Eight Days In Paris - Old Favorites and New Experiences
 

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DAY 00 - MON MAY 19
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This is our fifth trip to Paris since 2001 (not counting a day trip from London in 2005). We planned to do some things we’d done before and some new things, as well.

<u>Disclaimer</u>: We are not foodies. Linda, my wife, is more adventurous with new foods than I, but we both tend to order things we are familiar with and favor restaurants we have enjoyed in the past. Please -- no flaming over all the pizza we ordered. :-)

Linda usually sleeps pretty well on the overnight flight — with the help of Nyquil — but I have real difficulty sleeping sitting up. The day before we left I checked the seating and saw that the plane (a 2-4-2 cofiguration) had a lot of free center rows, so I took a chance and moved our seats from two outside seats to the end seats of a center section. The gamble paid off — the two middle seats remained vacant, and I got to lie down on three seats and had a reasonably good night.

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DAY 01 - TUE MAY 20
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We arrived pretty much on time. Exiting the airport was breeze — only a couple of people ahead of us at immigration control — and we don’t check luggage. We took the CDGVAL to Roissypole.

We have Navigo cards …but we do not have chip-pin credit cards…we use a no-fee Cap One card abroad. The lines for the ticket machines were actually longer than the line at the ticket window, so we used the window. But our card was rejected, anyway. Luckily we always save about 75-100 Euros from our previous trip for just such situations.

<u>NOTE</u>: The weekly pass was a bargain, since we ended up using bus or Metro 27 times through Sunday, an average of ~0.75 per trip. We would get a carnet for our last two days — Monday & Tuesday.

Our hotel is across from Place Baudoyer on R. Rivoli. With a weekly pass and ticket to Paris (parcours complement) loaded onto our Navigo cards, we took the RER to St Michel. We had determined that — given the construction at Chatalet, and checking Google maps — and since the weather was OK — the very pleasant walk from St. Michel past Notre Dame was quicker than either walking from Chatalet or transferring to Line 1 and getting off at Hotel de Ville.

This is our third stay at Hotel de Nice — sort of our regular place now. The rooms have quirky décor that we like and the people are great. They gave us a very good rate (return customers?). We emailed them a picture of Linda on the balcony of our room a previous visit, and they honored our request for the same room. The location is great for walking (on the west edge of the Marais) and transport. I highly recommend this hotel.

We left our luggage and went out for a walk. Through the Marais up to Pl. Republique, then picked up some sandwiches, drinkable yogurt and salad at a Franprix, had a picnic at the beautiful Place du Temple (really a little park).

Then we stopped at one of our favorite museums, the Carnavalet — the free museum of the city of Paris. This, to us, is a must-see. Lots of paintings, furniture, historical items relating to the city, including some great art nouveau and art deco items.

When we exited the museum, it had started to rain a little. Actually, we were under constant threat of rain the entire trip, but we mostly had occasional light showers.

After a stop at an ATM, we checked into our hotel and took a two-hour nap. I know that most folks recommend toughing it out the first day, but we find that we actually acclimate ourselves to the time change with afternoon naps, even on the first day.

For our afternoon, we took the bus to St. Sulpice, then walked to St-Germain-des-Pres…we had forgotten how wonderful these two churches were. Then we walked back to the hotel.

Dinner was a quick but tasty pizza, salad and wine at Pizza Sant’Antonio, right across a small place from our hotel. Then we walked to the Amorino on R. Vielle du Temple for ice cream: chocolate and amarena (cherry-vanilla) tonight.

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DAY 02 - WED MAY 21
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Generally we like to eat breakfast in our room. Place Baudoyer across the street hosts a market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, so the plan was to have the hotel breakfast (they included two free days) today, and buy strawberries and oranges later in the day at the market for Thursday through Saturday.

The hotel breakfast was pretty much what you’d expect…just bread, croissants, orange juice, and coffee.

