My sister and I will be spending a week in Paris at the end of November. One of our favorite things to do in France is to purchase a picnic lunch from a market in the morning, carry it in our capacious handbags until lunch, and then enjoy a picnic. I would like to do this somehow even in November, and am asking for suggestions on somewhere we could eat out of the weather without looking out of place.
I was thinking of eating our lunch in a museum cafe, the self-serve type, and buying a beverage there. Has anyone tried this? I know you can bring food into the Metropolitan Museum in NYC and eat your own food in the main cafeteria there. No one minds.

Any other suggestions would be great. I can eat outdoors if the weather is in the 50's, but not much colder than that.

Bazonia,

I am not sure you can freely take your food to museum cafeterias... or do not show it.

If you are lucky to enjoy a sunny day, it is not impossible to eat a picnic outside in Paris in late November. You simply have to pick a sheltered spot with benches or garden chairs, ideally against a south-facing wall. Among the classic spots :

- the wind-sheltered area in the western part of the Tuileries gardens, near the octogonal pond, at the foot of the south-facing terrace wall (this area has been nicknamed "la petite Provence" for a long time,
- By the naturally south-facing Orangery in the Luxembourg gardens,
- On the Seine lower quays,
- In the Louvre courtyard, by the Pyramid.

If outdoors is not working out, you could make your purchases in the afternoon and have a nice picnic in your hotel room... maybe some background music..? A nice bottle of wine and some delishy things makes any place more appealing...

I don't know about that, but I can't think of any museum in Paris that has any self-serve cafeteria in it. They have some cheaper places to eat, even fast-food type food courts (like in the Louvre), but they still aren't self-serve cafeterias like in the Met.

I imagine you could get away with it at that very large food court area in the Louvre, though, as there are many tables all over and they don't exactly belong to any one restaurant. So it is similar to the cafeteria area at the Met. The very top area of the Orsay is a real cheap place, claustrophobic, but I don't think it is self-serve. I might be wrong on that, as I couldn't stand it even for a minute and left (this is the attic level above even the cheap cafe, where I think you really can't do what you suggest, as they have lines waiting to be seated).

I can't think of any other museums that have a lot of large eating places within them; when they do, they are private restaurant type things and you couldn't do that (like the Jacquemart Andre).

What museums were you planning to do this at where you think they have self-serve eating places? Maybe I just can't think of them, if you know some.

Unless it is actually raining, I don't see why you can't still eat on a park bench somewhere.

Dear Trudaine,
Thank you for the suggestions of the sheltered places, I really do prefer eating an outdoors picnic, I will note them down - if you see two picnicing women there whose eyes are spinning from looking at art all day, that's us.

Travelnut - the hotel room is a thought. We are staying in a central location.

Christina, no, I haven't actually thought what museums into which I might try to bring a picnic lunch (Mission Improbable it now seems), I did remember the area in the Louvre which you are describing with all the tables, and that combined with the Met policy prompted my query. We will be going into many museums, since our primary interest is art and architecture. But we also love French food and walking around Paris....
Thanks for the help. Maybe the weather will cooperate.
Baz

If it's very cold, you will probably do better away from the river.

There's a high-walled park with benches at the Cluny Museum. Also the tiny park next to the front of Eglise Saint-Germain (and you could get your picnic from the sidewalk crepe man!).

And what about Place des Vosges?!

Just make sure you have good outer wear, and eat on the benches at Luxembourg Gardens. Love that place!

Pont des Artes, half way across. Champ de Mars with the Tower in the background.

The Palais de Tokyo has a cafe that is counter service with tables. Very informal place in keeping with the atmosphere of the museum, which is filled with contemporary art, installations, all in a stripped down studio environment. The Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris is right next to it and newly reopened last year.

You are going to freeze your little buns off, but will still love it. Trudaine has some good suggestions. Pray for sun and no wind - you will do fine. It also helps to observe tramps and winos for a day or two as they are pros at eating outdoors.

Thank you everyone for the ideas. I am glad someone thinks my buns are small. After a few days in Paris, I might have something in common with a wino.
I have been looking ahead at the 15 day forecast and it looks doable so far. Of course I am too much of an optimist when it comes to weather.

I prefer the flexibility of a picnic lunch when travelling, especially when the days are so short. We will have a leisurely meal at night - inside a restaurant.
Baz