Third times the charm: Paris with Julie, Day 3

Being this is my third time in Paris, many of the things I did this week were repeats with Julie so if it seems like we did almost nothing, it's not that, it's just that you've heard it before. Julie will have to blog about her experiences! :-)

Anyway, after our late night/early morning return from the bike trip, we tried to take it easy in the morning before meeting at the Jardin du Luxembourg. I decided to finally visit the Musee National du Moyen Age, otherwise known as the Cluny. This museum houses art of all kinds from the medieval ages, but is most famous for three things:

1. Location: The museum itself is half Roman bath, half medieval abbey so just looking up where you are is quite extraordinary. 
2. Stone heads from Notre Dame: During the French Revolution, people went a bit nuts about kings (not in a good way) and discovering that Notre Dame had a whole line of them on the front facade, cut all their stone heads off. Turns out these were Biblical kings, not French ones. Anyway, someone had the foresight to snag the heads and they were found buried in 1977 in the basement of a Parisian bank. 
3. Lady and the Unicorn tapestry: A fiction book was written about it, but nothing prepares you for how extraordinary these tapestries are. There are six separate ones that combine for one big effect and take up an entire room. 

Overall, it was an enjoyable experience, not exactly up there with the Louvre or Carnavalet in my book, but for my third time it seemed appropriate.

Wandered over to Jardin du Luxembourg to find that once again (!) they were doing major construction on the grounds and my picturesque picture would be ruined by heavy equipment. Oh well. My consolation though was it was boat day in the huge fountain. A vendor rents out toy sailboats (they're huge though) for kids to push around. It was so fun to sit back and watch these little kids get soooo excited about their boats! One little boy was shaking with excitement every time his boat came close enough to the wall to push away and another little girl nearly fell into the fountain trying to reach her boat. It was so relaxing to sit and do nothing.
For the average American, this looks super lazy, but it's not at all. In fact, it's wonderful. People aren't cooped up in their homes barely talking to each other. They're sitting out with friends or playing with their kids outside, enjoying the sun, the flowers and the fresh air. I'd take that over "must-see TV" anytime.

That evening, Julie went to the Louvre and I relaxed at the apartment, reading a book with the window open to the street, my feet propped up on the railing. I could get used to this!