A weekend in Paris
 

No great highlights, just some light shopping and a couple of museum visits, but I thought people might like to know:

<b>Hotel:</b> Bastille de Launay, a 2-star in Rue Amelot (11), not so far from the Jardins du Marais (a 4-star I've seen recommended here): booked as a package through Eurostar, at £78 a night, plus train fare. A single room at the Bastille de Launay really is just that (a single bed), but the hotel is quiet, comfortable, fairly recently re-decorated, and has free wifi. Breakfast is expensive (€11), but is a copious buffet (and can be served in the room). Local cafés are offering something at half that, but I suspect just a single portion of anything - and the nicer-looking places are asking almost as much as the hotel. The immediate surroundings don't abound in charm (the main business of the area seems to be motorcycles and scooter sales and supplies, but there doesn't seem to be much associated noise); it's conveniently located for access to public transport (direct bus to/from the Gare du Nord), the Marais, Oberkampf and Bastille areas.

<b>Local restaurants:</b> I'm not a great eater-out, usually contenting myself with the standard corner brasseries. I quite liked the Vache Acrobate and the Bistrot Amelot, just along the road from the hotel. The street also boasts an Uzbek restaurant, for the gastronomic adventurer, but I didn't try it.

<b>Museums:</b> Free ones this time - the Cognacq-Jay and the twin museums at Montparnasse dedicated to the Liberation of Paris, General Leclerc and Jean Moulin. The latter are stricly for WW2 buffs, and you won't get much out of them without good French. The Cognacq-Jay is an interesting collection of 18th-century art and decors, not as stuffily worthy or full of mimsy floweriness as I feared it might be (given that the collectors in question meant it for the editication of their employees at the Samaritaine). Some wonderful furniture and Meissen figurines - and I had to smile at the way a gallery of genre paintings was simply described as showing how furniture like the examples on display might have been used in domestic settings, when the paintings actually showed various shenanigans featuring gentlemen hurriedly hiding in ladies' wardrobes, a kitchen maid with an apron-full of eggs embraced by a scullion whose breeches are clearly round his ankles while the cat devours the fowl laid out for dinner, and similar scenes.

Hope you had a great time! The museums sound interesting!

Thanks for your report. I haven't as yet visited the Cognacq-Jay and now I'll know what to look for! I didn't know about the Montparnasse museums--good information.

Thanks for posting Patrick. I'm glad you had an enjoyable weekend.

I've not visited the Cognacq-Jay as yet either, though it is climbing up my list of places-in-Paris-to-see (maybe on my next trip in July...), and I've found I love staying in and around the Marais.

Therefore I'm always on the lookout for a decent low-budget hotel in that area (if my favourite Jeanne d'Arc is booked up), so it's good to know of another one. (My usual cheap back-up hotel is the Lyon Mulhouse on Bvd Beaumarchais, which is generally OK, but some of the single rooms are a bit on the grim side! However the location is terrific which makes it worth it.)

And I'll consider your restaurant recommendations as well when I get the chance!

I enjoyed the Cognacq-Jay my last trip to Paris. Perhaps not a must-see (whatever those are) but interesting...and free or am I crazy? The museums in Montparnasse devoted to the Liberation of Paris sound just up my alley as well.

I like that part of the 11th by the 3rd, so thanks for the hotel tip.

Sounds like a great weekend. I wish you posted photos.

It is always great to the reach the point of Parisian familiarity where you don't need to plan to do anything special for a weekend visit. Just being there is enough.

Thanks for the kind words.

Julia, the Cognacq-Jay is free, being a city museum, so worth an hour of anyone's time. As for the hotel, definitely not what I'd consider grim, but then these days, Paris isn't cheap, either, so one's entitled to apply a higher standard than even a decade or so ago.

Leely, that's my favourite area too. I did notice that the Marais is becoming more blandified and generically upmarket, with some old-establised businesses (the antique musical instruments on Rue du Pas de la Mule, for one) being replaced by yet more fashion and beauty boutiques. The weather wasn't exactly photogenic (it's that time of year when it can't quite decide whether to be winter or spring, so mostly grey with occasional surprising bursts of warm-ish sunshine), but I took a couple to add to my existing set:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/patrick...7601670143924/

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience. It will definitely help me future.

Thanks for the report. More to add to the list.

So the next item on a Paris scavenger hunt will be the picture with the scullion's breeches around his ankles.

It has been springtime in Paris yesterday and today. Having a wonderful time, wish you all were here.

Thanks, Patrick! Hadnt heard of that museum.
Agree re: the Marais, I think that is why we were disappointed with it a couple yrs ago. Less local "flavour" more upscale boutiquey shops.

Liked your recent photos. When you see those shop windows, you just know you're in Paris.

I too enjoyed the recent photos. Now I yearn to return to Paris.

Thanks for the kind comments. Sorry we couldn't meet up, Nikki - have fun. It's raining here in London :((