No Creative Title: DAY THREE, PARIS

I swear, people reading this are going to be sorry they asked me to post pictures. I thought the "day one" had a lot....then "day two" had more...and "day three".... Yeah. More.

Anyone who knows me knows that when I have a plan of action in my head, I like to stick to it. Any deviation from the plan moves my cheese. And I dont like that. Day Three moved my cheese... We started out at Ste Chappelle. We got there as soon as it opened, because there tends to be a line as they day goes on. So we hopped the metro....

and were at Ste Chappelle by the time the doors opened. Or were supposed to open. Apparently some dignitary was set to visit, so the public wasnt allowed in. Not to worry, we did get back to it -- but you'll have to wait a few days for it...

Instead, we headed over to the Orangerie. This is a museum tucked in the Tuillerie Gardens, and has been closed for renovations every time I've tried to go to it. Rumor had it there were some beautiful Monet panels there. I'm so glad I didnt know more than that. Not knowing what to expect when we walked in, it took my breath away. The first thing I managed to say to Mom was, "It's so pretty I could cry."

Oval-shaped room, 4 HUGE panels of GORGEOUS Monet Water Lily paintings with doorways in between each panel. I sort of didnt want to leave. But there was a second room. Same layout. Four more panels. If you looked down from overhead, the rooms are shaped like an infinity symbol. Apparently Monet was commissioned to create the panels specifically for this space and they were designed to be hung in such a way that you felt like you were part of the water.

Ok, I'm going to stop trying to describe them...because I cant do it justice. The pictures dont either. Seriously? I've never seen anything so beautiful.

Downstairs, there were several other beautiful paintings, too. Several by Renoir, one Picasso, and others I vaguely remembered from High School French, but this (Renoir) was my favorite.

Just outside of the museum, they had a replica of my favorite Rodin sculpture, The Kiss. The Rodin Museum was on the list of "if we have time we'll try to get there..." but we didnt have time. But at least we got to see this one!

After lunch we headed over to the Opera.

By the end of all the France postings, you'll see a trend of statue faces... These are all out in the front of the Opera -- under the names of composers. I think they're supposed to be muses, but I'm not positive.....

Inside the foyer... There are statues of composers.....

The main staircase leading up to the auditorium. This is the first time I've bothered to take pictures inside -- usually it's too crowded and I've never wanted to waste film in a dark place... The color isnt great on these lobby shots, but you get the idea...

Downstairs there was a neat exhibit with props and costumes and art from ballets that have been performed here....

The Gallerie la Fayette is right around the corner from the Opera, and since we had some time to kill before meeting for dinner, we gave the kids some free time to roam through the mall... Mom and I went up to the observation deck -- and even tho it was dark and gloomy (it actually rained pretty hard about 14 seconds after I took this), I thought this was a neat shot. Everyone knows the Eiffel Tower is big. But you never really get a sense of HOW big until you see it from this vantage point.