My husband and I spent 10 days in Paris from Sept. 4 to 14. It was a sort of �make-up� trip�to make up for the 30 days we�d planned to spend in France during the entire month of August and couldn�t because for the second year in a row he had a bout of kidney stones just as we were about to take off. We�ve been lucky enough to have traveled to Paris some 25 times or more in the past so it was pretty amazing that we were able to see and do a number of things we�ve never done before. In many respects this trip fulfilled a whole wish list of �next times� I�d been saving up over the years. Here are the highlights. (Apologies for any misspellings, etc. I�m doing this report from notes and don�t have my guidebooks with me to consult)

Museums:

Palais de Tokyo and Musee de L�Art Moderne de Paris on Ave. President Wilson. We�ve tried to go to this museum several times, usually on Saturday after going to the President Wilson market, but it�s free and has a long line for entry on Saturdays so we�ve always given up and said �next time.� Knowing this, I planned our visit for after the Wednesday President Wilson market (I try to start every day in Paris�except non-market Mondays�with one or more markets.) We walked right in without a problem. Though modern art is not my husband�s favorite even he enjoyed a couple of the installations. Perhaps the nicest thing about this museum is its spaciousness. You are permitted to stand in enormous rooms with high ceilings to view a single painting or series of them on one of the walls. The museum is undergoing some renovation so the façade that faces the Seine is torn up, but there is a lovely terrace restaurant there with giant umbrellas and views back to the Seine through dappled plane trees that invites you to stop for lunch or at least a drink before moving on to other pursuits.

Musee Quai Branly. This is Paris� newest museum and it�s a stunner. It�s the museum of Oceanic, African and other art which I must admit holds little appeal for my husband and me. What we did find appealing, however, was the exterior of the very modern building and its surrounding park. There is a clever iron fence made to look like reeds in the water so you don�t even recognize it as a fence. The whole thing is beautiful with walkways, plantings and a lovely outdoor café, which however, needs to get its act together in the service department.

Musee Nissim Camondo not far from Gare St. Lazare and Parc Monceau is one of those small museums of Paris you always hear so much about. This was a private residence of a wealthy Jewish businessman who left his house and his art collection to the City of Paris. The house with its furnishings is especially lovely to stroll through. It�s sad, however, to see that the two children who were the last in the line of the family perished in the Holocaust, I believe at Auschwitz.

The Orangerie�finally. I don�t know how many times on earlier visits I�ve walked up to the doors to find it closed and how many times I�ve read posts on Fodors asking when it was scheduled to reopen. Well it finally did and it is beautiful. There are two oval rooms of Monet water lilies in natural light. Aside from the hordes standing with you to see them, they are well worth the wait. The rest of the collection including works by many artists contemporaneous with Monet is installed underground to provide lighted space for the water lilies, but is also interesting to see. The museum space overall is pleasant. I had reserved ahead for our tickets through the FNAC site as advised by several posts here. We were admitted without problem at our assigned time, but so were lots of people who had just queued up to buy tickets, so at least on weekdays at 4 p.m. I think you can get in without advance tickets.

One last museum�the Cluny, or the Museum of the Middle Ages in the 5th. We stay at the Hotel Parc St. Severin which is practically across the street from this museum and yet we�ve never gone in. On our final day in Paris we had an hour or so to kill and decided to bite the bullet and see it. We got as far as the lovely small gardens and boardwalk surrounding the place but couldn�t easily find the entrance and so gave up. It remains on our �next time� list.

Markets:

I�m passionate about French markets. As I said, we try to start every day in Paris with a market and then stroll about in the surrounding neighborhood. This time we took in two new street markets�the kind like Montorgrueil and Mouffetard that are open every day with displays on the street adjacent to permanent shops rather than the roving markets that set up tentlike and take down their stands two or three days each week. Rue Poncelot is in the 17th arrondissement not far from the Ternes metro stop. It being fall they were featuring displays of various mushrooms. The other street market we went to was the Rue Daguerre in the 14th not far from the Montparnasse cemetery and the Denfert Rochereau metro stop. Besides lovely market stalls, it has several pleasant little wine bars.

We were at the Rue Daguerre market primarily because we�d returned to the Denfert Rochereau metro stop having been let off there from our bus tour of the biggy of all markets�Rungis, the wholesale market that supplies Paris and much of France with its foodstuffs. Ever since I�d first heard of this place which replaced the romantic (but by then much too small and congested) Les Halles central market in the early 1960s, I�d wanted to go there. Each time we�d plan a trip to Paris, I�d start looking for tours and seeking ways to interest my fellow travelers in awakening at 4 a.m. to go there in time to see all of the excitement. After reading about a tour I believe on this site, I finally got my husband to agree that we�d do it. They do the tour only on the first Friday of each month and they charge 65 euros per person which must be guaranteed with a credit card and actually prepaid. We�d had reservations for August for the trip we had to cancel. Luckily our September trip also included a first Friday and the company was kind enough to change the reservations to September. All correspondence was in French only so I had a few difficult moments trying to make the switch and be sure the credit card information got to them successfully but it all worked out. The French only thing continued on the tour as the guide conducted it all in French and indeed most of the participants were French-speaking or at least French understanding. Because we don�t understand French, I�m sure we missed a lot of information�history of the place, undoubtedly lots about the size of the place�it�s enormous, and about the volume of business that�s done there daily, but just seeing it was very interesting. From reading about Rungis I know that there are over 50 restaurants within its grounds just to feed the many thousands who work there so you get some idea from that fact alone.

