The Watchword phrase for our Paris stay was “avoid anything that first time tourists target.” There are a lot of worthy options on the 2nd and 3rd tier lists, so we knew we would be fine. Also we were looking forward to simply exploring various neighborhoods.
In 2017 we stayed in the 7th arrondisement near the Eiffel Tower and the great food shopping street Rue Cler. It was a great location yet we wanted to get to know another neighborhood. We chose the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area (also on the left bank), closer to the Musée du Louvre and the Latin Quarter.
We arrived in Paris at Gare de l'Est (rail station). Note: Some may think this would be in the eastern part of Paris. Instead it is in the North (right next to Gare du Nord). The names apparently reflect the area they service, ie we came in from the East (Est). Since our apartment wouldn't be ready for a couple hours, our driver suggested that we have lunch nearby and walk to the apartment from there. He suggested Brasserie Lipp. It was on our list of restaurants worth trying so agreed it would be a good place to bide our time.
We started with a champagne aperitif accompanied with olives and some excellent bread. Frisée salad with lardons and poached egg followed. The main courses were Andouillette (sausage) with pommes frites (french fries) for Bill and Rognons de Veau (veal kidneys) for Pat and a bottle of Crozes Hermitage (a wine from the Rhone region in SE France made from Syrah grapes.) The remaining time was "filled" enjoying Profiteroles.
We took the 2 minute walk to our apartment. We settled in quickly and then ventured out to procure some snacks and breakfast food ...along with some wine. We started at Monoprix (a seemingly well-regarded grocery store but not inspirational). Hence we continued our explorations and discovered that the Rue du Buci area offers a fine bakery (Paul) and a good wine store (Nicolas), along with MANY sidewalk cafes and some well-regarded restaurants. Paul and Nicolas are both local chains but there is a reason they are successful...
In 2017 we stayed in the 7th arrondisement near the Eiffel Tower and the great food shopping street Rue Cler. It was a great location yet we wanted to get to know another neighborhood. We chose the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area (also on the left bank), closer to the Musée du Louvre and the Latin Quarter.
We arrived in Paris at Gare de l'Est (rail station). Note: Some may think this would be in the eastern part of Paris. Instead it is in the North (right next to Gare du Nord). The names apparently reflect the area they service, ie we came in from the East (Est). Since our apartment wouldn't be ready for a couple hours, our driver suggested that we have lunch nearby and walk to the apartment from there. He suggested Brasserie Lipp. It was on our list of restaurants worth trying so agreed it would be a good place to bide our time.
We started with a champagne aperitif accompanied with olives and some excellent bread. Frisée salad with lardons and poached egg followed. The main courses were Andouillette (sausage) with pommes frites (french fries) for Bill and Rognons de Veau (veal kidneys) for Pat and a bottle of Crozes Hermitage (a wine from the Rhone region in SE France made from Syrah grapes.) The remaining time was "filled" enjoying Profiteroles.
Friday morning we explored our neighborhood and decided to have lunch at Fish (la Boissonerie). We knew it was open because we had seen and photographed their sign on our walk the previous evening. We were amused by their sense of humor and thought noting the hours would be useful. Note: Their sign informed us that during August they "were open for dinner Monday to Friday and lunch Thursday and Fridays!." It also indicated "We have tried to make this as complicated as possible, I think we've succeeded..."
It was a cute, small place with a great selection of fish. Bill chose "Thon blanc, ragoût de coco, tomate, choizo, pêche et huile verveine" (White tuna, coconut ragoût, tomato, choizo, peach and verbena oil). Pat went with "Panisses a l'origan, courgettes grillées, feta & olives de kalamata" (White fish with oregano, grilled zucchini, feta cheese & kalamata olives). Both dishes, along with a white wine from the Languedoc (near the Spanish border on the Mediterranean) made a great meal.
While we were eating we caught another glimpse of their sense of humor.
We didn't want to dwell on the alternative, but we had to agree that it was very true!
Oh! Let's not forget the desserts. Their names were long and complicated but they were delicious.
After lunch we wandered over to the Musée de Cluny noted for it's medieval collections. It is under renovation until 2020 so much of the collection isn't available a viewing. But there is a fine temporary exhibit of Unicorn Art (carvings, tapestries, paintings, ...)
Later we walked over to the Pantheon (originally built as a church but now functions as a secular mausoleum). The architecture was nice but we were too late for the view from the top. We did catch some photos of a local tower (Eiffel Tower) and later, on our way back to the apartment, an impressive church (Notre Dame Cathedral).
Oh! Let's not forget the desserts. Their names were long and complicated but they were delicious.