Our morning walk was from the book History & Mystery, 24 Walks. It took us through Park Monceau and its nearby streets. This was an area we have never been to before, and we loved the walk. Highlights included the beautiful park, the Alexandre Nevsky cathedral and a number of luxurious residences.

Just as the walk was ending the rain started. We headed to the Musee d’Orsay. We had bought our tickets online before leaving the US, so entry was quick. We had skipped this museum on our last visit, and that made it more of a treat this time.

I will not attempt to describe the vast array of amazing paintings, since everyone knows this is a must-see in Paris. But I will say that this museum does an exceptional job of displaying the art…often on a black wall and well-lit — the colors just jump of the canvas.

Many museums have reasonably-priced cafes — the Orsay does not. (At least, we couldn't find one.) We just had some mediocre carrot soup (€9 each).

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the market in Place Baudoyer to buy our oranges and strawberries for our breakfasts. Then we saw a vendor selling roasted chicken and potatoes to go. We bought some and had a wonderful lunch in our room.

Short nap.

We decided to walk over to Notre Dame, but the lines were long, so, instead, we took the Metro to Tour Montparnasse and went to the top, a new thing for us. Great view of the city! After about ten minutes at the top we heard thunder and headed down. By the time we got outside, it was pouring. The bus was closer than the Metro, so we hopped on the #96, which took us back to Place Baudoyer and our hotel (by which time the rain had stopped)…a very nice ride.

<u>NOTE</u>: There is often a lot of discussion on Fodor’s about whether to use the bus or the Metro. There is not definitive answer. We use both liberally depending on time of day, weather, distance, and whether we feel like seeing the city on our journey.

After a short rest in our room, we went to a restaurant that we frequently go to — Equinox — on Rue des Rosiers. They have a €15 three-course menu that — if you choose wisely — can usually be pretty good.

Linda had deviled eggs and I had herring & potato salad for entrée — both very good. We both had pork ribs for the plat…also tasty but (as one might expect with pork ribs) somewhat fatty. For dessert Linda had crème brûlée and I had a really tasty gateau Basque (a type of cake). And, of course, wine.

Since dessert was included, no Amorino tonight. We were pretty tired at this point, so we went back to the hotel for the night.

This was a good day with a bunch of new things.

[…more to come…]

hello, ssander,

great start to your report, with lots of useful info for those of us who have been to Paris quite a lot of times, and are looking for the next level of things to do.

I also like that you have a plan B - very useful when the weather changes or there are works like those at Chatelet.

do keep it coming!

Nice report. Please continue. I'll be in Paris for my second trip in 2 weeks. Getting ideas from you is great.

Enjoying your report. Getting ideas for our next trip. Thanks!

I am really enjoying your trip report and am looking forward to what is to come. We're going to Paris for 2 weeks in late September - it will be my 9th trip so your report should give us lots of ideas. We hope to cover a lot of territory in and near Paris that we haven't visited before.

Agree with the others! Greatly enjoying your report and look forward to the additions and will be saving this for my own planning :)

<< no flaming over all the pizza we ordered >>

I often have pizza in Europe, especially in Italy and France since it's so delicious. The pizzas near my home are disgusting.

Your hotel looks like it's in a good location. I hope you stopped into St-Gervais-St-Protais church.

Adrienne...

Not this time, but we've been to St-Gervais-St-Protais before...it's right across Pl. Baudoyer...and the 96 (our most useful bus), 76 and 69 buses all stop right in front of it.

Plus we walk right behind it almost every evening on our way to the river.

SS

I'm enjoying your TR as you seem to see Paris on the same scale that we do. My favorite museum is also The Carnavalet, we always avoid Chatalet, and we also feel that a 2 hr. nap the 1st day works. Add to that several stops at Amorino and it almost sounds like I wrote your report.

I will check out your hotel for shorter trips, usually we rent an apt---since you go to Paris often, you should try it sometime.

Can't wait for maore details, especially about food.

