You're too kind Kerouac!

(tee hee)

Paule

After our afternoon siesta, we went off Musee de l’Orangerie. There, we picked up museum passes for 4 days (http://www.parismuseumpass.com/en/home.php).

We have already been to most of the grand museums in Paris, and I got the pass for 4 days so that we could come and go as we please. And we saw some of the smaller museums that we really enjoyed that we probably wouldn’t have gone out of our way to see without it. Once we had the pass, we had to make sure we actually used it to justify the cost.

The Orangerie was one of the museums that I had on my “must” list. We enjoyed it, but found the display of Monet’s water lilies cramped in the round rooms. The downstairs had a good collection of art, which we liked especially.

After a sprint through a corner of the Louvre, admiring greek & roman statues (end of day, had to use the pass!), we found ourselves face to face with the Venus de Milo. A pleasant surprise, and we had her all to ourselves! Closing hours of one museum did not mean it was the end of our day.

Back toward the apartment for a lovely nosh on a pastry from “our” boulangerie, and then we were off to the Pompidou and the National Art Museum (on the pass). Now we had visited many years ago and found it a very uninspiring museum way back when. I don’t know if it’s been completely revamped or if we just saw it at the wrong moment, but we were impressed this time by the quality of the exhibits and the quantity of art on display! There was also a delightful (temporary) Calder show. We stayed quite a long time, leaving only when we reached our saturation point.

Finally, dinner. We tried 404, a stylish North African restaurant, a short distance from our apartment. Lovely atmosphere, shared long tables in the center of the room, booths on the side. Warm, dark, cozy atmosphere with oriental details. Good food, fun atmosphere. I had the chicken with pear tagine and Michael had a meat grill. No dessert, too full!

Wandered home, passing the so-called “oldest house in Paris”, the Nicholas Flamel house, now a restaurant (looks a bit like the “ye olde” variety, if you know what I mean).

And toddled off to bed.


Day 5/Tuesday, May 12

Woke up to a grey but not rainy day! Today, off to the Musee du Quai Branley, the new museum for the indigenous art of non-European countries (Africa, Oceania, Asia, & the Americas). Wonderful museum, fascinating content, beautifully displayed. I had been dying to see this place since it opened; a new museum by Jean Nouvel, it got a lot of play for the creative design of the building. I really enjoyed it; the flow of the building felt natural, not forced. There even is a nice sense of intimacy in each of the areas, considering how large the space is. Fair warning, though: it’s huge, and you could spend a long time there.

It started to rain again, so we didn’t really spend much time in the gardens, but there are lush gardens surrounding the museum.

To be continued...

May 12, continued...

More walking, this time, to Bon Marche, checking out the vast food gallery there. LOTS of food! Huge display! Picked up a few items, but I was expecting an old-fashioned shop display (Harrod’s), not a contemporary style of store. But make no mistake, this is a grand food shopping extravaganza For NYers, think Balducci’s on a large scale.

Michael wanted no part of clothes + shopping, so we walked along rue du Bac until we found a lovely little park (I think Schnauzer found the same one). I decided to walk back to explore the store a little, while Michael got to rest his feet in the park for a while. I was glad I went back – I discovered the gorgeous renovated interior with criss-crossing escalators. Beautiful! Elegance!

Stopped for ice cream, picked up Michael in the park and proceeded down rue du Bac until we reached Deyrolle. FABULOUS! Thank you, St. Cirq, for the suggestion. This is an amazing store – it’s a taxidermy shop, but so much more. When we first walked in, I know Michael thought, “so what’s so special?” until we got to the second floor. Wow. More museum than store. I know that it had a fire, but it looks pretty amazing to me. The display of the large animals – amazing. And the many collections of creatures, large and small. THIS is worth a stop.

Continued our walk and over the Seine, up to the Opera (yes, we walked a lot). The sun was out, and we were loving the walk. Headed off to the Opera, a place I have been wanting to see for a long time (not on the pass). Passed a large demonstration on behalf of the Tamil Tigers in front of the Opera. Turned out there was a rehearsal, so the auditorium would be closed to view; we’ll do this another day!

Off to Galleries Lafayette, and saw the beautiful interior: the spectacular glass dome and the balconies overlooking the center. We headed upstairs, and discovered yet another wonderful place for a view from their “terrace”.

We continued our walk along Blvd Haussman, which turned into Blvd Montmartre. We came across a kind of food market, although this seemed to be a special event. A series of food stands from different regions in France. We had lots of fun sampling the cheeses, bread, pate, and drinks. I picked up a delicious bottle of cider from Normandy, some cheese and some fig bread (yum).

Gotta go…I hope to finish this week.

Really nice report!

Thanks, TDudette!

Here's the rest of May 12:

After a little more shopping at rue Montorgueil. I can’t say enough how much I loved being near this street! It’s always lively because of the many cafes & restaurants along this stretch, and great choices in food stores.

Back home for the daily afternoon break – and indulge in our purchases! Having an apartment is just what I had hoped for: a sense of home and a place to fully relax in during the course of the day. At times, we missed having the convenience (and even, companionship) of having the hotel staff; but overall, it was a great experience.

