Impressionism, Monuments, and Couscous

Paris Day 3
Today began at the Musee D’Orsay. It is an old, elaborate train station which was converted to a museum dedicated to Impressionism. We saw paintings from Monet to Seurat. Some favorites were Monet and Van Gogh. The view from the top of the museum gave a great overview of North Paris.
For lunch Brodie and I ordered pizza at a local restaurant and took it back to Jonathan at the hotel. He slept late after his night adventure. We are getting pretty good at ordering in French.

Eiffel Tower
After the Musee D’Orsay, we headed to the Eiffel Tower. The line to go to the top was a three hour wait, so we took our pictures at the base and decided to walk around the area. We went through a tree lined park which led from the Eiffel Tower to the National Military Academy (Napolean trained here). Then we went past the Hotel d’ Invalides – originally built by Louis XIV as a home for wounded and old war veterans – the first VA! We took pictures around the empty moat which surrounds it and wandered through the gardens.

Red Light District
We next took the Metro to the Monmarte district – the infamous Moulon Rouge is first sight one sees when emerging from the Metro. We checked out the discotech – La Locamotive – which is right next door to Moulon Rouge. Brodie is going to scope out the disco tonight.
For dinner we found a great Moroccan restaurant. The couscous was suppose to be the best in Paris and we agree.

Phantom of the Opera
Our next adventure was looking at the Old Opera House. We took the Metro to it and were impressed. After getting some water and donuts at a Starbucks nearby which looks like it is a refurbished hotel lobby, we headed back to the room.

World Cup
Our hotel is near a popular hang-out area and the noise from the streets drifted up to our room. Large crowds gathered at the cafes to watch the world cup game of France and some other team. We didn’t need to watch the game – we could hear what was going on by the sound of the crowd. France won and we are still hearing the victory celebration three hours after the game.