2nd Day Exploring on My Own

Well really I have explored more than two times on my own, but this was a whole afternoon that I went out by myself. Usually I am going out to meet Eddy somewhere or running errands. I think that I am getting really good about knowing my way around the city and that is a really satisfying feeling. Plus since the metro system runs just about everywhere you can never really get lost since you are bound to run into a station every couple of blocks. That is always a helpful thought when roaming around a strange city by yourself. At first my parents and Eddy were a little worried about me taking the metro by myself everyday, and to be honest I was a little nervous about it too. But after taking it with Eddy or our group of friends a few times before I did it myself I felt pretty safe about it. There are plenty of young women on the metro by themselves and they do it everyday, (that goes for old ladies as well). Plus a couple times a week I see groups of school children using the metro by themselves, without supervision and they are 6 years old. So I am definitely sure of the metro's safety, and just in case so I am not too trusting I still keep an eye out, don't worry.
In addition, the metro system is fairly simple to use. The French are really good about using lots of signs and arrows (that goes for on the streets of Paris too) so it's virtually impossible to get confused or lost. Lots of tourists like us use the metro when they come to visit. Every day you can see people bustling around figuring out their way. The only trick is to make sure you get on the train in time before the doors close. When the horn sounds that the doors are closing you better zip through or else the those doors are going to close (violently) on you. A few times I have seen groups of people get split in half as only half of their group makes it on the packed train while the other half has to waive them goodbye and get on the next train. Good part about that is that the trains come every five minutes or less, so you are never really waiting that long.
So now that my rant about the amazing transportation of Paris is over lol I guess I should go into what I saw while exploring. Since I came to Paris I have been trying to track down Monet's "Waterlily" paintings. They weren't at the Louvre, or the Orsay, so I figured that they must be at the Musee de l'Orangerie. I was right! The museum can be found in the Jardin des Tuileries. This garden is between the Louvre and the Place de Concorde. It was originally part of the Tuileries Palace, a palace built by Catherine de Medici after her husband King Henry II died in 1559. Later it was the residence of Louis XIV while he waited for Versailles to be built and Napoleon also lived there. Actually it was his main residence when he was in power. Part of the palace is now attached to the Louvre which is why you can see the "Napoleon Apartments." Only later the rest of the Palace and part of the Louvre were completely destroyed by fire. Today some of it has been restored and the gardens are open to the public.
I went to the gardens to check that out and to go to the l'Orangerie which is in the gardens and used to be a green house that stored orange trees during the winter months (makes sense right? lol). Anyway, the old green house (which must have been REALLY nice by the way) is now a museum that hosts works by Monet, Renoir, Picasso, and others. The surrounding gardens are now a play place for families, kids, and joggers. There is a theatre, trampoline, pony rides, Ferris wheel, and pond. I walked around the gardens for a while taking pictures before I went to the museum. As soon as I popped up from the metro and saw the gardens, they made me smile, they may be one of my favorite parts of Paris. The museum was also very special. The waterlily paintings (all 8 of them) are displayed in two large oval shaped rooms (see pics). Four paintings per room, each painting is quite large as it takes up a whole wall, it's very beautiful and impressive. The first room holds the waterlily paintings of sunrise to sunset, the second room has the paintings of waterlilies and willow trees.
The rest of the museum was also very nice with all the other paintings by famous artists. I highly recommend this museum to anyone visiting Paris in the future. It was my favorite!