Day 6 Being Tourists

Today's objectives: Relax, do some shopping & enjoy our last full day in Paris.

We pretty much "hit the wall" after the last several days of metro & museum hopping.  We thought about going to Versailles, but it would be better viewed in the spring or summer when you could walk the grounds.  We saw a representative room in Musée d'Orsay and we got the idea of the grand opulence we would expect to see.  Another idea was to find a shop where Julia Child frequented, E.Dehillerin, and even figured out what route to take...  But, we were bushed!  We crossed Pont Marie to  Ile de la Cité and walked around Notre-Dame.  It was our first and only sunny day and there were huge lines around the cathedral.  We passed on that crowded venue and strolled to ...

...La Conciergerie (where Marie Antoinette was jailed) and Sainte Chappelle adjacent.  But again, there were lines around the block.  So, we just waled around the island and saw the sights from the outside.  It was cool and brisk, but beautiful out.  We enjoyed the views of the Seine - the boats, the bridges and the Louvre (across the river), and all the charming buildings: window-boxed, balconied apartments as far as the eye can see.  Simply lovely!

We stopped for deli "pizza," hung out in the hotel and did some shopping.  The pizza was a thin crust LOADED with tomatoes, veggies and a little bit of cheese.  

So much just screamed TACKY Paris and/or were overpriced, naturally.  We got a handful of Eiffel Tower keychains and some chocolates from the store next to the hotel.  

I was after the winter scarves, all the rage in Paris for men and women.  Bill, shopping with me, said "Buy that one," after I fingered half a dozen in one store.  Clearly this was not like shopping with a girl.  I also picked up a matching reversible TOC! set, a looped, double-sided fleece head/neck wrap that can be manipulated into different configurations, plus fingerless gloves.  By the end of the day all we wanted was a scoop of the very popular Bertillon ice cream, heavenly.  

We kept passing this very snooty store with jersey & lace wraps... it drew me in and I succumbed to the urge and bought one.  SO Touristy!

Bill's POV:

12/20/2010 Ile de la Cité, shopping on Ile St-Louis 

Pretty much hit the wall with walking and rich French cooking.  Lines at Sainte Chappelle and the Conciergerie were quite long, so we opted for shopping and a quiet day without much in the way of food.  

Day 5 Musée d'Orsay

I woke up the morning of Wednesday 29 December and said "We haven't seen the Eiffel Tower,  Arc de Triomphe or Place de la Concorde (site of the guillotine)..." So, we got ready for a day of sight-seeing after another beautiful breakfast served to us by the delightful lady, Shanti, who called me Mama ("Mama, you like?): pain au chocolat & raspberry conserve, fresh orange juice, coffee & cream, and more!

We hopped on the Métro and headed out to Place de la Concorde, which is a huge square and where you can see all the sites by standing and turning around 360 degrees. You can look down the Champs-Élysées through the Arc de Triomphe. The Ferris Wheel of Paris (Grande Roue de Paris) is also there, but it was so foggy all day you couldn't see past the base of the Eiffel Tower.

We walked the length of the Jardin des Tuileries, that must be beautiful in the spring & summer, and crossed the Seine to ...

... Musée d'Orsay
 

The art is in a renovated train station - It was all so beautiful I came close to tears ~ a glorious hall with an enormous gilded clock at one end.  It was filled with art by Renoir, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Degas, Rodin... Amazing!!  No photos were allowed, but we had each taken a couple before we realized this.  I bought a souvenir book as a remembrance.  

After we toured the museum we were quite thirsty & hungry, but the museum restaurants had very long lines so we took off walking, ending up at Brasserie Terminus Nord where our 30€ lunch included my "Coke" for 6.90€, which is around $10! All we could do was laugh... The bread and cheese was so wonderful, though, and it was such as fun, bustling cafe.  It was the best Coke I've ever had :)

Since we were right across from the Louvre, we crossed the river and went back to find da Vinci's painting The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne.  I thought I looked for it diligently during our 1st visit, but was sad to discover it is not currently being shown.   

