Europe Trip. Day 2: Paris, France

A city of romantics, art enthusiasts, and museum lovers. With over 50 museums and monuments included in and around Paris, we ought to get the the Paris Museum Pass and avoid the long queue, especially at the Louvre. We bought the 2-day passes during our visit to Musée Rodin for 39 euros each.

The closest station to the museum is Varenne, on Metro 13. For your information, there are 16 metro lines in total, numbered 1 to 14, along with two additional lines: 3bis and 7bis. It's about 180 meters to the museum. We stopped for breakfast before getting into the Musée Rodin line.

Simple French breakfast at Le Cafe de Musee

We waited in line for the museum to open at 10 am.

The Thinker, sculpture in its garden.

Les Invalides dome, opposite the museum.

Jacques de Wissant Monumental, 1888

Les Trois Ombres de Rodin also known as The Three Shades

Portrait of Père Tanguy, 1887

Posing mouth

We took a short break before heading to our next stops

Located opposite the Musée Rodin, Les Invalides contains museums and monuments whose entrance fees are included in the Museum Pass. We opted to start with Napoleon's Tomb from the south entrance.

Ornate golden door at the Les Invalides entrance

The sarcophagus of Napoleon Bonaparte located in the middle of circular hall

Entrance to the Cathédrale Saint-Louis des Invalides

The dome symbolizes triumphs of French Baroque architecture.

Tomb of Napoleon II, Les Invalides, Paris

Tomb of Ferdinand Foch—Dôme des Invalides

Les Invalides entrance from the south

Other than the tomb, the complex comprises the Musée de l'Armée, the Musée des Plans-Reliefs, and the Musée d'Histoire Contemporaine, which are included in the Museum Pass. We spent over an hour visiting one museum after another.

The formal name of Les Invalides

Room of artillery models and figurines

We get into the museum from the backside.

Old cannon rattles along the corridor at the main courtyard

War trophies decorating the inside of the Saint-Louis-des-Invalides Cathedral

Main entrance of the Musée de l'Armée from the courtyard

The two museums facing each other

A tidal island and mainland commune in Normandy, France.

French's muskets

Old chair

Among the impressive wealth of ancient collections

Exhibits explaining the evoking knights since the St. Louis reign

We exited the complex from the northern frontage

As we strolled along Esplanade des Invalides up to Pont Alexandre III, we saw many people relaxed in the open grass in the afternoon. Some of them having lunched. We joined the crowd for a while before crossing the Seine River to reach Grand Palais and Petit Palais on each side.

They were having packed lunch on the grass

We rather had lunch under shady trees

These men are having fun time playing with spinning top

Gilded sculpture on the socle

The red bus tour around Paris city

The Grand Palais is a large historic site, exhibition hall and museum

An art museum called Petit Palais

While enjoying the greenery view of Av des Champs-Elysées, we walked to the end of Place de la Concorde, where the Luxor Obelisk is situated. To the northeast, facing Place de la Madeleine, the mesmerized Rue Royale replicates the building.

In the Jardins des Champs-Élysées

At the end of the street is Place de la Madeleine in the 8th arrondissement of Paris.

One of the ancient Egyptian obelisk pairs. The other one at Luxor Temple

It was Nu'man's napping time so we skipped the Musée de l’Orangerie, located to the southeast of Place de la Concorde. After a short rest, we took the metro at Tuileries heading to Charles de Gaulle-Étoile station. And then we climbed up the Arc de Triomphe and enjoyed the Paris scene.

A must-visit site that is included in the museum pass.

Then we walked along Av. des Champs-Élysées for window shopping. There were many high-end boutiques elsewhere, like on Av Montaigne & Rue du Faub Saint-Honoré. Anyhow, we planned for shopping at designer outlets, which will be covered towards the end of this trip.

We called the day quite early since we had much yesterday. We packed a snack before we went back to the hotel in that afternoon.