Paris: Things on the list/next time

 I keep a running list of sights and restaurants to try. I cross out the ones we've been to.

SPOT24 olympics exhibition daily 930a-645p 101 Quai Jacques Chirac, 15e

La Brasserie de l'Isle Saint-Louis, closed Wednesday. Thur-Tue 12-1030pm

Miura closed Sat-Su; M-F 1215-145p; 715-945p

Café Varenne bistro r d Varenne and r d Bac Closed Su; M-Sa 730am-11pm

Bourdelle Museum closed Monday, Tue-Sun 10am-6pm

Musée de La Poste closed Tuesday, Wed-Mon 11a-6pm

14^th around Raspail Metro

Montparnasse cemetery, daily 9am-530pm

Fondation Cartier, exhibit ends 4/21

Zadkine Museum closed Monday, Tue-Sun 10a-6pm

Basilica Ste. Clothilde

Perrett’s house, rue Raynouard

Le Castel Beranger, art Nouveau, 16e, rue de la Fontaine next to Maison de la radio

Lavirotte Building 29 ave. rapp 7e

Tour Jean sans Peur near Ettiene Marcel Metro

Shopping: Fabrice-rue Bonaparte 6e (down from St. Germain Church and metro stop, costume jewelry)

Palais Galliera

Musee des Arts Forains 12e, Bercy

Deyrolle Taxidermy Shop, rue du Bac 7e

Musee de l’Eventail (Fans), 10e

UNESCO Bldg Tour

Petit Palais

LV Foundation, Rothko exhibit ends 4/2

LV Dream @ 2 Pont -Neuf daily 11-20, Free

BNF Richelieu Museum closed Monday; Tue-10a-8p; W-Su 10a-6p

Musee de la vie Romantique, closed Monday, Tue-Sun 10a-6pm, free, pair with New Athens

Musee Delacroix, closed Tuesdays, Wed-Mo 930am-1730 (closed for renovations 19/9/2023-27/3/2024)

Pompidou daily 11am-9pm, roof terrace, biblioteque, photography exhibits free

Stravinsky Fountain

St. Merry daily 8am-8pm

Rue Berton down av du Colonel Bonnet, cross Rue Raynouard, small road on left, wanders down to rue d’Ankara and Parc de Passy

Chateau de Vincennes (daily 10a-5p)

Passage lhomme

Cour du Panier-Fleuri

Passage du Cheval Blanc, 2 Rue de la Roquette

It is in this passage located at the back of a 17th century building. that all the wood arriving by the river was stored at the Port de l'Arsenal, right next door. it was intended for all trades revolving around this noble material from Faubourg Saint Antoine. Although the warehouse has not existed for a long time, you can admire the buildings from the 19 and 20 centuries. some of whose half-timbered walls, some of which are decorated, recall the history of this neighborhood in the past. The courtyards of the buildings are named from January to June. For April, it's just a staircase. The passage is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Cour Damoye 14 rue Daval exits onto Bastille

Coer Saint-Joseph, 5 rue de charonne

 

www.France-travel-info.com

Jardin Tino Rossi

Les Halles Saint-Pierre

Beaupassage

Le Coulee Verte

Passage des Panoramas

Place Saint-Georges

Paris: Departure from CDG

 

Sunday

4/28

CDG-JFK-MSY 930am-12pm/405pm-644pm Delta 0267/1551 Seats: 30A, 30B; 12F, 12D; 767-400; Airbus A319   -Left the apartment at 6am with G7 cab (he got there 10 minutes early, very reliable). Cost 63E (56 +7 booking fee). Driver was quiet and competent with a deep down funk. Arrived at CDG 2E and he let us off right near the VAT Refund desk (is it gate 8?). We found our check-in location, dropped off the bags. Went through the various security and passport controls. Made our way to gates M (2E has KLM gates) via the terminal train. And had a good 2 hours to wait for departure. The Starbucks in 2E M had the b&w Paris mugs. -The flight was uneventful. The flight attendants were kinda weird, mostly big guys, not friendly or engaging. The food was not great. My seat did not stay reclined so I had a hard time sleeping. Pretty quick to JFK which is a very confusing airport. We landed at Terminal 4 and our flight to NOLA left from terminal 4 but nowhere did it say that, only the gate (A11). And boy were they surly there. We finally figured things out, signage was terrible, and I got in the TSA Precheck line while husband did Clear which took longer than TSA.  -We decided on drinks and a snack at Le Grand Comptoir (drinks good, spinach dip not so good, good server). 4 hour layover was very long and I’m still miffed that Delta changed our flights. At any rate, landed in NOLA early. Brother-in-law brought us home and after a sauna, I crashed. Vacation over.