We met the tour bus at 5 a.m. at the Denfert Rochereau metro stop. I�d guess there were about 30 other sleepy folks who got on. We spent only about 15 minutes or less getting to Rungis which has a toll, controlled entry-- so you can�t just wander in on your own. We were deposited first at one of I think three gigantic fish and seafood halls. Before entering we were presented with our costumes�white lab coats and caps to cover our hair complete with little duck bills. Feeling very chic, we entered the hall and walked among the fish and seafood. My overwhelming reaction was to the incredible cleanliness of the place. With so much raw, recently killed stuff and so much waste everything is nonetheless pristinely clean. Everything is washed down, hardly any sign of blood or fish guts or dirt of any sort. The same is true throughout the whole of the place. It is not for nothing that we were so nattily attired.

After the fish and seafood hall (where we walked about on the floor and also on a railed platform surrounding it so that we could see the whole of it from above) we moved on to the following:
Triperie�featuring cow head, stomach, tongues, livers, brains, hearts, etc, etc.
Bird barn�including also rabbits and goats, with game birds still in their plumage packed beautifully in cardboard display boxes looking more like women�s hats than dinner. The best part of this place was the restaurant right in the middle with workers all standing about in their white lab coats drinking their expresso and shots of liquor�my romantic vision of the old Les Halles only absent the blood stains on the white coats. It seems no one walks about carrying whole sides of beef any longer.
Viandes�cold storage for pig and beef carcasses which are now transported on hooks attached to conveyor belts like your clothes are at the dry cleaners�again, hardly a sign of blood or waste anywhere.
Fromage�dairy products and cheeses. This was the only place that really smelled and of course that�s because it�s supposed to.
Fruits and legumes�incredibly diverse and colorful and very congested with forklifts flying back and forth everywhere.
Flowers�color, color and more color but most fairly smashed together for transport.

We finished up with breakfast at one of the restaurants within the Rungis compound at about 8:30 or 9 a.m.�vegetable soup, a plate of sausages and rillettes and pates and another plate of cheeses-- my kind of breakfast. We returned to the city by about 10 a.m. �and went (where else?) to see the retail markets whose supplies had come from Rungis. If you can rouse yourself for the early morning start, and especially if you can pretty well understand French, I�d say this is a very worthwhile trip.

A day trip to Conflans

Sometimes it seems as you read this forum that most of the posts are about Paris and those that aren�t are asking where to go on a day trip from Paris. I read the latter religiously and was rewarded for my efforts with the wonders of Conflans, a small town northwest of Paris devoted to the barge trade on the Seine. Following the directions of posts by Palenque and Lafitte we took the RER for about a half hour to the correct stop and walked to the main part of Conflans St. Honorine. It was Sunday, and true to the posted information, there was a nice little market in progress. We walked the promenade along the Seine and saw the barges converted into stationary homes by the former barge folk and even the church in one of the old barges moored by the market area. We had lunch at a cute little restaurant with windows onto the barges and the Seine and returned to Paris rested from a day in the countryside.

Bercy area

We had checked out parts of the Bercy area on previous trips but really put it together this time. I�ve decided the Bercy Park is my favorite in Paris. We started at the Mitterand library which we�d seen from a distance in cabs on our way in and out of town. Up close the four towers are overwhelming and the amount of wood in the platforms that unite them is amazing. We weren�t able to see any of the interiors because the library was closed for two weeks (pretty amazing in itself) but just walking about in the shadows of these enormous structures was a trip. We crossed the Seine via the Simone de Beauvoir foot bridge which is a very interesting structure made of two intersecting arches, one pointed up and one down. That led us to the Cinemathique Francais which is a building designed by Frank Gehry (apparently the only one of his in Paris) for another purpose but retooled for its current use. It has the inverted towers crashing into each other and the ribbon-like facades that is typical of so many of his more famous works�like the Bilbao museum�but these are of concrete rather than titanium. From there we walked the length of the Bercy park with its old fashioned house in the vineyard and its very modern squares and waterways and crossed over one of the streets of Paris on one of two footbridges built in duo to maintain the symmetry of the place. It�s beautiful, peaceful, artful, modern and lovely. We left the park at the Cour St. Emilion area and entered the Bercy village with its renovated chais (wine storage warehouses) that now house trendy boutiques and cute, trendy bistros. I just can�t recommend this place enough. It has something for everyone.

Passages

Almost as much as I like markets, I like passages�the covered shopping streets of years gone by. I�d been to all the biggies�Colbert/Vivienne, Panoramas, Brady, Choiseul, etc. But I had bought a book about the passages which told me about three I hadn�t seen before�one by Place Republique and the other two by the Madeleine, so I had to go. Thank me. I can save you a trip. None of them had really anything to write home about. They were small�less than a block long�and one didn�t even have a roof. Sometimes you can get too far off the beaten track.

