yk + family 1 week in Paris Nov 2022
Nov 13th, 2022, 10:27 AM
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Nov 13th, 2022, 11:05 AM
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Day 4
Day 4 — Tuesday, it's his 10th birthday!
Once again we slept until 8am, and I quickly got dressed to go around the block to the bakery (Aux Petits Cakes) to buy a couple of croissants for his birthday breakfast. Afterwards, we took the bus out to the invalides complex. There are a number of museums housed in there, in addition to Napoleon's tomb. All are covered by the Paris Museum Pass. We started with the Musée des Plans-reliefs, as my son enjoys looking at models. All of these historic models date from the 1700s, and the crown jewel in that collection is the model for Mont St-Michel. While the other models don't have English display, for Mont St-Michel, they have an interactive screen with headphones and audio commentary. We listened to the entire thing which took at least 20 minutes; very interesting to us. The museum is not very popular as we were pretty much the only visitors there for the whole hour. Next he wanted to visit the Arms and Armour section of Musée de l'Armée, which has a huge collection of, you guessed it, weaponry and armor.
I had packed sandwiches for lunch so we sat outside and ate our lunch, before heading in to visit Napoleon's tomb. After that, we went to see the World Wars section of Musée de l'Armée. As you can imagine, there is a lot to digest in the World Wars exhibit. The displays are mainly small-scale, like documents, small-scale weapons, uniforms etc, rather than big tanks and bomber planes. We were at the Invalides complex for 4.5 hours.
Next it was time to take the bus over to Eiffel Tower for our 4pm entry. Again, we arrived a bit early so we could get some pictures done on Champs de Mars. The line for Eiffel Tower (even for pre-booked tickets), was the longest line we encountered on this trip. From entering the complex, to finally getting to the summit, took about 40 minutes. (I assume this is pretty fast compared to peak tourist season). The longest wait was for the elevator from ground level to 2nd level. It was somewhat overcast that afternoon but luckily no rain, and we have good visibility at top. We spent 30 minutes on the summit (it was very windy on 2 sides of the tower), before we got back in line for the way down to 2nd level. Once on the 2nd level, we took our time to walk around. By then the sun has set and the lights were coming on, which was quite pretty. We chose to take the stairs down from 2nd level back down to ground level. Altogether we were there for about 2 hours.
[Once again, if you find that Eiffel Tower summit tickets are sold out online, do go back to check the website one week prior to see if additional tickets have been released.]
We took the bus back home, and this time our son requested to eat dinner at the *other* Italian restaurant on Ile St-Louis, Il Paradiso, because they have pizzas on the menu. This would not be my choice and I don't really recommend it. Service was so-so (whereas service as Sorza was way better), and the food was mediocre. I had veal which came in a sauce that's too sweet. I also had escargot to start and they weren't nearly as flavorful as Sorza's version. We had creme brûlée and tiramisu for dessert.
all-in-all, a pretty neat way to spend one's birthday on top of Eiffel Tower!
We walked 6 miles.
Once again we slept until 8am, and I quickly got dressed to go around the block to the bakery (Aux Petits Cakes) to buy a couple of croissants for his birthday breakfast. Afterwards, we took the bus out to the invalides complex. There are a number of museums housed in there, in addition to Napoleon's tomb. All are covered by the Paris Museum Pass. We started with the Musée des Plans-reliefs, as my son enjoys looking at models. All of these historic models date from the 1700s, and the crown jewel in that collection is the model for Mont St-Michel. While the other models don't have English display, for Mont St-Michel, they have an interactive screen with headphones and audio commentary. We listened to the entire thing which took at least 20 minutes; very interesting to us. The museum is not very popular as we were pretty much the only visitors there for the whole hour. Next he wanted to visit the Arms and Armour section of Musée de l'Armée, which has a huge collection of, you guessed it, weaponry and armor.
I had packed sandwiches for lunch so we sat outside and ate our lunch, before heading in to visit Napoleon's tomb. After that, we went to see the World Wars section of Musée de l'Armée. As you can imagine, there is a lot to digest in the World Wars exhibit. The displays are mainly small-scale, like documents, small-scale weapons, uniforms etc, rather than big tanks and bomber planes. We were at the Invalides complex for 4.5 hours.
