Their First Day in Paris

Sunday December 22, 1991

The first day in Paris was a big one. We covered probably as much ground as you could cover on your first day in Paris. We started out taking the RER C line in from Versailles to the Musee d’Orsay. My father had heard a lot about it and was interested in going there. When we got there the line was around the block, so we decided to try coming back early another time and go see other sites that day.

I had really enjoyed the whirlwind tour that I had taken on my first day (Louvre, Tuileries, Champs Elysee, Arc du Triomphe, and Eiffel Tower), so I thought it would be a great way for them to see it for their first time also. So from the Musee D’Orsay, we crossed the Seine and started in the Tuileries. We took it the atmosphere and proceeded to take goofy pictures of ourselves with the statues. My sister, Nancy, remembers: “The Tuileries gardens (along with those of Versailles) had statues covered with burlap sacks. Unusual as this seemed to us, it was funny because the occasional statue had a random arm sticking out of it because, I guess, it would take too much burlap to cover it.” “The trees were also quite unusual in France. It’s like they took a perfectly normal tree, cut all the branches off at a certain length and then new, thinner branches sprouted as offshoots. It’s really an odd way to grow a tree.”

We proceeded along the axis between the Louvre and the Arc du Triomphe and visited the Place de la Concorde. Then sauntered along the Champs Elysee to the Arc du Triomphe. At the Arc, we climbed to the top and saw one of the most interesting vantage points in Paris. It’s a spectacular panorama because it is a round point with street radiating out in all directions. Since almost all of Paris is only seven stories tall and the Arc is taller, you have unobstructed views all around. Plus there are great views of the Eiffel Tower, back down the Champs Elysee, and out toward La Defense. Up top, we took one of the best photos of my father and me.

After the Arc it was still not that late, so we backtracked and took the Metro down the axis and visited the Louvre. Although I had been living there for four months, it was another attraction which I had not visited yet. And as with the inside of the Chateau de Versailles, it turned out to be my only visit.

We saw the major sites. Primarily the Denon wing with the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus di Milo, and the large Italian paintings. I remember the Mona Lisa being much much smaller that I had expected it to be. I would actually say that I found it to be a bit of a let-down. But then again, it was housed in an absolutely huge room which featured enormous paintings on the other walls.

The Denon wing with it’s large Italian paintings was quite impressive. A long large well lit room with the paintings covering the walls to either side. The grandeur of that space may have also contributed to the impression of the Mona Lisa. Nancy remembers: “The two posters that I purchased at the Louvre – ones I still have – are a large one of the Mona Lisa and a small one of the coronation of Napoleon. I thought they were appropriate for a visit to Paris.”

After the Louvre it was the early evening, but would start to get dark soon. We thought we would try to get to the Eiffel Tower in order to see the city as it changed from dusk to dark. As we were crossing the Pont des Arts, a fashion photographer was taking photos of a model posing along the railing. It was cool to see since we were in a fashion capital.

It turns out we didn’t make it to the Eiffel Tower before dusk, but we did go up and saw the lights of the city at night. I’m fairly sure it was my first time up the tower, but unlike the Versailles Chateau and the Louvre, it would be my first visit of many.

At the end of this long day, we returned to Versailles to rest up so that we could prepare for our trip to Italy the next day.