In the midst of Charlie Hebdo: Louvre, Louis Vuitton flagship store, Musee d'Orsay - January 7-8, 2015

Trip Index

• Preparations for Paris honeymoon, heading to PHL, BA Galleries First lounge
• BA First, Concorde Room, BA Club Europe, Hotel Le Grand, Bonne Annee!
• Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, cruising on the Seine, Louvre
• Hotel Indigo, Musee de l'Armee, Arc de Triomphe, Versailles
• In the midst of Charlie Hebdo: Louvre, Louis Vuitton flagship store, Musee d'Orsay
• Crazy journey home - United flight cancellation, compensation, Global Entry, surprise upgrades

***

Late Wednesday morning, we woke up to what seemed like never-ending police car sirens.  What was going on?  We slowly rose out of bed getting ready for the day, then turned on the TV.  The top story on the news channel - a terrorist attack at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical weekly newspaper, located two miles away from our hotel, Hotel Indigo Paris - Opera, though at the time, we didn't know it was that close.  The suspects were armed and still at large, but that didn't stop people from walking on the streets, treating it like a normal day.  We didn't cancel our plans to visit the Louvre today since the Parisians didn't seem to be worried and there was no announcement from authorities to stay indoors.

I read about a separate entrance to the Louvre located at Le Carrousel du Louvre shopping mall.  It was a bit hard to find but we managed to spot the small glass door entrance on the corner of Rue de Rivoli and Place du Carrousel.  The Louvre entrance was all the way in the back of the mall.  It was hard to tell that there was a separate line for Paris Museum Pass holders, but there was so if you can't see it, ask the security staff standing in front of the stanchions.  Given today's events, the line for this "secret" entrance was a bit long due to extra security checks, but probably was much shorter than the line at the Louvre's main entrance.

Kaleb and I purchased audio guides using a credit card at the automated ticket machines, bypassing the line at the audio guide desk.  The ticket was exchanged quickly at the designated area of the audio guide desk.  The equipment was a Nintendo 3DS XL.  The power supply quickly depleted if you kept the display on, so it was best to not hold it up and just let it dangle on the lanyard, which automatically dimmed the screen.  (if you ran out of battery, you could exchange it for a fresh one)

We went our separate ways so we could enjoy the artwork on our own schedule and tastes.

I love looking at the large format paintings

The Wedding Feast at Cana

Liberty Leading the People

Coronation of Napoleon I

The Battle of David and Goliath...

...cool "two-sided" painting

There were artists scattered throughout the halls, recreating masterpieces...makes you wonder if you are looking at the real thing or an imitation, with the actual piece locked away somewhere.

the copy looks pretty good

Kaleb and I met up at a specific time at the pyramid reception area for lunch.  I didn't see anything I wanted to eat within the Louvre (tired of Paul baguette sandwiches) so we went back to the Carrousel Mall to eat at the food court.  The selections weren't very good.  McDonald's would have been better.

paella and jamon, not recommended

We returned to the Louvre and toured other exhibitions and Napoleon III's apartments together.

After we were done with the Louvre, we walked down the Champs-Elysees to visit the Louis Vuitton flagship store and perhaps purchase something.  As we weren't very well dressed, we hardly attracted any attention from the many salespeople standing around, which was good so I could visit all the floors of the store without any distraction.  On the top floor was an art gallery but I didn't take any time to visit it since it was getting late.  We went back down to the ground floor.  I didn't see the purse I was interested in, so I stood there waiting for a bit and it seemed none of the idle salespeople would approach.  Maybe they already had clients browsing and couldn't break from them.  A few minutes later, a salesperson finished with a customer and asked if I needed any help.  I inquired about the purse I wanted to see and she said that they were sold out of it, but would pull out some recommendations from the back room.  I ended up really liking one of the designs she showed me, so I bought it, along with a long wallet that I had my eye on to give to my mom.  Since prices are set at fixed times during the year and could not change despite the crashing euro value, the exchange rate to USD was so good that the money I "saved" due to purchasing in euros plus the VAT refund made the wallet practically "free".  The salesperson gave a clear explanation of what I needed to do to get the refund at the airport.  The only hiccup happened when I used my AMEX Platinum Card to pay but the transaction didn't go through.  AMEX doesn't require travel notification forms, but sometimes they'll send you an email or text asking if a pending charge is valid before authorizing it, which happened tonight.  Since I didn't have data or wi-fi on my phone, I couldn't verify the purchase, so it got denied.  Fortunately I had other credit cards, so I used a different one with no issues. (since I submitted a travel notification for it!)

outside the mothership

Reggia hobo in Damier Ebene

Zippy organizer in Damier Ebene

Even tonight, the Charlie Hebdo suspects remained at large, but everyone went about their business as usual.

Thursday was our last full day in Paris.  We got up late and headed over to the Musee d'Orsay, the site of an old train station, home to the largest collection of impressionist art.  The line to get in was long and moved slowly, even for the Paris Museum Pass queue.  It seems like security was a bit tighter here.  No photos were allowed in the museum.  We had lunch at Cafe Campana, located on the top floor by one of the big clocks.  If the architecture looks somewhat familiar to you, perhaps you have watched the movie "Hugo", its train station inspired by Orsay.  The food in the cafe was very good, though the "fresh" fruit dessert salad was a bit strange.

old train station turned museum

big clock

fish and rice special

mushroom pie with salad

minuscule pieces of fruit

We walked around the city some more and stopped by Pierre Herme one last time to pick up some macarons to take home.

locks on bridges are very popular

20 pieces of heaven

The Charlie Hebdo suspects had been spotted outside of Paris, but still not apprehended.

Our honeymoon comes to a close!  Heading home tomorrow...or so we thought...

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