 We then got completely lost in Sully, in the Medieval Louvre and huge Egyptian collection. We were up and down stairs over and over...  We were completely DONE!  We had a lemonade, then, thanks to Bill's cane, we got a ride in the coolest open-air elevator up the Pyramid to exit (check out the video!).  Bill's lift & cane helped us line-jump every huge museum cue.  As the week progressed, the crowds got larger (closer to New Year's Eve).  I mastered the "concerned wife" look to avoid any disgruntled non-believers...

For dinner we returned to Le Flore en L'Ile for a repeat of French onion soup, bread, cheese and wine.  We are not tiring of that repast!  Relaxing and lovely end of the day.

Bill's POV:

Place de la Concorde - Orsay - Brasserie Terminus - Louvre

Site of execution by guillotine!  Could not tell about its past.  Orsay is a stunning collection of Impressionist era paintings and sculpture.  They did more in sculpture in marble than I had known, mostly with classical themes.  Cafe was a classic busy and crowded place, very good,café crème in a soup bowl (size large for an American?). Louvre was a maze of Egyptian artifacts.  

Day 4 The Latin Quarter

Tuesday's objectives: See the Rodin museum, the Church of the Miraculous Medal & find La Maison Du Chocolat for the Chocolate & Pastry walking tour

December 28 we thought of Colin - Happy Birthday from Paris!  On this day we were all over the Latin Quarter, the Left Bank - it is huge! We took the Metro and learned how to change lines, following the signs by color, number and destination.  We started our day at the Rodin museum which has The Thinker in the garden and The Kiss inside the hotel that was his home.  He was a prolific sculptor and a master of sculpting the human body in marble. I must admit, while I admire the artistry I am not a huge fan, whereas this was a touchstone moment for Bill who loves sculpting and it was a big reason for him to even be in Paris.  My summary comment... marble porn.  OK, that's a bit strong, but some of the sculptures I had never seen before and I found myself imagining how these erotic poses came to be...  Anyway, he is hugely popular and did some amazing work.  For someone with zero depth perception (me) it is unfathomable how someone can create works of art from hunks of rock.  

Bill's POV: 

Musée Rodin, Metro ride to Varennes Station.  Rodin was clearly a prolific sculptor and designer.  Elise said he was a dirty old man.  Probably so.  His sculptures are certainly a departure from the classical styles at the Louvre.  

We next took the Métro to the area close to where the Chocolate & Pastry Tour start ~ a gift to us from Dan & Ann.  First we went Le Bon Marché, a large Nieman-Marcus-type department store (nice restrooms).

Then to Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, the church of St. Catherine Labouré ~ a beautiful chapel with a simple gift shop run by the convent nuns. Lovely.  

Then we went to La Grande Epicerie ~ a fabulous grocery store.  It took a while to find a simple bottle of water, plus a sandwich to share & some take-home goodies.  We were too cold to wait outside for the tour, so we slipped into a little restaurant for coffee - perfect.

Bill's POV:

From the Rodin museum, we took the train to Sèvres-Babylone.  We walked to Le Bon Marché, a department store, a bit pricey. From Le Bon Marché, across the street is the chapelle Notre-Dame de la Médaille Miraculeuse.  This is the convent Saint Catherine Labouré joined and the site of her apparitions.  Next stop was La Grande Epicerie, for sure the most interesting grocery store I have ever seen.  We bought a sandwich to share and 5 Sel Gris as gifts back home for the kids (and two for us). 

Pastry Tour:
2:00pm (14:00) We met our group outside La Maison du Chocolat ~ Not quite sure what the guide's name was ~ He was très French, so his English was with a heavy accent.  He was quite knowledgeable about the area and the various shops.  I lost count, but we sampled or took samples with us of chocolate éclair, infused chocolates,...

...sourdough bread and shortbread cookies, ...

 

...AND macarons, which are all the rage here in Paris - light & airy cookies with a filling to hold them together.  Wonderful!

The neighborhoods were quite urban with upscale shopping and fabulous architecture ~ buildings, now mostly apartments ~ from the 1800s.  There was one "Where's Bill?" moment when he disappeared from the group, but then caught up with us having slipped into a jewelry store to buy me a bracelet... or, perhaps just to warm up, but the bracelet was a sweet surprise.  

We also saw an historic hotel: Hôtel Lutetia and Saint-Sulpice church, one of the churches from "The da Vinci Code" movie.  Quite an experience all 'round.  Thanks, Dan & Ann!

