Our plan for Easter Sunday, our last day in Paris, was to go early to Musee D'Orsay, one of Ed's favorite art museums. It's right on the Seine and we'd walked by it a few times already. I was looking forward to a less chaotic museum scene than that Louvre, and to squeezing in one more cool Paris experience before we had to go to the airport.
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| Musee d'Orsay |
But Sunday ended up being one of those days when nothing seems to line up quite right. For one, we'd gotten back so late the night before that we couldn't seem to get out of bed for quite a while. Our plan had been to go back to the hotel for our bags before going to the airport, but I thought that would be an unnecessary, time-consuming trip, and suggested we bring our bags to the museum and check them while we walked around. So we took the Metro to the museum, much later than we'd anticipated, and found that there was one of the longest lines I've ever see in front. It made the line for Louvre tickets seem laughably short. We regretted not purchasing the pass we'd seen advertised the day before, which would have let us into both the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay; with it, we could have simply entered from the side, where the wait looked to be only about five minutes long. I stood in line while Ed wandered around to see if there was another option for ticket-buying, but there didn't seem to be one. We figured it would take us at least 45 minutes to get through the line, and we had only about two hours to spend in the first place. The museum did not seem like a good option. So we had time to fill, and we were stuck carrying our suitcases around. Blast. Ed suggested a leisurely brunch, though I was still rather full from the night before. We walked away from the museum to try to find a place that wasn't too touristy and settled on yet another bistro with a red awning and tiny tables. This one, however, wasn't great. The waiter was rude, the food was mediocre and expensive, and I heard every language but French coming from the surrounding tables. Oh well. We hadn't had one of those experiences in Paris yet, and I'd heard they were the norm, so I guess we lucked out more often than not.
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| Area near the Musee d'Orsay |
The restaurant was in a pretty neighborhood at least, and so after eating we walked around a bit and ended up next to the Seine for a while. We walked out onto one of the bridges and sat for a bit, enjoying our last view of the city. Then we went underground to catch a train to the airport. This ended up being a bit of a confusing endeavor, but we did figure it out in the end and arrived at the airport intact. Because of our tickets, we got to sit in the Admiral's Club while we waited for the plane. Unfortunately, we ended up right next to a family with a very loud teenage son, and it was difficulty to concentrate on the book I was trying to read. Then a couple with three children all under the age of 5 came in. I muttered to Ed that I hoped they weren't on our flight. Not only were they, they were seated right in front of us, and the oldest kid was pretty loud and annoying. The stewardess was rude, and because we were on a different airplane model, the seats weren't as spacious (though they still reclined and were a million times better than a coach seat would have been). On the way to Paris, I hardly wanted get off the plane when we arrived. The way home was still nice, but less so.
Coming back from Europe is great, though, because the time difference really works in your favor. Our plane left Paris at 5:10 P.M. and we were back at Ed's apartment at 8:30! It was great to get in at a decent hour, and I got plenty of sleep that night before having to go back to work on Monday.
All in all, it was a pretty spectacular trip. We packed a lot of things into a very short time, but still managed to make it feel like a relaxing vacation. I absolutely loved visiting Paris with Ed, and am already looking forward to going back someday!
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