Saturday we went to Montmarte (the area that grew up around the local mountain) to visit the Dali Museum. We started with a short stop at the Wall of Love. The wall was created in 2000 by calligraphist Fédéric Baron and mural artist Claire Kito and is composed of 612 tiles of enameled lava stone tiles, on which the phrase "I love you" is featured 311 times in 250 languages (thanks Wikipedia). Bill documented the visit with his first selfie ever. Not too bad.
Then we explored the Dali Museum. We have twice visited both the Dali Museum in Figures, north of Barcelona, his home in Cadeques Spain. We really enjoy the breadth and creativity of his art. Among the works on display were... a number featuring elephants with spindly legs (a common theme for Dali), one of a rhino on similar spindly legs, a work depicting the fluidity time, and a lovely piece with a unicorn connecting this visit with our earlier one to the Cluny.
We explored Montmatre a bit more and got a fine view of Sacre Coeur. If you check our 2016 blog you can see more of this notable and very beautiful Paris site.
The nearby Marché St.-Pierre is the most famous fabric market in Paris. We especially enjoyed Tissus Reine with it vast offerings of fabrics and it's cute mannequins dressed in fashions to inspire. We couldn't help but think how our friend Patrice Wynne of Abrazos fame would love to be with us.
A bit later, as we wandered the neighborhood further, we thought we might have been transported back to Mexico.
We stopped at Buvette, a nice wine bar / restaurant for lunch and selected Les Croque’s (Croque Monsieur with ham and Croque Forestier with mushrooms) and a few glasses of wine. The dessert and the dessert wine were too tempting to pass up. It was a simple meal but I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.
We headed back toward the Seine and found some appealing shopping Passages (arcades). After exploring them we moved on enjoying the architecture along the way. Then we found ourselves at the Jardin du Palais Royal (Royal Palace Garden) decorated in part with black & white columns added in 1986 that contrast with the stately palace garden. We returned to our apartment by way of a pedestrian bridge near Île de la Cité (one of the islands in the Seine River).
Sunday, no day of rest on vacation, we wander through a local market
on our way to see and hear the organ at Eglise Saint Suplice. The pipe organ was impressive and we were pleased that we had arrived in time to enjoy the post sermon practice.
We continued further east into the 5th Arrondissement exploring the Luxembourg Gardens on our way to the Jardin des Plantes.
We passed by the Grand Mosque as we searched for Restaurant Le Jardin des Pâtes (note: pâte is French for pasta). We enjoyed the rustic pasta along with a burrata salad and the Bandol wine.
After lunch we toured the Botanic Gardens. There are flowers and plants outside and inside along with a bee hotel!!
From the garden we walked back along the Seine to Île Saint Louis for a Berthillon Glacé (Ice cream) and a little shopping. Quite a mob scene here on Sunday.
There were three entrances, one for the "king", one for the merely wealthy, and one for the rest. The decor was impressive from the costume displays, to the stair cases, walls and ceilings.
Conveniently (from Pat’s opinion) we were now in the neighborhood of the Grand Magasins, the elegant huge department stores of central Paris. We wandered through Galeries Lafayette Haussmann (with a it's stained glass dome that served as a main attraction when the store opened in 1912). There are several stores in the Lafayette complex (Lafayette Homme, Lafayette Gourmet, ...) so this took awhile. Then we were off to Lafayette's less prestigious cousin, Le Printemps Haussman. Sadly nothing really appealed to the buyer in us (that would be Pat) so we made our way back to Lavinia for a tasting and to purchase a few bottles.
Tuesday we started the day at Atelier des Lumières. For those of you who have seen the outdoor light shows displaying local stories on downtown buildings, think of this as the same only with images projected on the interior walls, ceilings and floor of an empty old foundry. There were two short shows "Poetic AI" (artwork created by Artificial Intelligence techniques that includes lots of numbers, letters, and patterns being projected) and Hundertwasser, In the wake of the Secession (the Secession refers to the time in the 1890's when the modern art community in Vienna split from the traditional ways). We don't know much about Hundertwasser's art but we do know that "wasser" is the German word for water and there seemed to be a lot of watery effects in this piece.
The longer show features the work of Gustav Klimt, one of the original Austrian secessionists. We enjoyed seeing his works in Austria on our last European visit. The show starts with images of 19C Imperial Viennese reflecting some of Klimt's early work decorating the "magestic monuments of the Ringstrasse." (Vienna's Ringstrasse, developed in the second half of the 19C, is considered one of the most beautiful boulevards in the world.) Then the show features variations of Klimt's colorful paintings many of which shimmer in gold.
It’s an amazingly immersive experience with the viewers becoming part of the artwork.
