I am reading some post on this forum... and I am thinking that there is only have one arrondissment in Paris (the 7th) and only have one street
the Rue Cler...LOL
and only 3 restuarants in all of Paris....LoL...

I got quite a laugh when I read about your eating habits at home and how they change in France.

MDH had 4 bypass surgery 6 years ago and is doing fine. We try to eat well at home, but do the same thing that you do in France----inhale vast quantities of real butter, cream, cheese, and foie gras. When we returned home from one trip, he had a cardioligist appointment the next week. He was woried that after all those fats, he would get a huge lecture on eating. After many tests he received a letter from his doctor saying, "Whatever you're doing, keep on doing it. Your numbers are great." Maybe France has is right after all.

We also agree with your DH---Ile St. Louis just feels like home to us. We are sometimes tempted to stay elswhere and then always end up returning to "our place." We love touring the other locations, but always want to return to the Ile.

Kerouac--I roared with laughter when I read "It is clearly very convenient to be rich". That was EXACTLY how we felt over the stay in that apartment. It's not our normal style of travel, I can assure you. I felt as though my life just got upgraded.

Over the years, we have been very frugal travelers so that we could pound in more travel. I am also a frequent flyer miles queen.

Our normal style of travel can get be wearing, though, and I'm seeing a sort of seismic shift in my husband's thinking. I guess that because he is nearing the end of his working years and the tail end of his 60's, he no longer wants to travel as though it's hard work, too.

Case in point: When I found out my mother may not be coming with us and using the second bedroom in the apartment, I naturally assumed we would not take a chance on this apartment. Not so. He had mentally "moved in."

Anyway, as long as he's in this expansive frame of mind, I'm not going to question it. I certainly enjoyed NOT having to wash out my clothes in the bathroom sink at night. ;-)

Serge365--We truly have made an effort to stay in many different neighborhoods throughout Paris, so I understand how you feel. There are so many unique streets throughout the city that I hope others get to see and experience as their "neighborhood" for a Paris stay.

On the other hand, I stupidly avoided staying in the 7th for a long time because I have this pigheaded anti-Rick Steves bias.

Annhig--The apartment is the Invalides/St. Germaine one. Decent kitchen with both washer/dryer, computer, VOIP phone, etc. Nice management. Sound problem with all those ancient wood floors, but hey, I'll deal!

Lovely report! Thank you, particularly about the healthy aspects of Parisian overindulgence.

What a nice, thoughtful report. Thanks, AZ!

We're frugal travelers, too, but lately I've been getting an itch for a splurge of some sort (Paris sometime other than off-peak, apartment with a view, something...). Everyone needs one on occasion. Life's too short.

Oops, almost forgot: thanks for posting about "Les Musiciens de Lviv." My husband and I bought their CD after hearing them in the Places des Vosges years ago, but it got destroyed in the Great Flood of 2005, and I had forgotten about them. So you reminded me that we need to seek them out again next trip. Thanks! (Similar ancestry, btw.)

Wonderful, wonderful!

I do agree about Marmotton though. Although it is a lovely space, in my most humble non-art educated opinion, the works there were not Monet's prettiest. Is it possible that as his cateracts got worse, his colors became muddier?

As for Ms. Stein...OMG. National Portrait Gallery Washington, D.C. has exhibit about her until Jan. 22, 2012. Self promoter for sure, however, she was in the right place at the right time for it.

Very interesting, TPAYT. Shall we go ahead and move there? I've been talking about buying StCirq's place on another thread. Better own a flat in Paris also. Sigh...

Very well organized and thoughtful report, AZ. I so appreciate the time you took to organize it, as i have found myself sort of flubbing my way through a report of our recent trip. Might be a good New Year's resolution for me to ORGANIZE my thoughts!!

We stayed on the Ile St. Louis, very easy to fall in live with.

How about "fall in LOVE with?"

taconic, That may have been Freudian

Just to state one more thing, we stayed in the 7th and spent no time on rue Cler. I think we got a cup of coffee there the first hour we were there and never went back.

Denisea--Yeah, I'm not that much in love with it. But I'm also not a market person. My sister lives and dies markets. She hates museums, but boy does she like shopping and markets. We agree to disagree there and just join up at restaurants.