Carry on!

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DAY 03 - THU MAY 22
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Up early this morning. Picked up flan and a tarte rouge at the local pastisserie and coffee at Starbucks — both within 50 meters of the hotel. We had that, strawberries and an orange for breakfast in our room.

Our morning walk was to see the Roman arena Lutece and the Paris Mosque. We had seen both in a previous visit, but the mosque had been closed, so we only could get a glimpse of the gardens. This time it was open.

Had an interesting experience. We got to the prayer room, took off our shoes and went inside to see it. It was a very beautiful and mystical place. Only after we left did we see the sign (far to the other side of the door from the direction we approached) that it was closed to visitors. No one complained, so I guess we didn’t make too much of a problem there.

The gardens were beautiful, of course, though small compared with those in some of the cities in southern Spain. Just then it started to rain, so we ducked into a very small café and had some coffee till the rain stopped.

We continued to St. Medard church, one of the many lovely, small churches in Paris. Then we walked up Rue Moeffetarde enjoying looking at the vendors in this well-known market street. The rain started again, so we went back to the hotel to wait.

At this time I went online with my phone and found Le Fourchette - the restaurant booking website. I had never used it before, and it’s in French, but I felt brave. I found a restaurant on Ile St. Louis — Au Caveau de l'Isle — that was offering 50% off a la carte entrée and plat. It seemed like a nice thing to try, so, after a few snags (probably due to my poor French) I successfully booked a table for the evening.

After about an hour the skies cleared a bit and we took advantage of the break to take our Seine cruise. I’ve said this before on Fodor’s, but it bears repeating. <i>Vedettes de Pont Neuf</i> is, as far as I know, the only cruise company that offers discount advance online tickets without requiring a specific date and time. You just show up with your voucher whenever you want to, exchange it for the ticket, and board the boat. Given the variable weather in Paris in the spring, it always makes sense to us to use them.

Back in our neighborhood, we had lunch in the cafeteria on the fifth floor of the BHV department store: two salads from the salad bar and a slice of pizza. The salads were great and reasonably priced…the pizza was pretty dismal.

Next we decided to take a walk in Montmartre. We took the Metro to Pigalle. Probably due to double-parking in one of Montmatre’s tiny streets, the Montmatrtre bus was over a half-hour wait. But we finally go there. Checked out Sacre Coeur and St-Pierre, and did most of the guided walk in the <i>History & Mystery</i> book. After a while, ended up at the Abbesses metro stop and went home for another rest.

Dinner at <strong>Au Caveau de l'Isle</strong> was a delight! For entrees, Linda had <i>Salade de rio dos</i> (shrimp salad) and I had really good onion soup. Halfway through we traded. For the plat, Linda had <i>Brochette d'Agneau, Façon Caveau</i> (skewered lamb Caveau style) with a delicious sauce and roasted potatoes. I had <i>Magret de Canard Sauce au Miel</i> (duck breast with honey sauce). Both dishes were fantastic. (We shared, of course.) We also shared a demi of red. The discount allowed us to step up in quality without a major increase in cost. I recommend the restaurant — and the use of La Fourchette — to all without hesitation.

Ice cream at our local Amorino, of course. Linda: chocolate and coconut, me: chocolate and strawberry. There was a really sweet young woman working at Amorino who turned out to be a student from Sweden working in Paris for the summer. We got to talking a little, since Linda’s mother was Swedish (though born in the Swedish area of Finland).

It had been a long day, but we were completely over our travel-tiredness, so we walked over to Place des Voges to look in the windows of the many art galleries. (The park was closed, since it was past dark.)

Then to bed.

[…more to come…]

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DAY 04 - FRI MAY 23
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I said earlier that on this trip we hoped to do some completely new things. Today was one of them…a day-trip to the town of Senlis, a historic town long associated with the royal family of France.

We used a walk from the book <i>An Hour from Paris</i> by Annabel Simms, recommended by fellow Fodorite Sue4. Thanks, Sue…it was a great book.

