... but for an interesting read and more/better photos, check out this website. It is quite a walk along Rue Reaumur to the geogeous looking opera house, the Opera de Paris Garnier...
Tuesday, we were off to the Musee d'Orsay as the pass we bought on Saturday expires today. We walked down Blvd Richard-Lenoir to the Bastille and caught the #1 metro to stop Palais Royal Musee du Louvre, walked across the Seine and along Quai Anatole France to the museum entrance and the long line. With our ticket we were able to "go to the head of the line" but, alas, the line of people with tickets and passes was just as long! Oh well, in for a penny in for a pound, we joined the line of ticket holders. The line moved quite quickly and the time was lessened somewhat with the chats we had with the young couple ahead of us. They are from Edmonton so besides our respective travels we had lots to talk about. Eventually we found ourselves through security and IN. We headed straight for the Van Gogh special exhibit where we had to stand in another line but it was worth it. Wall after wall, gallery after gallery, Van Gogh after Van Gogh. The whole place was very crowded but wow! The rest of the museum is no slouch either with the highlight for us being the huge collection of impressionist style paintings.
By the time we left the museum it was well after 2:00 pm and definitely lunch time. We headed down Rue de Bac on to Blvd Raspail. About a block later, on the corner of Rue du Grenelle we spotted a little cheese shop. Barhelemy was closed but what a lovely store front and, we swear, you could actually smell the cheese through the windows!...
Continuing down Blvd Raspail we turned left on to Rue de Verenne to the cafe Le Pain Quotidien where we had an excellent lunch of quiche and chicken salad. After lunch we continued along Blvd Raspail to Rue du Cherche Midi to find the other Oska outlet in the city. After checking out the latest in Oska we wandered around the area then into the impressive Bon Marche on Rue de Babylone. By the time we left the Bon Marche it was early evening and time for a sit. We took the metro to Place de la Republique where we found curbside seats at the Indiana bar and restaurant. Nice evening but unbeknownst to us we ended up sitting right under some plane trees which were sheding whacks of seed fluffer thingies... very hard on the eyes and throat!
Wednesday we thought we'd look into what day trips from Paris might be possible on our Eurail Global Pass. After another stop at the "local" Osaka store we took the metro to Gare du Nord to see what we could accomplish vis a vis day trips. It took a while for us to find the right ticket office and after standing in line for about 15 minutes we found that a two hour train, each way, to Brugge, Belgium return would cost us 170 euro... with the pass! Wow!!! In Germany, the two hour train, each way, to Dresden cost us 9 euro each (18 total) return to Berlin. Well, we are not up to forking out 170 euro (about $265 CDN) to spend maybe 3 or 4 hours in Brugge. So, we'll have to figure out something else.
A bit disheartened we left the station and wandered along Rue Lafayette taking in the various store fronts, arcitecture and general life going by. By early afternoon a light rain started so we picked a restaurant, Le Tire Bouchon, for lunch and to wait out the rain as it started to fall ever more heavily. Kris had a grilled steak with green beans and Brian tried the croque madam (like a croque monsieur but with a fried egg added to the top). Both very good. We ate slowly and the rain gave way so we paid up and went on our way.
Continuing along Rue Lafeyette we eventually arrived at the very large, impressive and generally expensive Galleries Lafayette "department store". We found they had a couple of hair salons so I, Brian, decided it was time for a hair cut/trim. Approaching the reception desk I asked if I could get a hair trim motioning that I didn't want a beard trim at this time (tiny steps). The woman said, in her best anglais, that I could make an appointment for 3:00. It was now 2:50 so that sounded good. Appointment made, I went out into the store for a few minutes and went back into the salon a couple of minutes before 3:00 whereupon the same woman asked me if I had an appointment! Well yeah! Anyway, after being shuffled from one stylist (?) to another to another, I was finally put under the scissors. There was a lot of snipping without a whole lot of cutting but my ears did get lowered and I was reasonably happy with the result. Forty minutes later and 29 euro poorer I was back on the street. By that time Kris had had a good look around in the store and we decided it was time to head back to the 'hood. Walking around to the front of the Opera house we took the #3 metro to the Sebastopol stop, jumped out to Monoprix for dinner groceries, then back on the #3 to Republic and a transfer to #5 to get us home. For a couple of glasses of wine we wandered a couple of blocks down Richard-Lenoir to Le Paris, where we had our first dinner here last Friday. Very nice evening to sit out.
