paris, part 2

in paris we visited plenty of museums besides the louvre. the top two photos are from the pompidou, europe's largest modern art museum. it's housed in a very cool building and it was refreshing to see some more recent works in comparison to all of the older and ancient artworks we'd gotten so used to seeing. we also visited the musée d'orsay, which might have been my favorite museum in paris and probably the entire trip. the musée d'orsay has an incredible collection of 19th and 20th century art, and the museum is actually a renovated old train station—so neat! i especially loved seeing all of the familiar works by impressionists and post-impressionists. the degas and van gogh above are found in the musée d'orsay. we also went to the musée marmottan-monet, which is a private collection that includes quite a few works by monet. another highlight for me though was definitely the musée de l'orangerie. it's a pretty small museum located in the tuileries gardens, but it has eight large murals by monet and they were breathtaking. i could have stayed in there forever and i was so sad they had a strict 'no photography' policy.  i was also sad to miss the musée rodin because i came down with a sickness that was going around in our group by the time we got to paris. it was okay though, because i am lucky enough to have visited philadelphia's rodin museum. i guess i'll just have to make it to the musée rodin next time i'm in paris!

because we were in paris for so long, we got to see and do so much and we still had free time! it's probably not surprising that we spent our free time eating. we ate pastries and falafel in the marais, macarons on the champs élysées, gelato in the tuileries, cotton candy at the eiffel tower, french onion soup in the latin quarter, and crêpes and croissants everywhere. the best crêpes are by the eiffel tower, and we spent a whole lot of time hanging out there. we climbed the eiffel tower one night, which was physically exhausting, but so worth the beautiful view of paris by night. once it's dark, the tower lights up and every hour it sparkles. that sparkling is definitely one of the most magical things i've ever seen! our group took a boat ride on the seine one night, which is something i definitely recommend doing if you're ever in paris. it was fun and so beautiful and the view from the boat totally reminded us all of van gogh's starry night over the rhone.

our group also visited the chartres cathedral and the basilique du sacré-cœur. chartres was a beautiful, quaint little town, and it was fun to spend some time there. sacré-cœur is located at montmartre, the highest point in paris, and it has an incredible view of the entire city. montmartre wasn't my favorite, and we didn't spend very long there, as it's also the red-light district, but i know lots of people who really like that area. montmartre is also where the moulin  rouge is located and where the film amélie takes place, as well as the area where many artists and musicians lived and worked, which is neat. i loved paris and getting to see so much of it. we spent our last day there at versailles, which was amazing and over-the-top and deserving of its very own post!