Paris Day 4

l'Opéra Bastille

La Colonne Juillet

On Monday, Oct. 26th, Julien and I did a little sightseeing and a lot of wandering. After sketching a rough plan on a map, we headed to Place de la Bastille. The Bastille was a prison and arms storage facility, stormed by citizens looking to arm themselves just prior to the French revolution. The July Column marks the site, but is actually a monument to the Revolution of 1830 which overthrew Charles X. The original Bastille fort is gone.

We moved north-west to the Musée Picasso, which was closed for construction. We moved on to the Musée de l'Histoire de France, where we hoped to see some famous historic documents. The building was closed on Mondays, as was the nearby Musée de Nature et de Chasse (hunting). So we wandered a bit more in the Marais section before taking a metro to try our last intinerary possibility - Le Centre des Arts et Métiers, a science and industry museum. The replica TGV pilot's cabin outside the museum was locked, as was the museum itself - also closed on Mondays. As Julien and I ate lunch, I recieved a text from friend and GTL student Alex inviting me to his Uncle's apartment to hang out. Alex's uncle is ambassador of the arts (not sure the exact title) of Sweden to France. The apartment was pretty incredible, and we had tea and swedish biscuits furnished by Alex's Grandmother, along with Sohail and Alex's older brother. After tea, we headed to a bar for happy hour, essentially giving up on Paris for the day.