Day 5 (Oct 6th): Saint Germain en Laye in Paris and Normandy travel log

Today was a whole day in Paris day with the cruise proper. We didn’t sleep well (probably still adjusting to sleeping on the boat?) and we woke up at 7:30. La Professeure slept in, but I got breakfast and hung out with the in-laws. Somehow we all managed to be ready by 9:30 to hop on a bus that would commute into the city. The bus ride was very bad, a lot of traffic, and the 30 minute commute took over an hour. The problem with being on the nice big boat is that it doesn’t have permit to dock in the Petite Paris, and so we have to dock at a suburb La Pecq. La Professeure and I both agreed that we would have preferred to be on a dinky small ship and be close to the city center than having to commute in.

Anyway, when we made it to the city, a tour guide talked through the bus tour around the Right Bank, all of which were sites we have already seen, and dropped us off at Notre Dame. La Professeure never had been inside, so it was something new for her. We ditched our group, popped in and out, and got lunch and some souvenir nearby. We had one thing on our agenda, to make it to Musee d’Orsay. Even though this is our vacation, I feel like we are doing all things that I wanted. Last time I was at Musee d’Orsay, the impressionist section of its permanent exhibit (which was why I went) was on loan to the DeYoung Museum and I couldn’t see it. And then a couple of months later I was at the DeYoung Museum where the exhibits were but couldn’t go in because we were on a schedule. But this time I finally got to see these exhibits. They were magnificent. I’m like impressionist paintings and I was having an enjoyable time looking through the originals of the Degas, Monets, Manets, Pizzaro, Cezzane, etc, many of them are famous and recognizable from everything from music book covers to chocolate commercials. They arranged the exhibits in sections in reverse chronological order, so it was nice to see the progression of the movement. The exhibit was also housed at the 5th floor, where the two clocks of the original train station were, and you can see out from behind the giant clock faces to the outside, to the Ile de Cite, the Louvre, the Right Bank, and all the way to Montmarte. So that was a good view.

I spent an hour at just the impressionist section (La Prof was done in half the time; she explored some other gallery), and then met up with La Professeure to roam the Museum with the time left before we have to take the bus back. I was happy she was impressed by the cut-out of the Opera Garner though. The museum was big - I’ve been there two times now and still have sections I haven’t seen.

After we got back, the boat actually started to set sail. It’s on its way to Vernon, which according to Google Map is only a 45 minutes drive away, but on the boat, which is crawling along at a pace slower than a bicycle, along the winding river, it would take 11 hours. But it makes for some good scenery for viewing.

Our vacation is at its half-way point now (it’s a 11-day vacation), and we finally started being on a moving ship. It’s definitely different from our last cruise.

Last updated October 23, 2015