Afternoon and evening were beautiful! Gorgeous weather this evening, perfect for a walk. We decided to check out Café Charlot (38, rue de Bretagne & rue Charlot), a recommendation from a Parisian friend whose family lives in the Marais. This is maybe a 15 – 20 minute walk northeast of us, and gives us a chance to wander through the northern part of Marais.

At 8:00 pm or so, the café is hopping – but no one is eating dinner yet. Although there is a dinner menu, this is a place for socializing over a drink. It’s mostly but not all young, and if we lived here, it looked like a great meeting place.

Across the street, we found a great covered market, the Marche des Enfants-Rouges, which is said to be the oldest market in Paris. Looked great, and we planned to come back here before we left:
http://paris-talk.blogspot.com/2009/...ges-paris.html

Side note: For those of you who note these kinds of things, we’ve now seen several “oldest” places in Paris:
1) Stohrer’s, the oldest bakery
2) Nicholas Flamel’s house
3) Marche des Enfants-Rouge, the oldest market.

The stretch along rue de Bretagne had several busy cafes, but the restaurants didn’t captivate. We walked on back to Rambuteau, and ate at Le Petit Marcel, a small, inexpensive bistro with tables facing out onto the street. We both had steak, and it was very tasty if a little chewy. But a very satisfying experience! One of those places that turn out to be better than you expect. We had a great seat looking out onto the street, and we sat for a while, just enjoying the evening show.

Another nighttime stroll, and to bed!

A few more days to come...

Love the report. My wife and I overlapped you. We were there May 12-19.

Keep the descriptions coming!

SS

Thanks, SS. I love your report, too. I hope to finish by this weekend - being back at work is taking a toll on my trip report writing time!

Day 6/Wednesday May 13

Late, lazy wakeup today, overcast but pleasant day. Today was a day to sample some of the museums that I’d been curious about. Having the pass gave us the freedom to “sample” freely, without thinking of whether or not we wanted to actually enter a particular museum.

We are walking distance from the Musee des Arts et Metiers. On the museum pass! Vast but fascinating museum of the history of industry, manufacturing and all things scientific - in short, a museum of the history of everything.

The museum was founded in 1794 & the collection is housed in a former abbey, which consists of a HUGE building that ends in a lovely chapel. The collection is breathtaking in its totality, but I have to admit it’s really ideal for the individual who just adores a beautiful but an endless collection of every scientific & industrial object imaginable. It IS fascinating (yawn), but, help! I did enjoy it – up to a point. The stellar display in the chapel, though, is worth the visit. Foucault’s Pendulum, a scale model of the Statue of Liberty (!), and a wonderful display of old cars. Definitely, the chapel was cool.

We returned to the Marche des Enfants-Rouges (love that name). Discovered that it really wasn’t entirely a food market, more a collection of restaurant stalls. We were looking for picnic items, so this wasn’t really the place (although there was at least one stand making sandwiches). But several of the places looked really good – I noticed Japanese and couscous among the many food stalls.

Outside, there was someone selling cheese, and we picked up a bread, headed off to a lovely little park on rue Reamur to eat.

Staying in the Marais, we walked to Musee Cognacq-Jay. No pass needed – this one’s free! This is a collection of art by the founder of La Samaritaine, and its housed in a lovely small 16th building, with period rooms focused mostly on 18th C art & furniture. We noticed LOTS of seduction scenes amongst the paintings!

Stopped for espresso at a café along rue St. Antoine, and sat, and sat. This is the life. But now that little burst of caffeine gets us going, and we’re off – this time, the Pantheon.

We had been by this building so many times, but had never actually gone in. I really feel partial to this building; it’s the center of such a wonderful location (place du Pantheon), and I do like the dome and the rest of the interior. The underground vault is rather barren, but they’ve brought together the remains of some impressive names, including Voltaire, Rousseau, Hugo, Zola and Marie & Pierre Curie. Admired the paintings (some a bit odd) of the life Of Sainte Genevieve (for whom the Pantheon was built to honor).

Okay, enough with the museums! I know Michael thinks we’ve done enough. And we take our afternoon siesta in my still-favorite Parisian park, Jardin du Luxembourg. I LOVE almost all the parks we’ve been in, but I’m still in love with this park. It’s just a glorious park, and every time I visit, I just feel a thrill. While we were there, it was hazy, bright and very warm, and the sun went in and out.

We walked back, crossed the Seine. Stopped to admire the Tour St.-Jacques, one of the odder edifices around. This structure is all that remains of a church, but now all that’s left is a flamboyant belltower that can be seen all over town; there’s also a statue at the base of Blaise Pascal, who carried out experiments on atmospheric pressure in the 17th C.

Back to the apartment for the afternoon nosh & nap. And for the next couple of hours, it poured and thundered and poured some more.
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And more still to come!

Hi Paule, between your TR and Leely2's, I feel like I really should go back to Paris and stay for a good week at the least!

I would like to go back and stay for a month, like Schnauzer did! It really does make a difference to have the time to start to feel "at home".
Paule

progol,

It does make a difference when you are able to stay longer.

