things to see in Paris, but this is a pretty good one for the list if you're trying to figure out what to do in Paris in this area.

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Paris Grévin Museum


Grévin Paris Museum is a wax museum. I've been to several great wax museums, but this one is a step above the others because of the amount of work they've put into the rooms. The figures are all very life-like but they're scattered around in more realistic settings instead of just on display. There was a woman who was pretending to be a statue but we couldn't tell until she moved.

Paris 2019


We arrived in Paris at the beginning of the largest national strike in decades. We left a week later with no end in sight for the strike. It was still a great week of vacation for us since we saw most of what we planned despite the issues. It just required a lot more walking and adding a few taxis into the mix.