Next it was time to take the bus over to Eiffel Tower for our 4pm entry. Again, we arrived a bit early so we could get some pictures done on Champs de Mars. The line for Eiffel Tower (even for pre-booked tickets), was the longest line we encountered on this trip. From entering the complex, to finally getting to the summit, took about 40 minutes. (I assume this is pretty fast compared to peak tourist season). The longest wait was for the elevator from ground level to 2nd level. It was somewhat overcast that afternoon but luckily no rain, and we have good visibility at top. We spent 30 minutes on the summit (it was very windy on 2 sides of the tower), before we got back in line for the way down to 2nd level. Once on the 2nd level, we took our time to walk around. By then the sun has set and the lights were coming on, which was quite pretty. We chose to take the stairs down from 2nd level back down to ground level. Altogether we were there for about 2 hours.
[Once again, if you find that Eiffel Tower summit tickets are sold out online, do go back to check the website one week prior to see if additional tickets have been released.]
We took the bus back home, and this time our son requested to eat dinner at the *other* Italian restaurant on Ile St-Louis, Il Paradiso, because they have pizzas on the menu. This would not be my choice and I don't really recommend it. Service was so-so (whereas service as Sorza was way better), and the food was mediocre. I had veal which came in a sauce that's too sweet. I also had escargot to start and they weren't nearly as flavorful as Sorza's version. We had creme brûlée and tiramisu for dessert.
all-in-all, a pretty neat way to spend one's birthday on top of Eiffel Tower!
We walked 6 miles.
Nov 14th, 2022, 09:14 AM
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YOu do the best trip reports! Your photo of ET is terrific. Glad your son perked up, I don't know how I would feel after all that nausea, luckily I've never gotten that from flying. You really planned things very well. I really like the WWII exhibit at Invalides.
Nov 14th, 2022, 10:37 AM
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Day 5
Day 5 — Wednesday
Thanks to Fodorites who alerted me to Musée des arts forains, I booked tickets for their guided tours for wednesday morning at 10:30am. I was a bit hesitant because tours are only in French, (english guided tours are available in summer only), but many convinced me that it is still worth a visit. It took 2 buses to get there but it was easy enough, and the bus dropped us off right by the entrance.
After checking-in, we were given a handout in English so we can follow along. The handout was informative, but we certainly miss a lot by not understanding French. The guided tour was almost 2 hours long. The museum is really quite amazing; there is nothing in the US I can compare it with. It basically is a collection of the bygone era of carnival fairs memorabilia. We get to ride on several carousels, and play the horse-racing game. There are also 2 organs that play music, and a sound-and-light show inside the Venetian room. The final fun thing was doing the bicycle carousel, which is just wickedly-crazy. Imagine a carousel that is propelled by the participants pedaling on bicycles. It went so fast that it was dizzying to watch.
Both my son and my spouse said it was totally worth the visit even though we didn't understand French. I would assume it's 10x more interesting if you can follow along with the guide. The tour lasted almost 2 hours.
Afterwards we walked 1 block over to Bercy Village where there are plenty of restaurants. We spotted a creperie, L'Atelier Artisan Crepier, and that is my son's favorite food. Most restaurants there have both indoor and outdoor seating. Both husband and I had savory galettes and our son had a sweet crepe, and then we got an additional dessert crepe. I prefer crepe over galette due to its texture.
Finally we got on the metro (our first metro ride of the trip!) for one stop to change for the RER which takes us across town to Musée des Égouts de Paris (Paris Sewer Museum) at the Pont de l'Alma stop. It seems silly to cross all the way to the other side of town, but 1) I figure RER is pretty fast, and 2) I found out RATP workers were staging a strike for the next day so I needed to get to the "far away" places today that require public transit.
The Sewers Museum certainly lives up to its reputation! It stinks. Even though it wasn't listed on the Museum Pass website, they accepted our Museum Pass at admission. We were given a thick English brochure which more or less translated all the displays. It tells us the history of the sewer system, and then you get to walk along/above the sewers and see the actual sewage water flowing next to you. They describe how it works and how they clean out the sediments (historic equipments on displays). Did I mention that it smells down there?
It is interesting nonetheless. We didn't stay too long however.