We allowed lots of time to get there…fortunately…because it took us a long time to find our way from the RER to the ticket window in Gare du Nord. :-) The trip consisted of a train ride and a well-coordinated bus ride through the beautiful French countryside.

The walk through Senlis was lovely…but the weather was threatening the entire time. We saw the cathedral, Parc du palais royal, and the market (which, really, was like any other Paris outdoor market).

There are also three small museums (a €2 ticket gets you in all three), but we only went to one — the Spahi Museum. This was dedicated to colonial calvary units and was very, very interesting, even though everything was in French which limited to some extent our understanding.

Lunch was at Le Samson, a small pizza restaurant — and it was very good. We did a little more walking around, but the weather turned bad, so a hurried back to the bus station (a charming old train station for a line that is no longer in use), and came home. We enjoyed the trip, but better weather would have made it unnecessary to cut short.

Our next visit was to two museums that we had never been to. The LeClerc Museum (Paris Liberation) and the Jean Moulin Museum (French Resistance). They are right next to each other beside a rooftop garden on top of Gare Montparnasse. (It took us awhile to find them — few in the station knew where they were.) Both were city museums and free. We didn't expect too much from these small museums having been to the unbelievably great Dutch Resistance museum in Amsterdam.

However, both very, very good — we spent a lot more time in them than we expected. These are probably not for first-timers to Paris, but if you've done all the #1 sites before, and WWII interests you even a little, these are a good fit.

Long rest.

Dinner at Equinox on Rue des Rosiers. We both had a tasty melon with prosciutto entrée. I had chicken with a mushroom sauce on tagliatelle…very good. Linda — the brave one— tried the blood sausage. It tasted OK, but we didn’t like the texture. Linda had crème caramel…similar to flan but not as good. I had something really good whose name I can’t recall: litchi sherbet on brownie-like pieces topped with whipped cream.

It had been raining hard while we were eating, but had stopped, so we walked to Ile St Louis to stroll along the river. Crossing the Pont Louis Philippe, there was a huge rainbow perfectly straddling the river from horizon to horizon (well, actually building to building). What a beautiful sight!

Then home to bed.

NOTE: It was at this time that I got an email from my neighbor saying that a huge hailstorm (golfball size) had hit our neighborhood damaging our siding and possibly the roof…I decided to ignore that till our return. As I write this I am expecting a visit from a siding and roofing man this afternoon. The siding is bad on one side…he’ll check the roof. We do have insurance.

[…more to come…]

I am enjoying your report very much. I stayed at the Hotel de Nice quite some time ago but wilted in the heat. Does the hotel have air conditioning now?

I'm looking forward to reading more.

KTtravel...

I think it has air conditioning -- looks like a unit is in the room...but we've always gone in May and haven't needed it (so far).

SS

Great report so far. I find it somewhat amusing that you ate so much pork on rue des Rosiers. ;-)

No reason to be embarrassed about eating a lot of pizza in Paris. France is the #2 country in the world for pizza consumption (after USA #1) and eats 4 times more pizza than Italy, so one can even wonder if it is even an Italian dish anymore (like wondering if the hamburger is a German dish). I'm sure you must have noticed that there are as many Italian restaurants in Paris as French restaurants. Pizzas are so different in each country anyway that they become national dishes. Even though French pizzerias sell all of the traditional Italian versions, the most popular pizzas in France use salmon and goat cheese, which most definitely make them un-Italian.

A small addition to a worthwhile report: La Fourchette en anglais is at http://www.thefork.com/city/paris/415144
The language symbols are at the bottom of the main page. The English symbol is new to me: a blue-a-and-white world globe, instead of the more familiar Union Jack or Stars and Stripes. Acknowledging English as the world's language may have been a little irksome for a French operation.

You travel like us, including the naps and BHV!

