Arc de Triomphe - walk Champs Élysées -Orangerie Musee

It's 9:30AM and Bonnie and Jane are still asleep. Think I will try to sort my suitcase while waiting for them to get up. It's really a jumbled mess alas I keep looking for things in a hurry and then of course I can never find what I am looking for. Today my goal is to find my pacemaker badge as we are starting to run into many electronic security gates and this badge give me an automatic pass thur around the gate...found it. By 11:30 we were out the door and on our way to the Metro, that with a few changes would take us to the front of the Arc de Triomphe. As always a great photo stop just out of the Metro. Under the street we went into the Arc....Martha asked about a lift to the top but they said it was out of order so following our leader who bounded ahead of us it was up the 284 steps to the top...another great great of Paris. After lots of pictures and a stop in the shop area it, it was back down the 284 steps. Much easier going down.

When we left this morning we had sunshine but by the time we starting walking down the Avenue Champs Élysées the sun went away and raindrops came. But only lightly so we continued our walk stopping in several wonderful stores an galleries shopping areas. In the Peugeot car dealership, I purchased a model of the new concept car they had on display for Phil.. How about that... I bought my husband a car in Paris...it should fit well in our curio cabinet. Only small items are allowed as my bags are small. Have a Keychain from Versailles and now one from Paris that has the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and the Arc de Triomphe all on one keychain. I did find myself a lovely scarf to wear...as in Paris, you are not dressed unless you have a beautiful scarf tied around your neck. Even the men are wearing them. A stop in Starbucks, coffee for the other girls and we all shared a plate of scones.

By the time we had gotten to the Tuileries Gardens it was time to put on my green rain poncho.. Not the most attractive jacket but it works ever so well to keep me dry also covers my daypack. The night of our wet excursion to the Eiffel Tower I was holding it out in front to help cover my feet as we walked in pouring rain. But anyway back to my story. Our goal was Musee De L'Orangerie where we again found long lines, but our guide, Martha knew just where and how we could bypass these long lines with our Master Musee Pass. Our pass is only good for 6 days so rain or sun we will be out making use of these before they expire.

The Musee De L'Orangerie is a lovely smaller Musee that focus mostly on the work of Claude Monet especially his wonderful circle gallery of the Water Lilies. In addition paintings by Renoir, Cezanne,Matisse, Derain and my least favorite Picasso. By this time my little iPod, which I am using for a camera was running low on battery so with a look around I found a plug in the corner of a small room where I got a much needed recharge. I am getting smarter as I now carry my plug with me and twice now have found places to recharge. I am really enjoying using this as my camera, yes, the pictures are not as great as the girls with the cameras and I could Carry my IPad which is what I am typing on now.....but that little iPod just slips right out of my purse so easy and I am really enjoying how easy it is to use......it's 12:30 and I just got a call from Martha that they are still touring at Versailles...she said it is an absolute zoo today. So guess I will have time to work on getting caught up on another day.

I will however finish up Monday by said that we made a stop on the way home, purchased the making of dinner and had a lovely evening at home complete with a late nite snack of cheese, bread, wine and of course chocolate before heading off to bed just before midnight.