Due to the excesses of the night before, we didn’t get going until 11 am, so a last minute change of plans, shortened considerably.  We took the metro down to the Place de la Concorde with the intent to tour the Musee de l’Orangerie.  We got a bit sidetracked by our first encounter with Fashion Week Paris which is this week.  There were so many photographers with big cameras and big lenses, we decided to see what was up.  Turned out there was a show, Carven, and the invitees were passing through the crowd, and at least one model as well.  We surely didn’t recognize anyone, but other people did.

Photographers shooting the fashion show attendees

You could tell the attendees not only by the frenzy of the photographers, but they also carried invitations.

A fashion show attendee poses for the photographers

We watched for a bit and then turned our attention to the real stars of Paris, the collection of Monet’s giant water lily paintings.  Two large naturally lit rooms hold 8 giant paintings, seen the way Monet intended.  It was wonderful.

A postcard of one of Monet’s giant water lily paintings

Being in no big hurry, we strolled the length of Avenue des Champs-Elysees from Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe.  We did a bit of window shopping, but it was an expensive street.

The bronze plaque in the ground in the Place de la Concorde marking the spot where the guillotine stood and where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette plus more than 1000 others lost their heads.

Window shopping along Champs-Elysees

Arc de Triomphe

We made our way back to the apartment to rest, passing once again Sacre-Coeur looking more splendid with a blue sky as a backdrop.

The plan was to head down to the Eiffel Tower at 6 pm and wait for the lights to come on, which is exactly what we did.

This statue, like the rest of us, seems to wait for the Eiffel Tower lights

The only place we saw Je Suis Charlie was on a crepe stand at the base of the Eiffel Tower

And finally at 7 pm we not disappointed and the sparkling lights put the “light” in City Of Lights

We had dinner at the Cafe Trocadero (a tasty fish soup and goat cheese something or other) and from there made our way via metro to the Arc de Triomphe to take the photos in the previous post.  It was our night photo excursion, and it was beautiful.  Our last use of the 4 day Museum Pass was getting to ride the lift up to the top of the Arc and not having to take the stairs.