From there, it's a quick bus ride up to Arc de Triomphe. Admission is covered by Paris Museum Pass, and there is no line besides a short wait for security check. We walked all the way up to the top for the view. It was a nice afternoon and we enjoyed the 360 degree view from all directions. From there we took the metro home. The guys went back to the apartment first while I stayed on Ile St-Louis to shop for dinner. There is a lovely fruits and veggie shop on Rue des deux ponts called Corbeilles Paris — Vergers de I'lle Saint Louis. the guy there is the loveliest person and they have the most beautiful produce. I also went to the fancy bakery shop on Rue Saint-Louis called Patisserie Tourbillon and bought 3 pieces of beautiful pastries. Finally went back to the apartment and made dinner (simple pasta dinner) before I headed off to the Philharmonie for a concert.
I have never been to the Jean Nouvel building so that's why I wanted to check it out, and the Orchestre de Paris was playing that night with violinist Janine Jansen. The acoustics in that hall was excellent; it has wrap-around seating but with the acoustics, it doesn't really matter where you sit and it still sounds great. The Philharmonie is all the way out in Parc de la Villette in the 19th arr., but it is a fairly easy metro ride out there that took about half an hour.
We walked 6 miles
A short digress: while in Boston we have public transit system, it totally pales when compared to Paris. The paris transit system is extensive; you can get from A to B easily without multiple changes. Metro runs every 2-3 minutes during peak times, every 5 minutes non-peak, and every 10 minutes during off hours. Buses are fairly frequent too. And the normalization of riding bicycles is mind-boggling. Everyone is on bikes and they have dedicated, protected bus/bike lanes and most often, the bikes and buses go way faster than regular car traffic.
Thanks to Fodorites who alerted me to Musée des arts forains, I booked tickets for their guided tours for wednesday morning at 10:30am. I was a bit hesitant because tours are only in French, (english guided tours are available in summer only), but many convinced me that it is still worth a visit. It took 2 buses to get there but it was easy enough, and the bus dropped us off right by the entrance.
After checking-in, we were given a handout in English so we can follow along. The handout was informative, but we certainly miss a lot by not understanding French. The guided tour was almost 2 hours long. The museum is really quite amazing; there is nothing in the US I can compare it with. It basically is a collection of the bygone era of carnival fairs memorabilia. We get to ride on several carousels, and play the horse-racing game. There are also 2 organs that play music, and a sound-and-light show inside the Venetian room. The final fun thing was doing the bicycle carousel, which is just wickedly-crazy. Imagine a carousel that is propelled by the participants pedaling on bicycles. It went so fast that it was dizzying to watch.
Both my son and my spouse said it was totally worth the visit even though we didn't understand French. I would assume it's 10x more interesting if you can follow along with the guide. The tour lasted almost 2 hours.
Afterwards we walked 1 block over to Bercy Village where there are plenty of restaurants. We spotted a creperie, L'Atelier Artisan Crepier, and that is my son's favorite food. Most restaurants there have both indoor and outdoor seating. Both husband and I had savory galettes and our son had a sweet crepe, and then we got an additional dessert crepe. I prefer crepe over galette due to its texture.
Finally we got on the metro (our first metro ride of the trip!) for one stop to change for the RER which takes us across town to Musée des Égouts de Paris (Paris Sewer Museum) at the Pont de l'Alma stop. It seems silly to cross all the way to the other side of town, but 1) I figure RER is pretty fast, and 2) I found out RATP workers were staging a strike for the next day so I needed to get to the "far away" places today that require public transit.
The Sewers Museum certainly lives up to its reputation! It stinks. Even though it wasn't listed on the Museum Pass website, they accepted our Museum Pass at admission. We were given a thick English brochure which more or less translated all the displays. It tells us the history of the sewer system, and then you get to walk along/above the sewers and see the actual sewage water flowing next to you. They describe how it works and how they clean out the sediments (historic equipments on displays). Did I mention that it smells down there?
It is interesting nonetheless. We didn't stay too long however.From there, it's a quick bus ride up to Arc de Triomphe. Admission is covered by Paris Museum Pass, and there is no line besides a short wait for security check. We walked all the way up to the top for the view. It was a nice afternoon and we enjoyed the 360 degree view from all directions. From there we took the metro home. The guys went back to the apartment first while I stayed on Ile St-Louis to shop for dinner. There is a lovely fruits and veggie shop on Rue des deux ponts called Corbeilles Paris — Vergers de I'lle Saint Louis. the guy there is the loveliest person and they have the most beautiful produce. I also went to the fancy bakery shop on Rue Saint-Louis called Patisserie Tourbillon and bought 3 pieces of beautiful pastries. Finally went back to the apartment and made dinner (simple pasta dinner) before I headed off to the Philharmonie for a concert.
