Week 12 Paris

We started this week on a museum note. The Louvre. Following Rick Steves advice we got off the metro at the Palais Royal - Louvre stop and headed directly for the Tabac shop in the underground shopping plaza to buy our Louvre entrance pass. We got there about 15 minutes before the Tabac shop opened and were about tenth in line. The shop opened, we got our tickets and joined the slightly longer queue at the underground entrance to the museum. The doors to the museum opened about 10 minutes later than expected but we were ushered right in. Sweet!!!!

Joining the rest of the crowd, all apparently with the same idea, we headed to the Italian section, where... tada... there she was... the Mona Lisa...

... she is actually quite easy to find, just look for the one gallery with a large crowd...

 

After that we wandered that floor into a few different galleries stopping to view David's "The Coronation of Napoleon"...

... the other four DaVinci paintings in the collection, a bunch of Raphael's, some Botticelli and a couple of fabulous Vermeer's including "The Lacemaker"...

In a couple of galleries we came across artists who were set up painting copies of pieces hanging in the gallery. They had signs up saying no photos but that seemed a tad cheeky since they were, after all, in a public gallery making copies themselves, so we photoed them...

... and the second one who we sat and watched ...

 ... and who Kris sketched...

Afterwards Kris showed the artist her sketch whose immediate reaction was one of surprise and she asked if she could have it. Kris said no but agreed to email the woman a copy after she, Kris, finished painting it.

The Louvre is definitely a place that requires multiple visits but our last stop on this visit was to see the "Venus de Milo"'...

Leaving the Louvre via the pyramid we again realized the value of arriving early as the lineup outside the pyramid was easily several hundred people long.

Leaving the Louvre we walked to the south side of the Seine over the Pont des Arts. The bridge is somewhat controversial with the number of "love locks" put on it. Wikipedia estimates some 93 metric tons of metal, not to mention issues caused by all those keys thrown into the Seine. Now, the vast majority of the locks here are not actually locked to the bridge. They are locked to other locks which are locked to other locks, etc etc etc... So it seems rather tenuous to tie your everlasting love to a string of other locks. What if the first couple's lock on love wasn't quite as robust as they had thought? Can that possibly bode well for every lock attached directly or even indirectly to theirs? Also, is it really all that wise to put your lock on the bottom row?... surely dog pee on your everlasting love cannot be a good omen! Oh well, on we went.

Once across the bridge we wandered along Rue Bonaparte until we came to Rue Jacob and decided to have lunch at Le Pres Aux Clercs, mostly to get out of the sudden downpour. We have found that a Paris rain this time of year seems to be a relatively short downpour, but a second or third can occur after only a brief interlude of sunshine, so be prepared to take cover. Anyway, we had excellent pasta with ham and smoked salmon salads for lunch. Very nice! After lunch the rain had stopped and we wandered around many of the different streets stopping in at the St Germain Des Pres and St Sulpice churches along the way. Both fabulous period churches. During our wanderings we turned one corner and Kris exclaimed "Look..."... now, can you see it (the sign is partially covered)?...

... yes it is, it is a sign for GROM ice cream. Our favorite Italian ice cream. We have tasted it in Rome, Florence, Bologna, Milan and now Paris!!!

Leaving the St Sulpice church we headed south into the Luxembourg Gardens where we wandered around a bit, but not enough to get a full appreciation for the huge green space, before it started to rain heavily again and we decided to head home. We took refuge in a bus stop shelter and jumped aboard the first bus that came along. The bus had a very helpful route map and we determined that two stops later we would be close to a metro station. We jumped off, in the rain, and headed into the metro station. As it happens this was a station on the #4 metro line which took us directly to the Reaumur-Sebastopol station, ie right to the Monoprix we have been going to for groceries. Sweet!!! To take a rain break we dropped into Le Capitole bistro, just across the street, for a coffee and apple tart. We waited out the rain, got some groceries at Monoprix, took the #3 metro to Place de la Republique where we went out to Le Dejazet for a couple of wine before heading home on the #5 metro to the Richard-Lenoir stop just outside our apartment.

Tuesday morning, leaving the apartment building, we witnessed the reason for some of the banging that has gone on, during the day, in the apartment next to ours. They had set up a temporary work load elevator from the street to the third floor bedroom window and were hauling out sack after sack of busted up plaster. The guy at the top would load numerous bags into the cart, lower it to the ground and the guy on the ground took them out and piled them on the sidewalk. They must have shoveled the bags full yesterday because we didn't hear anything this morning but they had unloaded a lot. There were easily 50 or more bags piled on the sidewalk but by the time we got back later in the afternoon it was all cleaned up and nary a sign that anything had been going on.