We continued on to Père Lachaise Cemetery to explore the grounds where the likes of Oscal Wilde, Balzac, Chopin and, more recently Jim Morrison, are interred. When established by Napoleon in 1804 the area was well outside the city limits, now it is not only within the city limits but well within the metropolitan area.
After some searching for the metro we made our way back toward the Marais and lunch at Cafe Charlot where we shared a beef carpaccio with parmigiano, mushrooms, & green onions along with a quinoa & smoked salmon salad with fries. We enjoyed both with 50cl of the Brouilly house wine (from the Beaujolais region in central France and made from gamay grapes).
We stopped for lunch at the Troubadour just outside the gates of Fontainebleau. Our repast began with some great crisps and champagne followed by Fondue de Mozzarelle (a very creamy mozzarella much like burrata). Duck Confit for Bill and Salmon for Pat (both with tasty pastry wrapped veggies) and a nice Cotes de Nuit. After a plate of profiteroles (sans calories) we are ready for the remainder of the day.
We took the train ride back to Paris and a metro back to Saint Germain. The short walk to our apartment helped work off some of those "sans calories".
Pat's birthday celebration began with a tour of the Petit Palais, the City of Paris Fine Art Museum. The museum is highly underrated (and free!)
Completely renovated in 2005, it houses ancient and medieval collections, Flemish and Dutch paintings, icons (Cabal bequest), Impressionist works and much more. One unusual work combines a full size wall painting with a viewing deck in front. The sound effects and the motion of the viewing deck recreates the sense of being on a boat deck in a storm...and it is a little too realistic for Pat's liking.
There is a major exhibit of works by Impressionists who fled to the UK to escape the Franco Prussian War. (1870/1871).
Lunch was at the nearby Mini Palais Restaurant (in the Grand Palais). We started with bread and popovers accompanied with glasses of Roederer Rosé champagne. We next shared a salad of romaine hearts with parmigiano. For mains, Bill chose the roasted beef tenderloin and gnocchi for Bill while Pat chose ris de veau (sweetbreads in comté cheese crust with moussline potatoes). All went well with the bottle of Crozes Hermitage.
After lunch we visited La Fondation Louis Vuitton, in the Bois de Boulogne park on the west side of the city limits. The building designed and built by Frank Ghery opened in 2014. As with the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao Spain, also by Ghery, the building outshines the contents, but still we enjoyed the exhibits as well. The museum opens onto the Jardin d’Acclimation amusement park which was fun to walk through on our return trip back to the city center.
The expositions were intriguing but the photographer forgot to capture some of the details so we will describe what we saw, minus some official attributions and interpretations.
We ventured out for dinner, about a 1 minute walk from our apartment. We went with Italian cuisine as a break from the French of the past few days (salad with raw artichoke, parmigiano, lettuce & tomato and a 4 cheese risotto accompanied by a bottle of Nero D'Avola.
Friday, August 24, our 50th Anniversary!! We started by exploring the shops in the Marais. Sadly we found nothing particularly irresistable but we did enjoy the architecture and the shop displays.
For lunch we chose to return to a restaurant where we had celebrated our anniversary 2 years ago, l'Orangerie Paris (on Île Saint Louis) for lunch. More champagne, rosé this time, with bread and creamy cheese followed by a salad with foie gras and smoked duck. We both chose lamb for our main course and selected another bottle of Crozes Hermitage to go with the lamb. And what anniversary meal would be complete without dessert, in this case apple crumble.
Île Saint Louis was much quieter during this visit than on the previous Sunday. We strolled across the island and over the bridge to Île de la Cité where Bill practiced his new selfie skills to get a photo of us in front of Notre Dame. We then crossed over to St Germain and found Saint Michael (San Miguel) protecting the local square from the devil. Along the way we fund a “rustic pizza shop” that provided us with some nice nibbles for the evening.
Saturday morning we explored our local Saint Germain de Pres shops and then on to Le Comptoir for lunch. Thank you Jack & Ruth for the reccomendat recommendation. A bottle of Morgon with a salad de tomates ancienes, poulpe (calamari) with potatoes for Pat. Thon (tuna) & vegetables for Bill. Whipped cream, meringue and strawberries for dessert.
We then took one last stroll around Saint Germaine de Pres before heading back to the apartment and packing. Note the interesting displays we encountered along the way.
Sunday we were off at 7:30 am to CDG and our flight back to Mexico. After the usual overnight at the airport in Mexico City we headed back to SMA on the bus.
Then we explored the Dali Museum. We have twice visited both the Dali Museum in Figures, north of Barcelona, his home in Cadeques Spain. We really enjoy the breadth and creativity of his art. Among the works on display were... a number featuring elephants with spindly legs (a common theme for Dali), one of a rhino on similar spindly legs, a work depicting the fluidity time, and a lovely piece with a unicorn connecting this visit with our earlier one to the Cluny.