I have never been to the Jean Nouvel building so that's why I wanted to check it out, and the Orchestre de Paris was playing that night with violinist Janine Jansen. The acoustics in that hall was excellent; it has wrap-around seating but with the acoustics, it doesn't really matter where you sit and it still sounds great. The Philharmonie is all the way out in Parc de la Villette in the 19th arr., but it is a fairly easy metro ride out there that took about half an hour.
We walked 6 miles
A short digress: while in Boston we have public transit system, it totally pales when compared to Paris. The paris transit system is extensive; you can get from A to B easily without multiple changes. Metro runs every 2-3 minutes during peak times, every 5 minutes non-peak, and every 10 minutes during off hours. Buses are fairly frequent too. And the normalization of riding bicycles is mind-boggling. Everyone is on bikes and they have dedicated, protected bus/bike lanes and most often, the bikes and buses go way faster than regular car traffic.
Last edited by yk; Nov 14th, 2022 at 10:47 AM.
Nov 14th, 2022, 11:00 AM
#37
yk, thanks for this next installment of your TR. I was concerned that back to school, back to work, and back to real life might mean you would need to put off getting back to your report! Happy to see you had a decent day for panoramic views.
Nov 14th, 2022, 12:03 PM
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Day 6
Day 6 — Thursday, Transit Strike and lots of curve balls!
This is my second time experiencing a Paris transit strike in so many years! At least I found out the day before so I could adjust our itinerary based on it (sort of). Well, I thought, why not start our day with Sainte-Chapelle, since it is easy walking distance from our apartment. Well, we headed over there (for our 10am reserved slot), stood in line for sometime, only to find out the line was for Palais de Justice and that Sainte-Chapelle is closed due to transit strike. It would have been nice if we were notified by email ahead of time (my reserved slot was done online with email confirmation). Luckily we didn't travel far and I reserved free tickets (using the museum pass) so I didn't lose any money.
With that, I suggested we walked up to Le Centre Pompidou to look at the building and the Stravinsky Fountain. Ooops again, the Fountain is closed for renovation (all the sculptures have been removed for conservation). My son has no interest in going inside Pompidou center, so we kept walking. We headed to Hotel de ville where there is a post office so he can buy postcard stamps for the postcards he wants to write. Then back towards Notre Dame where we know there are plenty of souvenir shops that he can get postcards from.
[Digress: buying/writing/mailing postcards is a lost art. many souvenir shops don't even carry them anymore. Why? With cellphones, social media, texts, whatsapp, emails, why would people still bother writing and sending postcards? What also struck me this trip was the sheer number of people who make video calls on top of Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe to family and friends. TONS of them were doing this on our visit. i didn't even know this is a thing... not something that has occurred to me at all.]
After we got the postcards, I sent the guys back to the apartment first so my son can write his postcards (to family and friends) while I pick up some bread and prosciutto so we can make a simple sandwich lunch at home.I also got an eclair to share, cuz you know, when in Paris.... After our fairly light lunch, we headed back out, first to Berthillon for ice cream, then walked all the way to Jardin du Luxembourg by way of Pantheon. The buses were actually running but the wait was over 20 minutes and it was faster to walk. Since Pantheon is covered by the Paris Museum Pass, we decided to go in for a quick look. It is truly massive inside, and in the middle is Foucault's pendulum. We went downstairs to the crypt and saw a number of famous people buried there.
I was hoping we could stop by at Marie Curie Museum nearby for a visit, but it was also affected by the strike and was closed for day. So we went straight to Jardin du Luxembourg. My son found the map of the garden and noticed there is a playground there (Ludo Jardin), so we walked towards it, only to find out you have to pay to use the playground? It is €3 for kids and €1 for adult, and an adult has to accompany the kids. Even my son thought it was ludicrous to charge admission for a playground. But we had time to kill so we paid €4 for my husband to go in with him. It is a fairly fun playground but still.
Soon it was time to leave as I had made same-day reservation for the Catacombs for 3:45pm entry.
