So, finding a new hotel and a cab to help move us was the easy part. Just a few kilometers away, we found the Hotel Victor Hugo - which was located between the Arc de Triumphe and the Eiffel Tower. And in fact, our nice room ended up having a really nice view of the tower - which was great to have.
However (yes, there is a “but” here), I forgot my Passport at the old hotel and Joanie forgot her back pack in the cab! Pretty lame, huh? The good news is that we called the cab company and for a small fee, they returned Joanie’s bag. And then of course for an additional small fee, they drove us over to the old hotel where I found my Passport right were I left it - under the mattress… even though the maid had already made up the bed for new tenants. What could have gone very wrong had a happy ending… and so our second day in Paris was off to an “interesting” start.
After picking up my Passport, we had our cabbie drop us off at the Orsay Museum. After waiting in not too long of a queue, we spent almost 2 hours there - admiring more Van Gogh and many of his buddies - Monet, Manet, Degas, Renior and many more. Just beautiful, magical paintings. My favorite of this has usually been Van Gogh’s landscapes, but there was a self portrait of him that was amazing - it seemed to come alive, as though it was in 3D. Really incredible to see these works of art in person.
After the Orsay, we purchased two tickets for the Paris hop-on, hop-off tour bus, like we did in Rome. Our first ride ended up being kind of short - in that we got off at the Champs Elysees and walked a few blocks (past all the high priced stores and cafes) to the Arc de Triumphe. Again, the size and detail of these European monuments is dazzling. From there it was a short walk to our neighborhood, where we stopped at our local café for some sweet crepes. Then after resting up back at our hotel… we hit the streets again.
Our hop-on, hop-off bus has a pick up spot very close to our hotel, so we went there to catch the next bus. And we then spent the next two hours touring Paris - seeing all the sights from the top deck. It was amazing!! And the weather was cooperating - after yesterday’s hot and muggy conditions, it had rained in the morning and the rest of the day was cloud cover and cool. A very relaxing, pleasant tour of Paris, taking tons of photos. After completing the 2 hour circle of Paris we were back in our neighborhood, where we had a fantastic Italian dinner, street-side of course - with a view of the Eiffel Tower from our table. A very “tre magnifique” day in Paris!