I like your flexibility, too. So many people plan with the expectation of perfect weather. Sometimes you are lucky, and sometimes you aren't. But it is still wonderful.

Can't wait for more!

The two museums in Montparnasse look interesting. I'm always looking for small museum. I went to the Post museum in Montparnasse - they have a great selection of post cards in the shop and an amazing stamp display.

Part of our flexibility comes from the fact that we are not new to Paris, so if we have to miss a #1 site, it's OK. On our first visit there were certain sights that we had to see, so we were less flexible.

Another is that I make a long list with about 50 sights and their hours each day. This allows for spur-of-the-moment changes.

SS

Am enjoying your report. We've eaten twice at Le Caveau de l'Ile and enjoyed our meals very much; my husband recently mentioned he'd like to go again on our next trip.

I wasn't familiar with the liberation and resistance museums -- our next visit will be our 5th, so we'll look in on them. We also enjoy the Carnavalet -- I love to take a little rest from all the activity by sitting in the gorgeous courtyard garden.

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DAY 05 - SAT MAY 24
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Our regular pastry, orange, strawberries & coffee breakfast in our room. Then a quick weather check on my phone. We’re planning to visit Chateau Vaux le Viscomte and it’s only easily done on weekends. Whichever day has the best weather will be it…and it looks like Sunday is the day. Monday looks like the rainiest day, so today we’ll do what caused us to pick these eight days to visit Paris — the annual Belleville Open Doors.

For those who don’t know about this, it is a four-day event in which nearly 200 artists in the Belleville section of Paris open their studios. This will be our third time.

The studios don’t open till 2 pm, so we decided to take a guided walk in the morning. This was a walk in the DK Paris book called <i>A 90-Minute Walk in Butte-aux-Cailles</i>. (I took photos of the pages on my phone so as not to have to carry the book.)

This walk started at Place d’Italie and wandered the area to the southwest of it — wonderful houses and buildings. My favorite part was a small street called Villa Daviel, lined with lovely little home with lush gardens in front. This area was also of historical significance because of the barricades of the Paris Commune (1871??) that were set up in this area.

By the time we home, the Saturday Marché was open in Place Baudoyer, so we picked up oranges for breakfast and more of that yummy chicken and potatoes, added a salad from a tiny store next door to the hotel, and had a nice lunch in our room and a short rest before tackling Belleville.

The Belleville <i>Portes Ouvertes</i> is so huge, one has to have a plan — you can’t see everything in one day. Fortunately, I had downloaded the map before leaving the US, so I had a good idea of what I wanted to do. (Each participant has a flag in front of their studio and a pile of maps, too.)

Belleville is a very hilly part of Paris, so we circled three areas that had a high-density of studios and had a fabulous time checking out the art…painting, photography, sculpture, multimedia…you name it. The quality varies from the clearly amateur to the really fine work.

By late afternoon, we were tired and hungry, so we picked up some yogurt at the local Monop’ and went back to the hotel for a snack and rest.

Before dinner, we took a quick walk over to Notre Dame…this time there was no line at all, so we stopped in. Then back to Sant’ Antonio for dinner — but we made a big mistake: We decided to order spaghetti, and it was unexceptional. Next time we’ll stick with their pizza, which is really good.

Amorino! We shared a chocolate and coconut. Yummmm.

[…more to come…]

I'm enjoying your report,ssander! We were in Paris the same time - I left the US one day later than you. This was my 5th stay in Paris since 2001 also, so I was looking for some "less touristy" things to do. I'm glad you enjoyed the book, "An Hour From Paris". I' ll try to do a report, too. I've been back a week now, so think I've recuperated finally! Looking forward to the rest of your report.

I'm another reader who's been to Paris a number of times, and am planning a return trip. You visited several places I have on my "next trip" list, so your report is greatly appreciated!

Enjoying your report. I'll have to pick up some of the books you mention before our next trip.

