Arrival à Paris

I arrived in Paris (Charles De Gaulle airport) on August 13th at around 8:30 am. The flight was delayed nearly two hours which was in fact the only two hours I slept soundly during the flight. Once on the ground, I collected my bags and headed for the in-ariport Gare SNCF to catch an RER train to Paris. Easy as that might have seemed, I spent the next hour wandering the train station helplessly. I waited fifteen minutes in line for a train ticket to find out I needed 8.5 euro in change not bills. After wandering and asking some locals about the change machine, I resorted to ordering a sprite from a shop, receiving an espresso instead, which cost 1.55. I had just recieved a 10 euro bill and 8.45 in change - not enough. I was finally directed to the change machine - another fifteen minute wait followed by another wait for the train ticket machine. All this while I meant to hurry to my hostel to drop my luggage by the 11:00 deadline.

After braving the RER and two metro lines, I hustled the last few blocks to the Oops hostel on Rue Des Gobelins, hoping that the sweat on my brow would help me persuade the manager to allow me in past 11:00. Ironically, the luggage safe room was completely unlocked and unguarded day and night giving me free access to store my bags for the day.

Amidst some errands, I discovered that my ATM card does not work in France, or at least the 5 distributeurs automatique that I tried. I picked up a SIM card for my phone, which failed to light up the service bars on my phone. Nevertheless, I trekked via metro over to Musée d'Orsay happening upon the Louvre complex on my way.

View from under one of the Louvre's arches of IM Pei's pyramid entrance

Near the Louvre fountains, water vendors posing

Louvre, Bushes, Eiffel Tower

The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel outside the Louvre

Can you see the ferris wheel in between the trees?

Un bateau, le Louvre, ferris wheel, le Musée d'Orsay in that order

At the Musée d'Orsay, I scrutinized the first few rooms at escargot pace, inspired by this New York Times piece:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/03/arts/design/03abroad.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=look%20at%20art&st=cse .

I was soon losing steam and patience and picked up my pace as I travelled upstairs to the more famous rooms. Rock stars Degas, Manet, Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir, Seurat, were all there, joined by friends Sisley and Pissaro. I didn't take any pictures - the art is on the internet anyway. In the Monet room, I allowed myself a thirty minute nap, then pushed on. Around 5 PM I called it quits, returned to the hostel, and slumbered until 915. Wary of the time, I settled for a beer and steak-frites at L'interlude on Rue des Gobelins. The beer was good, the rest, not so much.