Thursday was VE Day in France so we figured many things would be closed. However, the large outdoor market just down the street was in full swing so we wandered through it picking up some roasted chicken and sausages for dinner...
... and yes, the market goes all the way down to the Bastille, whose monument you can see in the distance. Also, the Petit Palais has been advertising a special Carl Larsson exhibit that was "open every day" so we headed over there about mid morning or so taking the #1 metro from Bastille to Champs Elysees Clemenceau. Leaving the metro we were met by a line of police officers blocking the way. We were told this exit was closed but the Petit Palais was "open" and we would have to get back on the metro, go to the next stop and walk back. So back on we went and got off at the Franklin D. Roosevelt station to find the Champs Elysees barricaded for whatever parading had happened for VE Day. Teams of people were busy taking down the barricades so we figured it was done for the day. We walked back towads the Petit Palais. Right at the metro station we were blocked from exiting is a statue of Charles de Gaulle where it appears much of the celebration must have taken place but it was all dispersing by the time we got there. On to the Petit Palais, which despite the large sign out front proclaiming "Ouvert tous les jours" was clearly not so and showed no signs of being so any time soon. Crap!
So, on to plan B. We strolled across the Pont Alexandre II with it's fabulous sculptures and view of the Eiffel Tower in the distance...
After crossing the bridge we wandered along Blvd Saint Germain. More cool architecture along the way. As we walked it started to rain again so we stopped in at Le Drop Cafe on Rue de Bellechasse just off Blvd Saint Germain. Alas, we can't remember what we had to eat, but it must have been reasonably good! After lunch we continued, in the rain, along Blvd Saint Germain with most shops closed for the holiday. Eventually we turned right on to Rue du Dragon, a street known for it's shoe stores, some of which were open on this rainy holiday. There Kris picked up a very nice pair of shoes. After that it was, still in the rain, time for a coffee break at the famous Cafe de Flores. Kris had a cappucino and Brian had a hot chocolate with a piece of apple pie. Now... this is what a piece of apple tart should look like...
... and it tasted as good as it looked! While there we chatted with two other women who were also taking a rain break. On lady was from Las Vegas and on a nice sounding trip with friends. The other lady was from Istanbul and knew, very well, the Starbucks in Bebek, with the fabulous view, because she lived near there. Nice chats.
Afterwards we walked over to the Bon Marche where we bought some "pink mustard" and some button shaped sugar cubes, for souvenirs to take home, amongst a few other grocery items for dinner. Later we tried a sidewalk cafe at the Bastille for an evening sitout.
Friday we took another shot at the Petit Palais. We arrived to find a huge line but after checking it out we discovered the long line was for people wanting to see a different special exhibit "Paris 1900 The City of Entertainment". The line for the Carl Larrson exhibit was much shorter and we joined that one. It took a while to get in but once in and past security we found that tickets for both shows were being sold at the same cashier... good thing we were in the shorter line... and while buying our Carl Larrson tickets Kris said "hey, let's just buy both and forget about lining up again"... so we did, no problem! Sucks to be the people in the much longer and slower moving line for the Paris 1900 exhibit... in fact, if we had known, entrance to the museum itself is free so a person could actually just walk right in claiming to only want to see the museum, then, once inside, simply go to the cashier and buy whichever special exhibit ticket is desired!
The Carl Larsson exhibit was utterly fabulous and well worth the wait in line. The Paris 1900 exhibit is sort of neat but we suspect it would have much more appeal to a Parisian than it did for us. Glad we didn't wait in the extra long line for that one! Having taken in two exhibits it was now well after noon. We decided to leave this area and since one area on our list was the fabric district near the Sacre-Coeur (Sacred Heart) Basilica we headed over there. We took the #1 metro line to Charles de Gaulle Etoile then transferred to #2 to the Anvers stop followed by a short walk uphill to Place St Pierre the heart of this fabric district. But, first things first, lunch time... Le Ronsard is a cool little cafe with window tables looking directly up the hill to the church...