It was a cold, misty Paris afternoon, but we again managed the Métro & gratefully came "home" to Hotel de Lutece ~ a welcome, warm site to rest our tired feet! 

We enjoyed a lovely dinner at Sens'o Italian restaurant, a delicious 3-course dinner.  It was a big food day!

Bill's POV:

The pastry tour started across from a café where we had café crème while waiting.  La Maison du Chocolat seems to be one of the more famous of the many chocolate shops in Paris, a great place to start the tour.  From there we went to a bakery.  Across from the bread shop, I stumbled into a jewelry store called Metal Pointu's.  The bracelet I bought is metal with a bit of Oriental marking on it, 32 Euros, a gift for Elise.  From there, we went to Pierre Hermé a maker of "Macarons." These are a sort of cookie and candy combined to make a very nice treat.  They are available in many flavors.  They look like little bitty hamburgers.  Since the weather was cold and had become drizzly, we headed to the Saint-Sulpice Métro and went back to the hotel.

Day 3 Monday December 27, 2010

Objectives of the day: Figure out the Metro & Explore the Louvre...

Living in Kansas City, we have very limited experience with subways & trains.  To get anywhere you drive!  So, the Metro was a new experience.  Our station was Pont Marie, which is a small station - no line transfers here.  We took our time so as not to appear obviously clueless.  10:30 AM was slow in terms of French schedules.  They seem to get late morning starts, which may explain their penchant for late dinner hours.  We found our way to the Louvre, taking our time.  We were very glad to have the Paris Pass, purchased in advance, for the convenience of Metro and museum tickets.  The line to the Louvre was very long, but our understanding was that we could avoid the ticket lines with our Pass.  Huge bonus points for Bill's disability... The lift on his boot as well as his cane was the Golden Ticket.  We simply went to the front of the line to ask a question about entry, the guard looked at Bill's foot & opened the gate without hesitation.  We acted like we knew what we were doing & breezed by: "Merci!"  Once inside under the glass Pyramid you need to have some idea about what you want to see as there are 3 enormous "wings" to this museum (former palace): Denon, Sully & Richilieu... Each wing has 3 floors (i.e., ground, first, and second). There is also an `Entresol' - below ground-level.  We went through 2 of the 3, or so I thought...  As it turns out we were in parts of all 3.  Our targets were the most famous: the Mona Lisa, as well as other da Vinci and Italian Renaissance art, Venus, Winged Victory and other marble statuary.  It is easy to get lost and turned around in the maze of hallways & stairways.  If you can get a glimpse through a window to see the main courtyard it helps keep your bearings.  The map was somewhat helpful...  It is just so overwhelming.  We missed da Vinci's painting The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne (although I was sure I looked carefully) and the Egyptian collection, but it is impossible to do it all in one day and we were fairly certain we would return during the week.

 

Bill's POV:

The Louvre (a wealth of wealth)

It is no wonder the French killed their kings and now I better understand the origins of the French revolution.  

After making our way back to Ile St. Louis we stopped for something to hold us until diner.  It turned into chocolate crêpes, mainly because we made the mistake of choosing a small shop for hot chocolate, but one sits to drink a beverage and to prevent further insult to the owner I quickly said "Oui, deux crêpes au chocolat, 'take away.'" They do not seem to be fond of carry-out-style food or drink, i.e., no to-go!

For dinner we found a charming little restaurant Les Gourmands de l'Ile with reasonable prices, just down the street from our hotel.  We should have checked the reviews ahead of time... They had 3 wine choices: bottle, carafe or glass - in other words, how much are you going to drink??  Bill ordered Bœuf Bourguignon which was actually delicious.  I know this because he shared it with me after  I mistakenly ordered Le Cassoulet.  It turned out to be little more than white beans & hot dogs... MISTAKE!  Plus, the soup was a puree of butternut squash & carrots, otherwise known as vegetable soup - Not what I had in mind. The atmosphere was charming, though.  We were shown to the cellar down the narrowest spiral staircase I have ever seen: 2 complete 360 degree turns to the stone "cave" - Memorable!

Bill's POV:

We ate dinner at a small bistro, nothing to get excited about.  The beef bourguignon was very good.