We're returning in September having been 5-6 times. (5 for my husband, 6 for me.) Your report will be very helpful. I can hardly wait!

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DAY 06 - SUN MAY 25
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Breakfast in our room — the usual.

Today we are going to Vaux-le-Vicomte, the palace that inspired Versailles. Long story short: Nicolas Fouquet, Louis XIV’s finance minister, built it with three of the finest architects, landscapers, and interior designers of the day. It was so beautiful that a jealous Louis (urged on by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, conspiring private secretary Prime Minister Mazarin) had Vicomte arrested on a false charge of embezzlement, hired the three creators of the palace, and built Versailles.

It’s not easy to get to. There are plenty of trains and RERs from Gare Lyon to Melun, the nearby town, but there are only bus connections to the palace on weekends…and not too many of those. Our first snag was at Gare Lyon. The ticket line was long and slow, and there were two separate lines. The RER trains were slower than the other trains, so we picked the line that did not say “RER.” Needless to say we picked the wrong one. It turned out that — and correct me if I likely get this wrong — since Melun is in the zoned area, even non-RER trains use the RER-type ticket.

When we got to the right ticket window, we were informed that work on the line would cause a delay that would make our train late. There was, however, an earlier RER train that would get us to Melun only a little late for the bus connection, so we took that assuming (hoping) that the bus company knew about the delays and would wait for the appropriate train. Luckily — though the train ride was a little longer than planned — we were right, and arrived at the palace OK.

After a scary start, our luck changed. The weather was completely rainless and somewhat sunny. The palace was beautiful. We walked the 80 or so steps to the dome for a breathtaking view of the grounds. We saw the carriage museum. The rooms, furniture, and tapestries were outstanding. We walked all over the grounds. There were sword fighters and horsemen in costume. But there was something else about it that, it turned out, was happening only today.

Over half the visitors were also dressed in period costumes. We had passed through a room on the way to the main building where you could rent costumes, but most of these folks had come already dressed. (the parking lot was full of them.)

It gave the entire scene an eerie time-warp feeling, seeing people having picnics and strolling the grounds…and not in a Disney-fied way., because these were not employees…they were clearly visitors, though visitors from another time, enjoying the palace and grounds as were we.

It turned out that today was a special day at Vaux…where everyone was encouraged to dress up. We had really lucked out.

We ate lunch at the cafeteria, and it was very good and reasonably-priced. A huge slice of roast pork with mashed potatoes and some kind of vegetable mix, and a salad.

Our return trip was uneventful. Since today was Sunday, our Navigo Semaine passes would end, so I stopped at a tobacco shop and picked up a carnet to carry us through Monday and Tuesday.

After a long rest, we were ready for dinner…at Equinox. Entrees were breaded zucchini flowers and a pepper quiche. Plats were steak and frites (Linda) and chicken Basque (again) for me. We both had the litchi dessert that I had had a couple of days ago.

After dinner we walked up Rue Vieilles du Temple for a bit. Seeing the Filles du Calvaire Metro station, and noticing the time, we decided to go down to the Eiffel Tower to watch it show off. We go there just in time. Then we headed back to the hotel for the night.

[…more to come…]

One more thing...Vaux was new for us. We'd been to Versailles twice. Actually, IMHO, once every ten years or so is enough for Versailles. It's obviously much bigger and extravegant with all the extra sections to visit, but Vaux was much less crowded (even on the special costume day) and quite similar in the interior. I recommend it as an alternative visit for Versaille veterans.

SS

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DAY 07 - MON MAY 26
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Breakfast in our hotel room…Linda, a real “flan”-atic, had flan again. I switched to a crumb fruit tarte.

We had planned to go to the Louvre today, but at the last minute decided to go to the Pompidou, which we hadn’t visited last trip. (We’ve been to Louvre many, many times.) The Contemporary floor was closed for renovations, which was OK with me, since I am more of a Modern-floor (1900-1950 or so) fan. It’s a very nice museum, but there are a number of small museums that, IMHO, offer a better experience for pre-1950 20th c. art — the Courtauld Gallery in London and the City Museum of Modern Art in Paris (More about that tomorrow).

