Best Creative Friday Ever--Part II

Michelle and I walked down the stairs after crossing the bridge and saw this one man band taking a break. I loved the look of his set up and the view of the Musée d'Orsay across the river.

Park signage.

Immediately upon entering the garden we were treated to gorgeous views. Apparently everything in Paris is picturesque (except for a few things I saw which I'd rather not mention for fear of tainting my posts).

This is the view up those stairs, even having strangers in the background is okay with me because they're part of the art.

Of course we had to take a self-portrait there, notice it was still warm enough that we hadn't put on our coats yet even though people all around us were wearing coats, hats and scarves...what the?

I adore that there are chairs all over the place and love the groupings they end up in. Sometimes there are just one or two chairs together and sometimes there's a bunch of them. No matter how they end up lots of people love and use them.


We had an errand to run for Michelle's niece at the Musée de l'Orangerie gift shop (best errand ever) and I'm so glad we had to go there (the actual museum wasn't on our route because I went there last time I was in Paris).


The beauty of having to run that errand was that when we were done with it we walked over to some nearby chairs and had the best, most relaxing and visually beautiful hour-long rest/chat of my whole trip!


We had a view of the Eiffel Tower, Place de la Concorde, fountains, and a bunch of other beautiful buildings and trees. It was the perfect resting place. (The view slightly to the left.)

This was the view directly in front of us.

The view slightly to the right.

We sat there long enough to see the clouds move and the sky change multiple times, and long enough for us to actually get cold and have to put on our coats and scarves!

It was the debut of my Paris scarf!
{Photo by Michelle}

Earlier in the trip I had tried to get a great Eiffel Tower reflection photo like Jane's daughter did this summer, but couldn't seem to do it, so this reflection in my sunglasses will have to do.


It was a little sad to leave our perfect spot, but we were sufficiently rested and hadn't even explored the Tuileries yet so we had to go. Adieu awesome chairs!


There were tons of people in the park enjoying themselves, but it still felt like it was ours.


The fountains weren't on but the water and cymbals were still beautiful. It would have been nice to see and hear the water bouncing off the cymbals though.

Another self-portrait.

How adorable is this old couple?

We loved the attitude of this full-figured statue woman. Most of the women in early art were ample-bodied you know, none of this modern-day, praying-mantis body type stuff going on. Apparently I was born in the wrong century!

We were snapping photos of the trees and chairs and surrounding beauty like crazy, but were both panicking because our memory cards were almost full. I had taken 2000 photos at this point in my trip and still had 2 days to go!


We were giddy to be there enjoying such a gorgeous fall day. It couldn't have been better!


We sat down to eat at an outdoor cafe (why don't we have those?) and I just had to rig up a self-timer shot to document where we were.

This was the view from where we sat!

We ordered hot chocolate and crêpes (chocolate for Michelle, butter & sugar for me). It was the best crêpe ever! I don't usually like them because they're so eggy tasting, but this wasn't eggy at all. More like a really thin, awesome pancake. Oh my goodness!


We were so pleased to be sipping in such a beautiful place, and were glad not to have tiny cups this time because we were cold and hungry.

I sip, I'm a sipper.


Pricey little snack eh? But oh so worth it.

I can't even tell you how delightful it was to document this artistic scene and have them be our own dishes.


The sun was going down (we couldn't have timed this better if we'd tried) and made everything all golden and wonderful.


We came across a little pond with boats to play with. Only 2 euros for a half hour with a boat and a long stick to push it with, French kids have all the fun!

One last self-portrait for the day.

We headed over to the other raised garden (identical to the one we sat at the week before) to sit on a bench and take it all in. There were no pigeons to be seen this time, so they must have been settling in for the night.


The sun went down behind us and brought out all the nighttime splendor. We were trying to find a bus to take us to see the Champs-Elysées at night. (We had noticed that there were lights hung in the trees, so we wanted to see them at night.)

We walked a few blocks and did some souvenir shopping along the way. We were happily picking out multiple scarves at one shop, when they turned off the lights and started pushing the racks into the store. We asked them if we could buy the scarves and they said, "Come back tomorrow." Can you imagine?! It was a total FRANCE! moment. (If we weren't nice Mormon girls we could have easily walked off with those scarves and I don't think they would have cared at all.)

{Photo by Michelle}

We finally made it to the Champs-Elysées (after meeting a Brazilian woman who was looking for it also) and found a bus, but like 10 seconds after getting on the bus it turned and went down another street! It was too funny. We had noticed that the trees weren't lit up though, so it was a bust either way.


The bus dropped us off several blocks from the apartment (oh good, more walking) but we were able to see more beautiful places. The city at night is really just as beautiful as during the day, it's just harder to photograph.


The Eiffel Tower had black and purple lights that night and looked oh so cool. We made it back to the apartment around 8:30 (10 hours after we'd left) just in time to see Max and Lucas heading out to see an Eiffel Tower light show. (Apparently they're practicing for some big New Year's display.)


Michelle and I got Grecs again (my mouth is watering just looking at this picture...oh torture) and collapsed. We did really well and probably could have stayed out longer if our bladders could have made it, but 10 hours is a long time!

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: I am seriously trying not to slump on the bed sobbing as I recall that this post is what I was doing last Friday, and this Friday I am home in my pajamas looking for Halloween bingo cards for Whitney's class party. Oh the humanity!