After watching those guys for a few minutes, we started the day at the Musee de la Mode et du Textile where there was a special exhibit dedicated to the work of  Dries van Noten. Very interesting. After the museum it was time for some lunch. We walked along Rue Rivoli and stopped in Le Carrousel Brasserie for lunch and to escape yet another bit of rain. We had a nice leisurely quiche and crepe lunch while the rain did it's thing and we all finished about the same time. Then it was time to decide what to do next... we had read that the lineups for the Eiffel Tower dwindled rapidly in the rain so, well why not, head over there. We took the #1 metro to Charles de Gaulle Etoile then #6 to Bir Hakeim and walked from there although we did have to duck for cover during one really heavy downpour. Arriving at the base of the tower we encountered absolutely no line. Well, ok, there were 2 couples ahead of us. By this time the skies had cleared. A relatively quick trip to the top with a bit of a wait for an elevator from the second floor up but no more than about 5 minutes, and there we were waaaay above Paris....

The views were pretty cool and with the relatively small number of people it was easy to walk around and take the time to try to identify as many landmarks as we could, the most noticeable being the Arc de Triomphe...

After descending the tower we walked back to the Bir Hakeim metro station. While waiting for the next train we read the text for a large mural painted there. Bir Hakeim was a battle won by French troops against Rommel's much larger African brigade. Apparently it was a decisive turning point in that part of the war. This station was named to honor the many French soldiers who were lost in that battle. We got on the #6 metro back over to the Champs-Elysees where we stopped in at cafe George V for possibly the worst cappuccino of the whole trip. After that we stopped in Marks and Spencer for a bit then Monoprix for some dinner supplies before heading towards home. On the way home we stopped in at the bistro Le Bastille for a bit of wine, munchies and people watching before calling it a night.

Wednesday morning we started with a visit to another market area, Le Marche Rue d'Aligre, an excellent open air market with numerous vegetable, seafood and meat stalls along with the small flea market around the fringes. Leaving the market we wandered along Rue du FBG-Saint-Antoine looking in various shops, buying one pair of cool shoes and checking out a new found Monoprix which is bigger than the one we have been using and closer to home to boot. Afterwards we took the metro to Gare de l'est where we were able to print our tickets, for our last train leg to Frankfurt, and to find that we could use our Global Pass to go to either Giverny or Provins without reservations. Nice. From there we took #4 metro to the Saint Germain Des Pres stop for some more walking around that area. We stopped in at cafe Au Chai de l'Abbaye for an excellent lunch of smoked salmon and chicken salad then continued along Blvd Saint Germain to the Cluny Museum where we spent about an hour or more admiring the Unicorn tapestries along with the other medieval objects in their collections. Just excellent...

By this time it was late afternoon so we stopped for a coffee, went into a Franprix for a few groceries then took a bus #86 along Blvd Saint Germain over the Pont de Sully to the Bastille to sit for a couple of glasses of wine before heading home for the night. On the way we passed a bicycle shop that had a very creative second story window box...

Thursday was a total fun day. We got up early and took the train from Gare Saint Lazare to Giverny. Well, actually the train goes to Vernon then you catch a shuttle bus to Giverny then follow the crowd to the home and gardens of Claude Monet. Hint... go early as we did! We had to stand in line only about 10 minutes to get in but when we came out a few hours later the line was very long and moving very slowly!

Anyway what an absolutely beautiful place. The house with Monet's personal art collection, the gardens in bloom and of course, the water lilies... very cool! After doing the house tour we slowly wandered the garden...

... then took the underpass to the lily pond area. This area is obviously the major attraction. We found a bench spot looking across the pond opposite the "green bridge"...

... I, Brian, did a bit of sketching while Kris pulled out her watercolour set and, after doing a rough sketch, started to paint. Well, it was most fun watching the many people come over and watch Kris paint. One woman commented on Kris' talent and asked if she could take a picture of her while she was painting. Numerous others just stopped and took photos of "the artist in action" and of the scene she was painting. One woman stopped and made a motion as if to stroke my beard and said with a smile "C'est que vous Monsieur Claude Monet?" We all had a good laugh! 

By the time we left the complex it was after noon. We wandered the streets of the small town, stopping in the cemetery to see Monet's tomb, then chose Les Nympheus cafe for lunch. A bit of a wait for a table but we finally got one, in the shade thankfully, and had some very nice quiche (yes again) for lunch.

Afterwards we went into the Musee Impressionismes where there was an excellent special exhibit on American Impressionist artists with works by Mary Cassat, John Singer Sargent, Whistler and others. This museum also appears to go to great lengths to encourage very young children. There were at least two groups sitting in the museum exhibit area, a "special exhibit" room named "les Petits" displaying young hands works of art...