For lunch we finally went to A’s au Falafel on R. Rosiers. We had been there on our first trip in 2001 and found it OK but not to our taste. We felt we owed it another try, since it is recommended in just about every travel guide book. We had schwarmas and frites — it was actually not bad…but I guess middle eastern spices are not on our A-list of flavors.

We then took a walk around Les Halles, including the fountain of the innocents, St. Merri and finishing up at St. Eustache. We thought we’d walk down Rue Montorgueil and check out the market stalls, but nothing much was going on that day. Also, we checked out a few chocolate shops. Tomorrow, our final day, would include picking up a few gifts for our kids and the neighbors who were collecting our mail.

Rest.

The weather was pretty good, so we decided to wander around the Marais for a while…started out in the south, through Village St. Paul (most places closed) , the St. Paul St. Louis church, over to Bastille, up to R. St. Gilles, and back down Vieille du Temple.

Dinner was pizza, salad and beer at Sant’ Antonio, then ice cream at Amorino — we shared a cup of chocolate, vanilla and (amazing) raspberry. Finished the day with a walk over to Ile St Louis to watch the river.

[…more to come…]

Just found this. That day nap worked for me in Madrid, ssander. Arriving first thing in the a.m. is wonderful but fatigue does hit. I googled it and your hotel looks wonderful—the rooms so charming. That Gare Montparnasse has a rooftop garden, let alone 2 museums, was good to know. The Belleville Open Doors will be a must see if I can get back to Paris. You’ve given us Paris veterans many new ideas! Wish there was more than one more day with your TR.

Thankfully there is more to come because I am loving this!

Love reading your report. We'll be in Paris in 2 weeks, so reading this gives me lots of new ideas.
Thanks!

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DAY 08 - TUE MAY 27
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Breakfast in our room…along with an orange, we shared flan plus a chocolate croissant for Linda…something called an <i>exotique</i> for me. I have no idea what was in it, but it was great. We also had milk (from the Monop’ down the street) for a change, instead of coffee.

Today turned out to be a day when some things didn’t turn out as planned…but a good day never-the-less. We started out at the Tuilleries checking out all the statues and greenery. Then, passing the Jean d’arc statue, we started our exploration of the passages. This was a composite map I made from information on Fodor’s from Kerouac and Degas (no longer with us).

It was a lot of fun…plus we had a great find: a wonderful children’s toy and book shop called <strong><i>Si Tu Veux</i></strong> in Gallerie Vivienne. We needed a gift for our 5-month old grandson, and we wanted a book, but so many books are printed in China…we wanted one from France. We found <i>Bonjour, les vaches!</i> by Yuichi Kasano, a beautifully illustrated book in French (which is OK, since he can’t read English, either. :-)

Next we passed the Fontaine Louvois with its women representing four French rivers: the Seine, the Loire, the Garonne and the Saône.

We continued on to Galleries Lafayette with its amazing dome and went to the roof to check out view. We also looked at some of items for sale. I took a photo of a display of watches, one of which was priced at €79,000…a little out of my range as a souvenir. (There were some watches that had no price at all, so maybe the €79K one was a mid-range item.)

Back to reality: We stopped at a chocolate place to pick up the gifts for our family and neighbor, paid our hotel bill, and headed to the BHV for lunch. I had a nicoise salad and a plate of fruit and Linda had a regular salad bar plate.

We had seen posters for the Paris 1900 exhibition at the Petit Palais, so we went there, only to find an excruciatingly- slow-moving line. We should have bought tickets in advance. After about a half-hour of waiting and very little progress, we gave up and walked to the Museum of Modern Art of the City.

