Paris: More landmarks and a bunny

The 30 minutes we spent near Sacré-Cœur was probably the most Spring-like half hour of our entire visit. The sun was out! And there were blossoms blossoming! It was lovely.

You get to ride a little funicular railway to the top of the hill. Guess who that was a hit with?

There's a nice view from the top.

If you walk around the hill a little way, you can even see the Eiffel Tower!

The next day when we passed by this same place, it was not nearly so Springlike! But it was still quite beautiful in the snow.

Pretty streets in Montmartre

This was the Museum of Decorative Arts near the Louvre. It has a big collection of Art Deco and Art Nouveau stuff, so I knew Sam would like it.

It was interesting to contrast this very Modernist, Art Deco stained glass window with all the beautiful Gothic-era stained-glass we'd seen in various churches!

This is the Musée D'Orsay, which is my favorite museum (I even remembered that from my previous visit!). It has a lot of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art. And it's just more warm and manageable than the Louvre! It's in an old train station, so even the layout of the building is interesting.

Sam loved the Art Nouveau furniture! (There was an exhibit of it here as well as in the Museum of Decorative Arts.)

I loved all the paintings by Monet and Degas and Renoir. I especially liked these cathedrals by Monet this time, because the atmospheric effects reminded me so much of the misty, frosty air we saw on this trip! I wish we could have visited Monet's house and garden outside of Paris, because I've heard it is so beautiful—but it was just the wrong time of year for it. Some other time, I hope!

Lots of cool clocks!

We saw this woman begging with her pet bunny (!!) on a couple separate occasions. We gave a few coins and hoped that bunny would get a carrot or two out of it. Such a cute bunny, in a little sweater! We really hoped it wasn't a bunny like him that became the cuisse de lapin we glimpsed in the butcher shop earlier…

Church! They had a special ward just for visitors on this particular Sunday (and will continue throughout the summer, I assume). It was comfortable to have the service in English, but I always enjoy experiencing the church in other languages, so I was a little sad we didn't get to the French one. Sebastian did get to help pass the sacrament, which was nice.

These opulent gates and fountains are at Versailles, which was impressive and pretty—though not what it will be when all the leaves are out and the gardens are in bloom. We really wanted to go to the Latter-day Saint Paris Temple which is in the vicinity, but it wasn't within walking distance of the Palace of Versailles, and we forgot to try to take a taxi there like we had intended to! By the time we remembered, we were on the train to Paris with no time to go back. I was sad about that. But you can never do everything you want to, I guess.

And here are the boys on the drive to airport to go home. So sleepy, all of them!