Versailles, D'Orsay, L'Orangerie, Pompidou (Paris Day 3)

Today we woke up really early again so we could take a train to the city of Versailles.  This is where King Louis XIV decided to live and eventually was taken over in a rebellion at the start of the French Revolution when King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette lived there.  The palace was amazing.  The grounds contain a palace, a garden, and a Queen’s apartment.  Somehow we managed to cut the hour long line and walk right in.  Not only was the house furnished with some of the original furniture and rugs and tapestries, but it also contained murals and pieces of art along with statues of important people in French history such as Joan of Arc, Laplace, L’Hopital and a lot of other important figures in French history. 

After touring the palace, we found out that it was an additional cost to see the gardens and decided to opt out.  We then went to the Queen’s apartment which was about a 15 minute walk.  Located here was where guests would stay and there was also a smaller garden which was still gorgeous to look at.  The Queen’s apartment was Cara’s favorite because the house was built in a pink marble!  To make the trek back to the front of the palace grounds, we found a tram.  Little did we know it though, the tram ended inside of the garden we originally thought was too expensive to enter.  We ended up getting to see it for free and skipped a 15 minute walk!  

When we finished our tour of Versailles, we headed back to Paris.  We went to two smaller museums.  First, the Musee D’Orsay, which has some original pieces by Monet, Manet and Van Gogh.  This museum was originally the central train station for Paris and was later transformed into a museum.  After this museum we went to an even smaller museum, Musee L’Orangerie, which dedicates two whole rooms to the original water lily series of paintings by Monet.  It was very pretty to see them laid out in the rooms.  This museum also housed many impressionist paintings.  After these two museums, we stopped at the Place de la Concorde.  Here is where many statues, a fountain, and an obelisk are located.  We then decided to head back to the hostel and take another nap.  

After our nap, we went to the Pompidou.  This is Paris’s biggest collection of modern art and holds many paintings by Picasso.  One of the floors is dedicated to art from 1960 to the present.  Most of the art in this section was very odd, but it was neat seeing what many people think of as art.  For dinner, we went to a traditional French restaurant on Rue Moufftard.  It was located right next to our hostel.  Jose and Cara had pasta with salmon and Jamie had crispy pork ribs.  After dinner, we had some wine and called it a night.