I only go for stays of at least a month. My recent trip was for a month. The flights are too miserable, otherwise. I will be returning in the fall for 6 weeks. That will be nice.

I have been often enough, and I always stay in the same area, so it feels like "home" when I arrive, now. Everything is familiar and I see people I know right away. Not much different than when I do return home.

I'm not a tourist, I guess.

Enjoy your trip.

Joan

Great report. We were in Paris around the same time as you (arrived on May 10 but wnet to Bruges on the 11th for 4 days)and we got lucky with the weather. Bruges was mostly clear while it rained in Paris and the rest o Belgium. We returned to Paris on the 15 and had mostly clear skies and by the 18th it was sunny and gorgeous! We stayed untl th 23rd.

We also rented an apartment for the first time and we had seriously considered renting the same one you did! Mostly for the deck. Bu we knew we'd be unhappy without windows and now after hearing about the deck, I'm glad we didn't go with that apartment, although we love that area. WE had our own issues with the apartment we did rent (there's a whole thread on i if you're interested) but we loved having our own "home."

But I understand the feeling of isolation you expressed. We're lucky that we have friends who live in Paris so had a great deal of social interaction while there so we didn't miss the daily connection with a concierge. And we enjoyed our daily little chat in our local bakery and at various cafes every day!

Really enjoyed reading your report. Brought me back. If I could make a living in Paris, I'd move there tomorrow! I'm so envious of people who can go for a month or more at a time.

Hi Progol - Loving your report and hoping you have loads of photos to follow!
Paraudin was fun for us too on the 2nd GTG! By the way, which couple are you & Michael in the photo taken outside the restaurant?

Hi Paule,
Looks like you started your report while I was in Paris, so I'm just getting to read it now. I'm impressed with how much ground you covered so far. I'm enjoying this.

gracejoan, I've been following your trips with pleasure and a tad bit of envy! How wonderful that you have the time to spend a month at a time in Paris. No, at that point, you're not a tourist anymore; it's a whole different relationship to the city. Especially when you stay in the same area. It's terrific to have built up relationships over time.

tod-I'm embarrassed to say I don't have tons of photos as one of our ^%$# digital cards became corrupted. I have some photos, but we really didn't take that many on this trip. I will eventually post the ones that survived. This from a former photographer, too!

In the picture on Monica's website, my husband Michael is the guy with the mustache on the right, and I'm the curly, dark-haired woman with the white jacket and red (dainty!) scarf in dead center.

Leely, being back to work has unfortunately slowed my own trip report, and I haven't had time to read many of the current ones too much - but yours is definitely one I'm trying to keep up with! So much fun!

Plafield, Thanks for your kind feedback. Yes, I'd been following your frustrating apartment saga - how irritating. We all do our best in trip planning, and sometimes, things don't turn out to be the way they're supposed to be, despite all our best efforts -- and I'm glad you were able to get past the aggravation of the apartment to fully enjoy your trip. I did like our apartment, but the lack of windows and a view was something that I missed. The patio isn't something I would use much even in nice weather, either.

I'm glad, too, that you had the gorgeous weather for the latter part of your stay. For me, the weather was the thing I just had to roll with - I mean, what could I do about it? Who could I complain to?

I'm getting to the end! It's almost over!

Thanks for following with me,
Paule

Thanks, progol. I've been writing about Deyrole for years.
When they had that fire last year I was crushed but happy
again in March when I visited to see things almost back to normal with concerned admirers donating money and their taxidermy anmals and Hermes made a special scarf whose cost went to Deyrole.

cigelechanta,
Deyrole was one of the biggest treats of all the sites we visited. Truly a unique place. I'd never heard about it until I read about it here. We were both amazed by the place.
Paule

Finally, the skies cleared! Dinnertime, and off to La Grille Montorgueil, 50, rue Montorgueil.

Very popular, and deservedly so. Prices are modest, and the food is good to excellent. We began with a lovely foie gras appetizer; I had the duck breast and gratin dauphinois, which was delicious. Someone who recently ate at this bistro posted a photo of this very meal, but I can't find the trip report. Michael, though, ordered andouillette, which was, um, a little more of an acquired taste. Expecting a traditional sausage dish, he was unprepared for what he says is "worm-like/rubber-band like particles of intestine that were held together in some undescribable way, and fried, covered with a strange yellow-brown-like mustard sauce". The texture was just too weird, yet he found there wasn't that much flavor. It's not for the faint of heart, or rather, those with a sensitive food palate. I liked this blog's description of andouillette: http://mcmuffin.co.uk/mr_and_mrs_mcm...ouillette.html
Michael says, “Je regrette l’andouillette!”. Still, it was a satisfying meal at a very good bistro.

An evening stroll, some chocolate and amaretto ice cream along rue Montorgueil, and time for bed.

Aaaahhh, Paris! Enjoyed your TR very much, progol!

Thanks, TDudette! One more full day (which will have to wait one more day). I love writing the TR, since it keeps the trip alive for me.

Till tomorrow.
Paule