[side note about the Catacombs: you HAVE to buy tickets online in advance. They only release online tickets 1 week prior, but if you buy in advance, tickets are €29/adult and €5/child (including audioguide). IF you are willing to chance it, you can buy same-day tickets for just €15/adult and free for kids. So it's worth to assess how busy the time period is when you will be visiting and decide if you want to wait until the day of. I checked the website multiple times the few days before, and noted there were still plenty left for Thursday, and besides we had flexibility on what time to go.]
Luckily I bought 3:45pm entry because due to the strike, they were closing early that day at 5pm, with last entry at 4pm. If I had booked a later entry, we would have to return on another day.
It is absolutely crucial to get the audioguide (free with advance tickets, €5 with same-day tickets). We were able to just rent one and play it on speaker and we could all hear clearly. The audioguide is great and even though all of us knew what the catacombs would look like, I think what struck us was the sheer size and volume of it. There are bones as far as the eyes can see. Definitely a very unique experience.
It took us a little over an hour to finish the visit and we left just before they closed at 5pm. By then our feet were really tired, so we squeezed on a rather packed bus to get to Saint-Germain. I wanted to visit the Laduree shop for some macarons, and also I had a hankering for moules frites and the place came to my mind was Chez Leon.
I cannot believe I'm saying this but Laudree macarons are "cheap" compared to stateside! There is a newly-opened macaron in my town that sells for $3 each, whereas Laduree's are *only* €2,50. We got 9 and their quality (texture and flavor) is superior to the local macaron store we have here.
Leon restaurant's interior reminds me of Denny's from 1990s. We got the "formula". spouse had a mackerel starter (i skipped starter) and we both had a pot of mussels. The mussels were pretty small. We both had desserts which were also so-so.
After dinner we took the bus home. We ended up walking 7.6 miles today. No pics to post as I don't think there is a need to post photos inside catacombs.
This is my second time experiencing a Paris transit strike in so many years! At least I found out the day before so I could adjust our itinerary based on it (sort of). Well, I thought, why not start our day with Sainte-Chapelle, since it is easy walking distance from our apartment. Well, we headed over there (for our 10am reserved slot), stood in line for sometime, only to find out the line was for Palais de Justice and that Sainte-Chapelle is closed due to transit strike. It would have been nice if we were notified by email ahead of time (my reserved slot was done online with email confirmation). Luckily we didn't travel far and I reserved free tickets (using the museum pass) so I didn't lose any money.
With that, I suggested we walked up to Le Centre Pompidou to look at the building and the Stravinsky Fountain. Ooops again, the Fountain is closed for renovation (all the sculptures have been removed for conservation). My son has no interest in going inside Pompidou center, so we kept walking. We headed to Hotel de ville where there is a post office so he can buy postcard stamps for the postcards he wants to write. Then back towards Notre Dame where we know there are plenty of souvenir shops that he can get postcards from.
[Digress: buying/writing/mailing postcards is a lost art. many souvenir shops don't even carry them anymore. Why? With cellphones, social media, texts, whatsapp, emails, why would people still bother writing and sending postcards? What also struck me this trip was the sheer number of people who make video calls on top of Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe to family and friends. TONS of them were doing this on our visit. i didn't even know this is a thing... not something that has occurred to me at all.]
After we got the postcards, I sent the guys back to the apartment first so my son can write his postcards (to family and friends) while I pick up some bread and prosciutto so we can make a simple sandwich lunch at home.I also got an eclair to share, cuz you know, when in Paris.... After our fairly light lunch, we headed back out, first to Berthillon for ice cream, then walked all the way to Jardin du Luxembourg by way of Pantheon. The buses were actually running but the wait was over 20 minutes and it was faster to walk. Since Pantheon is covered by the Paris Museum Pass, we decided to go in for a quick look. It is truly massive inside, and in the middle is Foucault's pendulum. We went downstairs to the crypt and saw a number of famous people buried there.
I was hoping we could stop by at Marie Curie Museum nearby for a visit, but it was also affected by the strike and was closed for day. So we went straight to Jardin du Luxembourg. My son found the map of the garden and noticed there is a playground there (Ludo Jardin), so we walked towards it, only to find out you have to pay to use the playground? It is €3 for kids and €1 for adult, and an adult has to accompany the kids. Even my son thought it was ludicrous to charge admission for a playground. But we had time to kill so we paid €4 for my husband to go in with him. It is a fairly fun playground but still.