Home

Paris Day 6: UNESCO and churches

 

Saturday

4/27

10am Unesco Bldg Tour (printed, cultival) SPOT24 Olympics exhibition daily 930a-645p 101 Quai Jacques Chirac, 15e (Picchetto restaurant 50 av. de la motte picquet, 12am-1230am daily, L’Abreuvoir, 24 rue du Dr Finaly, daily 8am-1130pm; Le Tournesol Paris 16e, 2 av de Lamballe, daily, they have scallops risotto!)   -Our last day started early. We had tickets to tour the Unesco Building at 10am and arrived, as directed, a little early. The guide, with Cultival, not a Unesco employee, took our ids and gave us a lanyard. She did pretty well even if her English was a little rough at times. -I must say I really enjoyed the tour. We went all around the building discussing the building itself, UNESCO’s mission, the art outside and inside, including a massive mural by Picasso, the Japanese gardens, the spiral staircase. It was a good 90 minutes and I wasn’t bored. So glad we did it! -Afterwards, we walked down rue de la Croix Nivert to the boulangerie (same name) where the very nice attendant, with perfect English who was still willing to entertain my bad French, served us up two sandwiches. We ate right there. It was funny listening to every person who entered use the same politesse phrases (bonjour, svp, merci, au revoir, bon journee). After coffee, we decided to head to the Delacroix Museum, via Metro. The walk to the Metro was pretty cool. This was definitely not a touristy area. -The Delacroix recently reopened after a major renovation. We toured it in one of our early trips and we both remembered being impressed. Not so much this time, unfortunately. -It seemed like there were fewer rooms open. And the worst was that it was a Delacroix v. Ingres exhibit detailing their rivalry. They were contemporaries. There were many fewer Delacroix paintings on exhibit to make room for Ingres’ art and violin. It was well done but I would have preferred more Delacroix in the Delacroix museum. The atelier was similarly disappointing because of the numerous Ingres canvases. -The garden was still sweet and gorgeous and a perfect retreat. -It started to rain as we left, the first real rain of the trip. So what to do? I suggested visiting churches. So to St. Germain des Pres we went. Easy, quick walk. It’s such a beautiful church. I pulled up the Blue Guide on my phone and read up about it. We had the Streetwise and could see St. Severin not far away so there we went by Metro. -St. Severin is another pretty church, very different from St. Germain des Pres. The modern stained glass is jarring but the way the church was constructed with those fat pillars fanning up into palms was impressive. -Across the way was St. Julien le Pauvre, not much to it, now a Catholic Greek church so the altar is covered over. It’s really old.  -Around the corner is Rue Galande, one of the oldest streets in Paris, and at #42 is a carved relief, mentioned in 1380, of St. Julien and his wife ferrying Christ across a river (Blue Guide). We saw the relief which most people definitely miss. Pretty cool. -We popped into pretty Square Rene-Viviani where the Notre Dame views dominate! The oldest tree in Paris is there, from 1601, a Robinia (Locust tree or False Acacia). They hold the ND Christmas Market here. -We followed the Blue Guide down Rue de la Bucherie to see the gorgeous former Ecole de Medecine. Kept on walking (somehow didn’t make it to Shakespeare and Company which is around there somewhere). Husband spotted the nice looking Maison Colbert boutique hotel, lovely location on rue de l’Hotel Colbert, and price to match! -We ended up at St. Nicolas Chardonet church which we briefly visited a few years before and had not memory of. Probably because it’s not super memorable. We walked on and stopped at a café for drinks. Very nice service. Husband figured out that it was close to where he waited after visiting the minerals museum when I had my macarons class, the same year we visited St. Nicholas Chardonet, and then went to the Miraculous Metal church for metals. -Which is what prompted us to go back to Miraculous Metal to get metals for some folks fighting cancer. We took the Metro, getting off right into the super busy area by Le Bon Marche department store. -Mass was going on and we listened for a while. Then bought the metals and pamphlets and went back in to get them blessed. But we missed something, it was all in fast French, and didn’t get them blessed. We asked a nun outside afterwards, she had no English. But she was super kind and grabbed another nun who spoke a little English who then grabbed a departing priest who blessed the metals right there for us. Very nice. -We did a little shopping at Le Grande Marche. What a fantastic store! They had all the food products you could want but go up the escalators and they had all the home furnishings and tableware and everything else you could want. Fabulous store but so busy! I wondered if there was a day it wasn’t so slammed? -Husband was in the mood for another burger so off (by Metro) to La Brasserie de l’Isle Saint Louis we went. They offered us the catbird seat, non merci, then sat us in the back ¼ of the restaurant again. So weird. And no recognition of us (I mean everyone remembers my blue hair, but not these guys, lol!). -Husband loved his burger again and my salad was good. Then home to pack for our early departure. -In 17 days, only this day was significantly wet. So we had great weather! But we didn’t bring enough warm clothes. Lesson for next time!