This is one of our favorite museums and a real hidden gem that, I suspect, most tourists do not visit. It has an amazing collection of modern art — 1900-1950 or so (plus a contemporary section). We walked through the first five or six rooms enjoying the paintings, only to discover that over half the modern section was closed (for renovations?) In the hall, we could barely see parts of the rooms of beautiful Fauve paintings, and a Matisse…but that was it. We checked out the contemporary section, which really was pretty good, but we were still disappointed. Oh well…now we have a good reason to return to Paris.

We took the Metro back to St. Paul (where I bought tickets to CDG from the machine — cash of course, since my credit cards are low-tech), walked around the southern Marais a bit again, and crossed over to Ile St. Louis. We decided to keep wandering, and crossed Pont de Sully to the left bank. We went down the stairs to the riverside and walked past Notre Dame, arising at St Michel for a last look at the fountain. Then we proceeded down Rue Saint-André des Arts and up Rue Mazarine, finding ourselves back at the river at Pont des Artes.

Yes…we hate the locks, too. The first time we ever saw them was in Sevilla in 2012 — just a few on one of the bridges. It has really become a scourge.

In the morning I had made another 50%-off reservation at Le Caveau de l’ile, so we had a short rest, and walk to Ile St. Louie for our dinner. Linda had liked the onion soup I ordered last time, and I had liked the skewered lamb, so we both ordered soup and lamb. It was a very enjoyable last meal in Paris.

Finishing up a rainless day, we went to Amorino and shared Ecuador chocolate, Tahiti vanilla, strawberry and raspberry. Then back to the hotel to pack.

[…more to come…]

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DAY 00 - WED MAY 28
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Just oranges and crackers this morning. Gotta leave early for our 11:15 flight home.

The Metro/RER ride to the airport was quick. One year we had had a horrendous backup at the security line to our satellite in Terminal 1, and almost missed our flight, so this time we got there with three hours to spare. After fixing a minor seat assignment problem and breezing through control, we had a yogurt snack and walked to our gate — there was no line at all at security. Naturally with us getting there early, the plane was over 2 hours late arriving from Philadelphia!

Fortunately, they turned over the plane quickly and boarded without problems. We were 1:40 late leaving the gate, but there was no wait on the runway and the jet stream was kind to us. We were only 45 minute late landing. Unlike our last trip (Rome) when it took an hour to get through control in PHL, there was nobody…I repeat, nobody…in line ahead of us, so we actually got to our home earlier than we had originally expected. It was a good ending to an amazing trip.

glad to read that you had a more or less problem free trip home, ssander. shame that air travel has to be so stressful even when it goes well!

Museum of Modern Art of the City is one I don't know. I'll put it on our list for next trip. Very much enjoyed your report - thanks for posting!

Kathie...

It's actually called <strong><i>Le Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris.</strong></i> I was giving a very loose translation.

It's free, and it has a fabulous collection...except now, when some of the rooms are closed.

http://www.mam.paris.fr/en/home

SS

Enjoyed your report. I also like the way you travel and I also love Paris.

I'm arriving in Paris Wed am. My 12th time, but 4 yrs since last. Is there a big problem with credit cards without chip?

Loved your trip report.
Thanks for sharing your ideas and sightseeing.

Enjoyed your trip report. We have also been to Paris many times and appreciate some new ideas for places to visit.

nicerue50...

In our case, our card (Cap One with no foreign transaction fee) was rejected regularly at transport ticket windows (train, RER and Metro), even for very small amounts. Otherwise, it was fine, including the large hotel bill.

Our ATM card had no problem...but we only used it once.

But you can't generalize from our experience. The wide variety of experiences in Fodor's posts only convinced me that there is no set rule you can rely on regarding non-chip cards.

My advice: Take several credit and ATM cards, and be sure to let the card issuers know in advance that you are going.

And since we know we will return to Europe, we always take at least €75 home with us to bring on the next trip -- at least enough to get us from the airport to the hotel.

SS

Lovely report - I enjoyed it very much. Thank you.