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| Smaller than life-size mannequins display possibilities |
Monday we were off to the Opera, at least to a tour of the Palais Garnier (Opera Garnier). We learned that the most desirable seating (the "loge") was designed originally for being "seen", not for seeing the show. In the Loge Seats you could show off your stylish clothes, entertain your friends and be seen by everyone.
There were three entrances, one for the "king", one for the merely wealthy, and one for the rest. The decor was impressive from the costume displays, to the stair cases, walls and ceilings.
After the tour we were ready for lunch and headed to Lavinia, a nearby wine bar. Pat chose Lentil salad with poached egg and Bill selected rib of beef with a mix of sauteed green vegetables. Several glasses of red wine including a Clos de la Barthassade (some of which came back to Mexico with us) completed our meal.
The longer show features the work of Gustav Klimt, one of the original Austrian secessionists. We enjoyed seeing his works in Austria on our last European visit. The show starts with images of 19C Imperial Viennese reflecting some of Klimt's early work decorating the "magestic monuments of the Ringstrasse." (Vienna's Ringstrasse, developed in the second half of the 19C, is considered one of the most beautiful boulevards in the world.) Then the show features variations of Klimt's colorful paintings many of which shimmer in gold.
It’s an amazingly immersive experience with the viewers becoming part of the artwork.
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It was interesting to observe the range of final resting places, from grand mini-chapels and elaborate ornate tombs, to respectable phone booth sized monuments and simple graves with unadorned headstones. Today, to be buried here you must have either died in Paris or have lived there. And, unless you have a family plot, you need to have arrived at the top of the waiting list.
We admired the architecture, including the 20-sided Cirque d’hiver, along the way through the Marais, the Ile de la Cité and on to our apartment.
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| Cirque d’hiver (still used for circuses and other performances |
Wednesday we took the train to Fontainebleau, the country home for 34 French leaders (kings and emperors) from the 12th to the 19th century.
It seems that the favorite pastime of each leader was changing the purpose of each room. What was once a Queen’s bed chamber may have become a guard room and later a waiting room. While what was originally a guard room may have become a reception area and later a bed chamber. In any case there was no restraint on the expense: tapestries of finest silk, gold trim on the beds, chairs and ceilings, massive crystal chandeliers, lovely golden figurines on the mouldings, … All very impressive and without the crowds of Versailles.
Pat's birthday celebration began with a tour of the Petit Palais, the City of Paris Fine Art Museum. The museum is highly underrated (and free!)
Completely renovated in 2005, it houses ancient and medieval collections, Flemish and Dutch paintings, icons (Cabal bequest), Impressionist works and much more. One unusual work combines a full size wall painting with a viewing deck in front. The sound effects and the motion of the viewing deck recreates the sense of being on a boat deck in a storm...and it is a little too realistic for Pat's liking.
There is a major exhibit of works by Impressionists who fled to the UK to escape the Franco Prussian War. (1870/1871).
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| Hyde Park, 1871 - Claude Monet |
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| Hush! 1874 - James Tissot |
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| Icon with scenes from the life of St George, including slaying the dragon |
After lunch we visited La Fondation Louis Vuitton, in the Bois de Boulogne park on the west side of the city limits. The building designed and built by Frank Ghery opened in 2014. As with the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao Spain, also by Ghery, the building outshines the contents, but still we enjoyed the exhibits as well. The museum opens onto the Jardin d’Acclimation amusement park which was fun to walk through on our return trip back to the city center.
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| Side view of Fondation Luis Vuitton (above) and frontal view (below) |
The expositions were intriguing but the photographer forgot to capture some of the details so we will describe what we saw, minus some official attributions and interpretations.
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| Cute kittens playing between the feet of Michelangelo's David |
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| Light saber ballet |
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| Photo of Japanese snow monkeys that grew up in Texas participating in an inconclusive experiment to see if they would remember snow |
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| Artist Murakami captures the cuteness culture of Japan |
Friday, August 24, our 50th Anniversary!! We started by exploring the shops in the Marais. Sadly we found nothing particularly irresistable but we did enjoy the architecture and the shop displays.
Saturday morning we explored our local Saint Germain de Pres shops and then on to Le Comptoir for lunch. Thank you Jack & Ruth for the reccomendat recommendation. A bottle of Morgon with a salad de tomates ancienes, poulpe (calamari) with potatoes for Pat. Thon (tuna) & vegetables for Bill. Whipped cream, meringue and strawberries for dessert.
Speaking of busses, we flew on an Airbus A380 (Air France) in the upper deck both ways on this trip. The A380 is the world's largest passenger plane, and getting thru customs and immigration can take a while.