Paris

Paris Day 6: Miura, etc.

 

Friday

4/26

1pm Miura lunch (PVD) Metro to Musee de la Vie Romantique, wander New Athens and Rue des Martyrs   -Our final boozy lunch was at Miura. -We got up and out around 1130 and headed toward the Arc de Triomphe which is not far from Miura. We had time to kill so decided to “run errands.” Stopped at the post office to mail the postcards. Stopped at Monoprix to look for the ET shopping bags but they didn’t have them. Admired pastries in the patisserie window. Admired the pretty buildings all around. -This was our 4th time at Miura and it was as good as ever. The dining room was filled with French business people. Of the 2 tables open, we chose to sit in between two other diners. But, as always, we could barely hear them talk (they were very quiet talkers). -We got champagne to start and glasses of wine afterwards. Menu dujour was 65E. Can’t remember the starter. Had John Dory as a main, was good. Husband had steak and potatoes. For dessert we both had the outstanding chocolate souffle. Enjoyable meal. Would definitely return. -We took the Metro to Nation for the Musee de la vie Romantique, which gets great reviews. As we stepped out of the station, there was a Monoprix and we stopped in for the bags, which they didn’t have. They did have a whole section of souvenirs so I picked up a few things as well as the Sacre Coeur plus Moulin Rouge bags they had there (it was really close to Moulin Rouge which had lost its sails a couple of days before). And around the corner, on the way to the museum, there was a Starbucks and I got two Black and White Paris mugs! Excellent! -The Musee de la Vie Romantique (free) has a big connection to George Sand who was good friends with the house’s owner, Ary Scheffer, himself a painter whose works were on display. Some Delacroixs were also on display. Sand was involved with Chopin and there was a cast of his delicate hand. The museum was tiny, like 4-5 rooms, and only one was furnished to the period. Not much translated to English. The garden café seating was pretty. It didn’t meet my expectations. -I had printed out a walking tour of the area and we loosely followed it around New Athens. We ended up on Rue des Martyrs which is a really great street! So much going on. We sat at a café and had drinks and people watched. Very enjoyable. -At the end of Rue des Martyrs was the beautiful Notre Dame de Lorette. Her façade/outside was all under scaffolding but inside was very pretty. A group of kids were practicing for a play so the altar was covered up. -We decided to have drinks at Le Meurice again because why not? So took the metro to Tuileries. I made husband walk through the beautiful gardens. There was some major Olympics related construction at Place de la Concorde and in the gardens themselves. We were walking along where the Christmas Market was set up. -At Le Meurice, we were first sat outside in two chairs by the column but moved into the bar before we finished our first drink. The woman pianist was accompanied by a man on the bass. Very nice. The bar was full then empty then filled up again. We were there a couple of hours and got fries. Very enjoyable. -Metro back to the apartment in time for the 11pm sparkle show.

Paris

Paris Day 5: Astrance, etc.

 