Boat ride on the Seine

This is hardly off the beaten track, but it is something we�d never done, at least not at night, so we did it. We took the one hour night time boat ride, sans dinner but with wine in plastic cups, from the Vert Galant area of the Ile de la Cite. I think the boats were the Vedettes. At any rate it was wonderful. Don�t know why it, too, had been on the �next time� list for so long.

So, that�s how I finally whittled down my �next time� list on this last trip. But it�s not completed yet. I still need to do the Joinville day trip that Palenque also recommended, to see something of the Bois de Bologne, to see the Park Belleville, and to do several of the other small museums including the Cluny finally, and oh yes, they�ve just reopened the newly redone Musee des arts Decoratifs at the Louvre, got to see that next time too.

P.S. Restaurant info to follow in separate post.

Thanks Julie - for your well written and informative report.

We too had Commando Nissim on our list for years and years and finally went there last year. It really is a must see and I'm sorry that we waited so long.

Thanks for the info on the Branly, we were planning to go in December.

Rungis is on my list too, but unfortunately this time we won't be there on the 1st Friday of the month - maybe next year.

Your previous recommendation for Chez Clovis is on our list this year too.

We too have seen parts of Bercy, but you've made us want to go back and see more.

Thanks again.

Nina

ttt

Thanks for some confirmation on Conflans. I've been recommending it here for a couple of years, and the last response back was one of those "what a horrible waste of time" ones. Guess it just goes to show that we don't all have the same ideas or taste.

Conflans Sainte Honorine is the "péniche" capital of France and has the largest population of water dwellers. It is delightful.
The new Cinémathèque française is in the former American Center, which was inaugurated by Hillary Clinton. The old American Center on boulevard Raspail was sold for a fortune and is the location of the Fondation Cartier now. The fortune disappeared into various people's pockets, and the new American Center very quickly went bankrupt. There is no longer an American Center (or "American Center for Students and Artists" which was the official name). Suspicion lies on the Pillsbury family, which was behind all of this, as well as a certain Jack Egle, former CIA operative.

marking for future reference

Hi Julie - thanks so much for a most interesting and informative a/c. I too love the markets and try to seek them out, but I've never been determined enough to get up for a 5am start. perhaps next time we go to Paris?

Thanks for the images. The Rungis tour sounds wonderful, especially capped off by a great breakfast. And I don't know, I think getting too far off the beaten path is a fine thing as well.

I also spent a few hours in Conflans. Nice walk along the river, also saw the market and had a nice lunch. Recommend for something different and get you out of the big city.

Thanks for the fantastic trip report! What company did you use for the Rungis trip?

For info on the Rungis tour go to www.visiterungis.com There is a flag to click on for the English version. Enjoy.

Thanks, Julie.

Thanks, kerouac, for the history on the Frank Gehry building--the American Center. I knew that Hilary Clinton inaugurated it but didn't know that there was even some problems surrounding its demise. We checked the Cartier Foundation off our next time list a couple of trips ago. That is a beautiful place. Had a kind of surreal experience there. A late spring snow started just as we entered and we stood inside the glass building and watched a veritable blizzard cover the pretty little spring flowers in the garden, then stop and begin to melt to a slushy mess before we ventured back out to walk again in the spring sunshine.

Thanks JulieV for your great report,

You've convinced me that I need to more fully esplore the Bercy area and perhaps visit Conflans. - C

Thanks Julie for the Rungis web site.

It looks like they're now doing the tour on the second Friday of the month.

Julie;

Too bad you missed the Cluny. It's one of my favorites. There is a Visigothic crown (yes, really!!) and an exquisite golden rose which was a gift to a medieval pope along with the piece de resistance, the Unicorn Tapestries. If you don't recognize the name, you'll immediately recognize the tapestries. They're world famous.
Enjoy!
Mike B

Julie -- What a fabulous fun post! You sound like my kind of traveler! I LOVE the Paris markets and have been to several in my three trips to Paris. I saw the Anthony Bourdain special on his tour of Rungis and I thought then what a wonderful fun thing to do. Good for you!!! I went to Bercy Village in 2002 and thought the gardens and the warehouse area were so different and so fun. The gardens that September/October were still in great form. I remember seeing a group of children probably on a field trip and I thought to myself that here were the future gardeners of Paris! I'm sure the Village has enlarged since 2002. Also, this is the first post I've read about Conflans and it also sounds like something I would so enjoy doing. My fantasy is to live on a houseboat in the Seine! So, I would love fantasizing over all those that live there! I'm saving your post for future reference. I've done the "biggies" in Paris, but even more than those, I love getting into the nooks and crannies of the neighborhoods and just hanging out! I had planned to go to the Batignolles area when I was in Paris this summer, but it was just TOO HOT to make the effort! That's on my list for the next trip. Thanks so much for your interesting, off the beaten path, post!

joy/luvparee

What a great, detailed report! And to think people say to me, Paris again? The discoveries never end . . .

crepes ... when "those" people say, "You are going to Paris again, why - you have already been there?" I say, "yes, BECAUSE we have already been there!"

Nina