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Sunday, March 06, 2005

First Sunday

Today my daughter woke up and said she was cold. She says "maybe it's warmer outside. Today is SUN day right?"

On the first Sunday of the month, most of the National museums in Paris have free entry for the day. These include: the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, Musee D'Orsay, Centre Pompidou, Musee de Cluny, Sainte Chapelle, Musee Picasso, Musee Rodin, Chateau de Versailles, Conciergie, Musee des Arts D'Afrique et D'Oceanie, le Musée national des Arts et Traditions, Musée national des Arts asiatiques-Guimet, and Musée national Eugène Delacroix.

I think the last time I took advantage of this free museum day was one of the first months I arrived in Paris. My friend asked if I'd like to go to the Louvre with her. I think we stood on line for an hour that day waiting to get into the Louvre. It turned me off of ever taking advantage of these free admission days. However, a friend of mine has been talking about how she goes to the museums with the kids on the first Sunday of the month and it really isn't that bad. So I planned to try it this Sunday with the kids.


So we got ourselves up and going and headed to l'Arc de Triomphe on the Place de l'Etoile. I'd taken a tour here a few months ago, but thought the children would like to go to the top. There was no line. We walked right up and got our free entry tickets. When we are about to start climbing the stairs up to the top, the person collecting the tickets asked if I wanted to take the elevator. Me? 284 steps? Bag of lunch stuff? Folded stroller? Baby Doll? .....Yes, of course I'll take the elevator. I didn't even know it existed. Of course, my son begged to climb the stairs. But we took the glass elevator up and it was a quick ride. The kids really enjoyed checking out all the different views from the top of the Arc de Triomphe... where is the Champs Elysees? where is Daddy's office? where does my friend live? The kids imagined they could see all the specific buildings they were looking for.


We did use the stairs on the way down. After that we took a walk on the Champs Elysees and had a picnic lunch. The kids were still hungry after sandwiches, so we had a hot chocolate (son) and vanilla ice cream (daughter) at Hagan Dazs. It was a pleasant afternoon -- even my son said so (perhaps because he bought another medallion?). Now we are home and my son is trying to finish up his homework that is due tomorrow.

-- said Auntie M in Paris
3:41 PM

11 comments

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Comments:
Bonjour! Greetings from across the pond. What a delightful Sunday you had. Oh, it is almost spring and I long to visit Paris again. Soon, very soon.

Thank you for all the glorious links.

Before I forget let me say:
"Hello, Michele sent me." Yes, Auntie M, TAG you are it.

# posted by Michele : 5:47 AM  

hello Michele sent me.

am I first? I mean after Michele of course

# posted by tommy : 6:01 AM  

Sounds like you had a perfectly lovely day - and you wrote it down. Now, you'll probably never forget it - isn't that wonderful? Michele sent me!

# posted by Lynda : 6:28 AM  

What a delightful site! Another Auntie Mame afficando??? Too wonderful!!

Oh and michele sent me :)

# posted by wavybrains : 7:30 AM  

Hi! Nice blog! Michele sent me. Avez-vous une bonne journée!

# posted by milchfrommler : 8:51 AM  

Hiya, Michele sent me.

I'm an Aussie expat living in New Zealand so I love reading about other people living in strange countries! Though I imagine the difference between France and the USA is far greater than Australia and NZ.

# posted by Frally : 10:17 AM  

Hello, Michele sent me. This was a lovely post. I'll be back again later to read more.

# posted by Ella : 10:45 AM  

Hello to all of Michele's friends. Thank you for visiting my blog.

# posted by Auntie M in Paris : 12:57 PM  

Bonjour Auntie M! So nice to hear about your lovely Sunday in Paris. J'aime Paris. Michele sent me.. Have a wonderful day!

Marie
http://practigal.typepad.com

# posted by Marie : 2:15 PM  

When I was in Chicago, we happened to be museum hopping on a free day. It just so happens that all the schools take advantage of the free day... we couldn't get near any of the paintings at the Chicago Museum of Art. It was nice to see the kids appreciating fine art, but I wanted to appreciate it as well! :)

# posted by Margie : 2:34 PM  

Thank you for always! including really wonderful links - my favorites re: Paris is getting really big.

I suppose it's easy to feel like putting off to another "free museum" day to go - we live around the corner from the zoo and have though like that for 10 yrs about the free days... Wow! you lucked out at the Louvre though! Terry in SF

# posted by Anonymous : 3:29 PM  

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