... and the food (croque madame and crepe) was very good. After lunch Kris headed into the fabric stores while Brian ferreted out the Montmartre Funicular, the easy way to the top of the hill, as opposed to the raft of steep steps. After Kris completed a good look through the numerous fabulous fabric stores, and finished drooling, we took the funicular up the hill and did a tour of the church. After that we headed home for a rest before going out to the Le Paris for a bit.
Saturday we decided to try what is claimed to be "the largest flea market in the world", Les Marches des Puces Saint-Ouen. We reached it via #4 metro stop Porte de Clignancourt where, unfortunately, you have to run the three block gauntlet of street hawkers before getting to the actual market area itself adjoining Rue des Rosiers. This is actually a conglomerate of 14 smaller "marches" only a couple of which you might call "flea markets", the others being more like permanent small stores selling large antiques. We preferred the Marche Vernasion where it was fun, albeit a tad damp in the rain, to browse the wide variety of stalls throughout the numerous alleys. Kris was looking for an engraved serving spoon and came away with a nice one at a reasonable price. We stopped in at Cafe Voltaire for another quiche and croque monsieur lunch before browsing some of the larger antique furniture areas. On the way out of the market area we found a 50 euro note so that basically covered our lunch and the serving spoon. Nice! Oh, on a comfort note, beware that you may come across squat toilets in the market. At least the one we came across was.
Leaving the market area we took the #4 metro to Strasbourg Saint-Denis then transferred to the #8 metro to Filles du Calvaire where it was an easy walk to our local Oska to see what new stock they got in during this last week. Before going into the store we stopped in at Le Progress, a corner bistro just up from Oska, for a cappucino respite. While there Brian ran across the road to a BNP Paribas bank to get some cash. It has been a week since the last withdrawal but every attempt from 250 down to 50 euro failed with a "you are not authorized" message. What the??? Anyway, Kris picked up a nice pant and blouse set at Oska then we went to Monoprix for some groceries before heading towards home. To get home from there we had to do a metro transfer at Place de la Republique so we took that opportunity to go up to the plaza and have a drink or two. We decided to try Le Dejazet where we could sit outside but still be out of the rain should it decide to make another appearance. A nice location with good wine but, almost too hard to believe for a modern looking restaurant in the centre of the city, it too still has squat toilets for it's customers!
Later in the evening we called Scotiabank only to be told that Brian's daily withdrawal limit has been lowered to $1... now isn't that just the most useful amount going!!! The agent actually asked "Did you request it to be lowered?"...DUH... of course not!!! So she says the card has now been compromised and is no longer usable AND they can't replace it because it is a debit card. Lucky we travel with an extra one so we had them raise Kris' card limit so we could just go and get more cash than we will likely need for the remainder of the trip. What a pain in the ass!
Sunday was planned to be just a day to wander. We decided to go back to the Marche aux Puces de Vanves, the same flea market we went to last Sunday. Great way to start a day of wandering! We spent a couple of hours strolling the market looking in the different stalls. In our opinion, this is a much more authentic/real flea maket than the much larger collection of "flea markets" we saw yesterday, and much more fun.
Leaving the market we took the #13 metro back to the centre then switched to a #1 and got off at Saint-Paul, the Marais. Even though most shops were closed there were still thousands of people out and about with the result being many very crowded restaurants, cafes and bistros. We wandered the streets of the Marais for about an hour before coming upon the restaurant Le Voltigeur which had a couple of empty seats so we took advantage and had yet another excellent quiche and croque monsieur lunch. After lunch we continued to wander the streets periodically ducking into shelter when the rain started. After some time we arrived at the Monoprix where we thought we'd pick up some food for dinner. Oops, not so much - store closed! So it will be dinner out tonight. After going home for a rest we went off to the Bastille and chose the Falstaff Cafe for a very good pizza and wine dinner.
Another week done.... as Kris says "...in Paris doing Paris things..."
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