Soon it was time to leave as I had made same-day reservation for the Catacombs for 3:45pm entry.
[side note about the Catacombs: you HAVE to buy tickets online in advance. They only release online tickets 1 week prior, but if you buy in advance, tickets are €29/adult and €5/child (including audioguide). IF you are willing to chance it, you can buy same-day tickets for just €15/adult and free for kids. So it's worth to assess how busy the time period is when you will be visiting and decide if you want to wait until the day of. I checked the website multiple times the few days before, and noted there were still plenty left for Thursday, and besides we had flexibility on what time to go.]
Luckily I bought 3:45pm entry because due to the strike, they were closing early that day at 5pm, with last entry at 4pm. If I had booked a later entry, we would have to return on another day.
It is absolutely crucial to get the audioguide (free with advance tickets, €5 with same-day tickets). We were able to just rent one and play it on speaker and we could all hear clearly. The audioguide is great and even though all of us knew what the catacombs would look like, I think what struck us was the sheer size and volume of it. There are bones as far as the eyes can see. Definitely a very unique experience.
It took us a little over an hour to finish the visit and we left just before they closed at 5pm. By then our feet were really tired, so we squeezed on a rather packed bus to get to Saint-Germain. I wanted to visit the Laduree shop for some macarons, and also I had a hankering for moules frites and the place came to my mind was Chez Leon.
I cannot believe I'm saying this but Laudree macarons are "cheap" compared to stateside! There is a newly-opened macaron in my town that sells for $3 each, whereas Laduree's are *only* €2,50. We got 9 and their quality (texture and flavor) is superior to the local macaron store we have here.
Leon restaurant's interior reminds me of Denny's from 1990s. We got the "formula". spouse had a mackerel starter (i skipped starter) and we both had a pot of mussels. The mussels were pretty small. We both had desserts which were also so-so.
After dinner we took the bus home. We ended up walking 7.6 miles today. No pics to post as I don't think there is a need to post photos inside catacombs.
Nov 14th, 2022, 02:34 PM
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Day 7
Day 7 — our last day, and a holiday (Armistice Day) ☹️
Somehow the week seemed to fly by quickly, and we didn't even take a day trip! Third time is the charm, I once again reserved slots for Sainte-Chapelle and it is OPEN! Even my son was awe-struck when he exited from the flight of stairs to reach the upper chapel. It was pretty crowded inside however. Also, it was overcast so the stained glass windows aren't as brilliant as they possibly can.
We then walked over the Chatalet stop to catch Metro line 11 to the Arts et Metiers station. It's pretty crucial to arrive on Line 11 (and not Line 3) because only the Line 11 platform was renovated and it looks pretty cool. Next stop was Musée des Arts et Métiers. I think it translates to "arts and crafts" but I find that misleading because arts and crafts brings to my mind the English arts and crafts movement. Instead, I would describe this museum as "steam punk", so like the invention of machinery. Most of it is pretty cool (especially for my son and spouse), while I was mostly fascinated by the Scientific Inventions on the top level, especially Lavoisier's laboratory. He was considered the father of chemistry, which is really awe-inspiring. We ate lunch at the cafe inside the museum, which has a very limited menu (1 hot dish, 3 cold dishes) but attentive service. Spouse had the hot dish (chicken, mashed celeriac, sweet potatoes), my son got the cesar salad with chicken, and I got the charcuterie plate. The other cold dish was salad with salmon. Each dish was about 15 euros.
I have never seen portions this big in France. The salad is the size of my head, and my charcuterie plate has 4 huge chunks of cheese, loads of cold cuts, and it comes with 4 bread rolls. We easily could have ordered 2 plates to share instead of 3.
The museum is attached to a church (converted into museum space), and inside is another Foucault pendulum. It turns out that Foucault first experimented his pendulum in the observatory, but the first public display was at the Pantheon (which we saw the day before). The pendulum was then transferred to Musee des arts et metiers for display, and back to Pantheon when the museum was closed for renovation. In 2000 it was moved back to the museum. Then in 2010 the wire hanging the actual pendulum broke and the bob was damaged. A new one was hung but the original one is still on display in a case nearby.