Here's what I found to be interesting: my daughter does a lot of her daily shopping on Rue Cler.

I assumed she'd just hit one of the Carrefours, better Monoprix, etc. Turns out she wanted very much when she first got there to practice her French skills, and so she purposely sought out places where interaction was part of the purchases.

After she became a regular customer, the merchants on the street started correcting her French in a "tres gentille" manner. Nice, right?

Well, I feel a little better about not making it to Marmottan. >>

oh denise, we loved it. following a tip we got here, we managed to get tickets [well sesame passes] to the Monet exhibition at the Grand palais last january, and fitted a trip out to the Marmottan into our itinerary too.

honestly, i think we enjoyed the Marmottan more than the Grand palais in some ways - you could see the pictures without being stood on by 100 other people, they were well spaced and lit [the lighting in the grand palais was awful in some places] and we didn't have to wait at all - we just walked straight in.

and I thought it was very interesting to see the later water-lillies - which were indeed less distinct it is thought because of his fading eyesight.

but being a permanent exhibition it should still be there for your next time, Denise!

Enjoyed trip report because reminded me of the way Dh and I eat at home except we never eat red meat or duck or pork but get to Paris and first place we go to is cheese shops and wine shops. Rue Cler is ok for a day but we search out open air markets where we can really interact with the locals.
we will be staying in the seventh for the second time....we like it for the quietness but the true old Paris is around Notre Dame and Isle STe Louis so we always go there for 3 nights too.

Thank you, I enjoyed your report very much.

Thoroughly enjoyable trip report! I have only one question - where is the shop in the Marais where you bought the mink beret? I won't be back to Paris until next November but I'd love to put the shop on my list of places to visit.

You will soon see why we didn't get to Marmottan on my T/R. Maybe next time though. I do love Monet.

Dee-Dee: We visited two or three second-hand shops along Rue St. Antoine on the left side from the St. Paul metro stop towards the Bastille. I just don't remember which one we found the hat in. We were actually only looking for a replacement bag that had been doubling as her Metro purse/computer carryall.

All of those shops did have some type of fur hats, scarves and even fur vests. I would never buy fur in the US, but what the heck...if it's second-hand, I figure we're like second-cousins four-times removed from the kill.

I did find out the brand and its website of the computer bag we eventually bought for my daughter:
TINTAMAR
http://www.tintamar.com/
The shop selling Tintamar was on Rue St. Paul on the right as you leave Rue St. Antoine and work your way towards the Seine. None of the stuff on the official website is as appealing as the "in person" stuff in the store. Shopkeeper was just lovely. Of course, most of the shopkeepers were lovely because daughter's French was just so good. Can you tell I am still amazed at that?

Forgive me for not giving you more info--I am just not that much into shopping.

Annhig: I somewhat agree with you. I got to see the Monet, Turner, Whistler exhibit at the Grand Palais a few years ago. Even though I had purchased the tickets online for an early timeslot so that we could avoid the inevitable onslaught, the crowd became too much within a half hour. The paintings themselves were exquisite, but I wanted to bat people away after awhile.

Still, I just don't think the Marmatton really has the goods, so to speak. So many of us have been spoiled by the Musee d'Orsay, don't you think? I hope it opens again in good order soon--I have paintings I want to visit again.

Here's my point. I remember our first visit to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. This visit came years and years after our annual visits to d'Orsay. The kids and I would re-take our d'Orsay tour, revisiting favorites and noting which ones were out on loan.

So when we ended up in Van Gogh "mecca" in Amsterdam, we were just flat-out disappointed. The Van Gogh Museum may have had an extensive collection but to us, the Musee d'Orsay had all the GOOD ones.

Something we liked in the L'Orangerie was the UNfinished Renoir of the girls playing piano. I think he painted at least three editions of this painting. This was the first UNfinished one we had seen. It was profound. Renoir's joy in painting not only the girl's faces but also their intensity was a great experience for us.

<b>"I'll Never Need Turkey Again: Thanksgiving in Paris"</b>
<i>Report Addendum</i>

My husband is insulted that I left out the BEST part of the trip: O'Brian's Irish Pub on Rue St. Dominque (towards the Invalides end). Husband would take his Kindle, get a Guinness and what endless rugby players walk in the door.

He's a fan.