... and outside in the garden there was a large group of kids finger painting and experimenting with many colours. Their "finished" works were all propped up in various areas of the garden to dry and be on display. Really fun to watch...

Then it was time to take the shuttle back to Vernon and catch a late afternoon train back to Paris. Great day!!!

Friday, another clear sunny day we got up early again this time taking the train from Gare l'Est to the small medieval town of Provins. We had found a book, in our apartment, on day trips out of Paris and it included a walking tour of Provins. Perfect! We wandered the narrow streets with the neatest sights being the slightly lopsided 10th century Eglise de St Ayoul...

... the 13th century "pierre de cens" a stone on which townsfolk paid feudal taxes and church tithes...

... the small Musee de Provins with it's rather eclectic collection including a portrait of Cyr-Charlemange Sanson who was the first public executioner in this area to use the guillotine and finally the Eglise St Quiriace begun in 1160...

.... and it is said that Joan of Arc attended mass here in 1429. Lots of history.

Saturday morning we decided to try the Porte de Vanves flea market again as we had heard that there were different vendors than on Sundays. Besides, there is a boulangerie, on the corner opposite the market, that makes really good croissants and pain au chocolat...yummmm.
It might have been the nice sunny day bringing out more vendors but there definitely was a different flavour to the flea market. As Kris says "It is a good thing we don't live here because we would have an apartment full of this stuff". We didn't buy anything, other than the croissant and pain au chocloat, but we had a great time for a few hours perusing the various vendor stalls. Since this was likely to be our last Paris flea market for this trip, here's a pic of the "stuff" we picked up (some buttons are very small)...

... a set of knife rests, some vintage silver plated monogrammed serving spoons and, of course, vintage buttons.

Leaving the flea market we took the metro to Les Halles, the traditional central market in Paris since the 1100's, although in the 1970's it was transformed into a modern mall. It is currently undergoing Major (yes with a capital M) renovations to make it really modern once again. With all the renovations including very long escalators not working and a rather mediocre selection of stores we didn't stick around there very long. Maybe after everything is finished it will be different.  Out on the street again we stopped at the sidewalk cafe Au Pere Tranquille, on Rue Pierre Lescot, for a smoked salmon and bacon cheeseburger lunch. Very good. While we were eating a woman with a cute dog sat beside us. Her dog was ever hopeful that Brian would be a spilly-eater...

Across the street from the cafe was a cool metal sculpture of a bee's nest on the corner of a building...

It was a nice sunny day so we decided to just walk towards home and see how it goes. We headed along Rue Rambuteau where we ran into Catherine and Marcy Tilton outside a tea shop. Kris knows them from taking one of their courses in San Francisco a few years ago. They are taking a couple of days rest after finishing up one of Marcy's Paris guided tours before heading off to Italy for a longer much needed rest. After a brief chat we bade each other good travels and continued on our way. We stopped in to see if Oska has received any new stock in the last week but no such luck. Just up the block from Oska we came across an impromptu flea market that ran about 4 blocks long. Kris picked up a nice old linen smock to be used in a future remake sewing project. In a nearby store Brian bought a spiffy microwave omelet maker (turned out to be a bit of a bust but worth the try). Closer to home we stopped in at Merci (recommended by Marcy) on Blvd Beaumarchais where they have a lot of cool furnishings etc if one had an apartment of their own in this area. We finished off the day at the Place de la Republique for refreshments.

A few days ago we had noticed a poster, at one of the metro stations, for an exhibition of impressionism paintings in Yerres, a suburb of Paris. So Sunday morning we decided to go have a look. We took the metro to the Gare de Lyon station where we caught the RER commuter train to Yerres. At the Yerres station we asked the young man at the information desk where we catch a bus to the Caillebotte property. He told us not to take a bus, "...it is but a short walk". Well, over a half hour later in the hot sun we arrived at the property only to find a significant line up to get into the exhibition. A hostess came over and informed us it would be a 3 to 4 hour wait in the line. In the sun, no shade! Crap! It was now going on 1:00 pm so we decided it was best to give it a miss. We wandered around the beautiful estate property for a while then headed further into the town to see if we could find a place to get lunch. We found one lone restaurant with another long wait, so we turned around and headed back to the train station getting there just in time to catch a commuter train back into Paris (otherwise it would have been another half hour wait). Now that this is our last Sunday in Paris we have really learned that Sunday is museum day... best to avoid if possible. Anyway, arriving back at Gare de Lyon it was now definitely time for a mid afternoon lunch. We decided to explore the area around this huge station and chose restaurant Les Deux Savoies for a late afternoon nicoise salad and cheeseburger lunch. After lunch we walked across the street and caught a bus that took us back to Place de la Bastille where we stopped for additional refreshments before heading home to call it a week.

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Back to Week 11

On to Week 13

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