We were at the museum for almost 4 hours (including a leisurely lunch). By the time we emerged the sky has cleared up and it was a beautiful warm afternoon. After some consideration, I decided we will take the trouble of, once again, crossing town to Trocadero for one last view of Eiffel Tower. Given it was a holiday and beautiful weather, Trocadero was packed; packed with tourists, buskers, folks selling cheap souvenirs etc. But still, the view was incredible. After lots of photos, we slowly made our way down along the fountains and then contemplated how to get home. The bus that takes us directly back is simply too crowded, and we didn't want to walk back up the hill for the metro. In the end, we walked over to Champs de Mars and took a different bus home. Given that we waited at the terminus, we had seats, but the bus got very crowded as it picked up passengers.
Originally I thought we would pick a nice place on Ile Saint-Louis for our last dinner, but we were still stuffed from our huge lunch earlier, we ended up getting crepes takeout from Pom'Cannelle on Rue des deux ponts as dinner.
I had one last performance to see that night — Tosca at Opera de Paris.
We walked 6.6 miles
Somehow the week seemed to fly by quickly, and we didn't even take a day trip! Third time is the charm, I once again reserved slots for Sainte-Chapelle and it is OPEN! Even my son was awe-struck when he exited from the flight of stairs to reach the upper chapel. It was pretty crowded inside however. Also, it was overcast so the stained glass windows aren't as brilliant as they possibly can.
We then walked over the Chatalet stop to catch Metro line 11 to the Arts et Metiers station. It's pretty crucial to arrive on Line 11 (and not Line 3) because only the Line 11 platform was renovated and it looks pretty cool. Next stop was Musée des Arts et Métiers. I think it translates to "arts and crafts" but I find that misleading because arts and crafts brings to my mind the English arts and crafts movement. Instead, I would describe this museum as "steam punk", so like the invention of machinery. Most of it is pretty cool (especially for my son and spouse), while I was mostly fascinated by the Scientific Inventions on the top level, especially Lavoisier's laboratory. He was considered the father of chemistry, which is really awe-inspiring. We ate lunch at the cafe inside the museum, which has a very limited menu (1 hot dish, 3 cold dishes) but attentive service. Spouse had the hot dish (chicken, mashed celeriac, sweet potatoes), my son got the cesar salad with chicken, and I got the charcuterie plate. The other cold dish was salad with salmon. Each dish was about 15 euros.
I have never seen portions this big in France. The salad is the size of my head, and my charcuterie plate has 4 huge chunks of cheese, loads of cold cuts, and it comes with 4 bread rolls. We easily could have ordered 2 plates to share instead of 3.
The museum is attached to a church (converted into museum space), and inside is another Foucault pendulum. It turns out that Foucault first experimented his pendulum in the observatory, but the first public display was at the Pantheon (which we saw the day before). The pendulum was then transferred to Musee des arts et metiers for display, and back to Pantheon when the museum was closed for renovation. In 2000 it was moved back to the museum. Then in 2010 the wire hanging the actual pendulum broke and the bob was damaged. A new one was hung but the original one is still on display in a case nearby.
We were at the museum for almost 4 hours (including a leisurely lunch). By the time we emerged the sky has cleared up and it was a beautiful warm afternoon. After some consideration, I decided we will take the trouble of, once again, crossing town to Trocadero for one last view of Eiffel Tower. Given it was a holiday and beautiful weather, Trocadero was packed; packed with tourists, buskers, folks selling cheap souvenirs etc. But still, the view was incredible. After lots of photos, we slowly made our way down along the fountains and then contemplated how to get home. The bus that takes us directly back is simply too crowded, and we didn't want to walk back up the hill for the metro. In the end, we walked over to Champs de Mars and took a different bus home. Given that we waited at the terminus, we had seats, but the bus got very crowded as it picked up passengers.
Originally I thought we would pick a nice place on Ile Saint-Louis for our last dinner, but we were still stuffed from our huge lunch earlier, we ended up getting crepes takeout from Pom'Cannelle on Rue des deux ponts as dinner.
I had one last performance to see that night — Tosca at Opera de Paris.
We walked 6.6 miles
Nov 14th, 2022, 02:37 PM
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Sainte-Chappell
Huge charcuterie plate for lunch
Lavoisier laboratory inside musee des arts et metiers
Last afternoon in Paris
View from Pont de Sully, 2-minute walk from our apartment