Thursday

4/25

Chateau de Vincennes (daily 10a-5p) Brasserie de l’Isle Saint-Louis Or 1pm Astrance Lunch (him the fork) Montparnasse Cemetery, Musee de la Poste, Musee Boudelle, Notre Dame du Travail Dinner: La Causerie (rue vital, 16e) or snacks   -Today’s boozy lunch was at Astrance. We took our time getting up and out. We finally decided to visit the Musee des Arts Moderne because it was just a few minutes’ walk from there to the restaurant. And MAM is free :) It was a spectacularly beautiful day! And this area of the 16th is beyond gorgeous! -MAM was fresher and prettier that our last visit (to our eyes). The free collection was outstanding, again. I liked that they tied it into the Olympics a bit. The views over the Seine to the ET were gorgeous. The section with the history of the museum’s build were very interesting. As someone who doesn’t really like modern art, I really like this museum. Especially, of course, the gorgeous, magnificent, massive Spirit of Electricity by Duffy. -The new Astrance (1 star, was 3 then 2 then it moved to the new digs and is now just 1 star) is a really pretty space. Bright, fresh, with some Asian influences. Very comfortable. The servers are in the still stylish blue suits. The maître is looking a little older and maybe less healthy but chef Pascal Bardot looked good. He stopped by our table 2xs as he did his vuelta around the restaurant. -Food was really fish-centric and they served husband a second fish, like they did for me, instead of a meat course. If/when we go back, we’ll have to ensure that doesn’t happen bc he missed his meat courses. We started with champagne. The restaurant was pretty full. -We chose the 125E menu saisson and wine pairing 50E (although there was some confusion on our part about the cost of the wine, lol). Menu dejuneur is a bargain at 85E. *=loved -Amuse: chick peas galette; brioche with butter and a vegetable?. Starters: oyster; welk; ?scallops in a nice bright sauce; and halibut; *lobster and carrots soup with Japanese rice; *biscuit with shrimps jam; palate cleanser mint and cilantro. Mains: *turbot with soy sauce butter, cabbage bok choi and pickled veggies (I had 2 bones); mackerel marinated in ouzo, peas, artichoke, carrots, lentils on the side. Desserts: palate cleanser strawberries and rhubarb sorbet; peanut butter ice cream, caramel around the light galette, pistachio and lots of sorrel lettuce like stuff on top. Aside from the sorrel, the dish was delish. Eggnog and chocolates for bill paying. No cheese and no fruit to end the meal :( Overall, very good and enjoyable and would return. -We grabbed the Metro to Montparnasse-Bienvenue to visit the Bourdelle Museum (free). The Montparnasse building is uglier up close. -Antoine Bourdelle was a sculptor who became famous for Heracles. But his oeuvre is much deeper than that. The museum is where he lived and worked. It has many rooms and gardens. There was a special exhibit in the basement about objects he collected. Very cool museum. Glad we went! -We took the Metro to Notre Dame du Travail. It’s a really cool industrial looking church, with art deco style decorations in the chapels, while outside it looks as traditional as possible. I liked it a lot. -We stopped not far from it at a Choubidou cafe for drinks; pretty good people watching. Then walked down picturesque and definitely not touristy Blvd Pasteur to catch the metro back to the apartment. But as it was around 7pm, we decided to stop at a café (and chose well in Le Pasteur, attentive service, bustling place). We had drinks then husband got a truffle croque madame with fries and salad which I helped him eat. It was tasty and just enough food after our nice lunch. -It was an early night, we were home by 9pm!

Paris

Paris Day 4: Septime, etc.

 

Wednesday

4/24

Saint-Ambroise Church (8am-730pm) 11am Atelier des Lumieres (buy tickets in advance) 1pm Septime (me) “Hidden” Passages in the 11e   -Getting a reservation at Septime involved waking up at 3am Central time 3 weeks before the day we wanted to dine. But I was successful! And today was the day. -Septime is 1 Michelin star and consistently on the 50 Best Restaurants in the World list. It gets mixed reviews. The food is vegetable forward. It’s a very casual place but most people were dressed nicely (looking at you, young couple with your baseball caps, c’mon, man!). We could overhear the excited Asian gentleman who was there with his family talking about how it was hard to get a reservation. Cute. -The maître and sommelier was from California so of course his English was good. There was a lot of English. We got the menu of the day 85E and a wine pairing 60E. Plus of course the champagne to start. They were considerate of my pickiness. -We started with a broth and brioche waffle with compte cheese (delicious). Next was an asparagus with spinach, sorrel, egg yolk, like a salad; artichoke in onion sauce with meyer lemon on top; flash steamed lettuces with 2 mushrooms. Mains were St. John with morel and a garlic bud thing (that was too strong for me), husband's had lardo; tuna with sour cream sauce and charred broccoli and flowers—excellent, although could have been cooked like 3-6 more seconds for me. Husband got the cheese plate (18E) with 2 goat and 1 sheep cheese. Dessert was hazelnut ice cream and cardamon cream. Very good meal. Was funny that the maître/sommelier had just been to CDMX on direct 12 hour flight from CDG and loved it there. -We were walking distance to Atelier des Lumieres so I convinced husband to go, after all it was about Egypt. No issues with getting in without pre-booking, place was not really too crowded, although a French Karen objected to husband standing in one spot as she reclined on the floor to watch the show (they are everywhere!). It was well done, like all of these have been, but I didn’t like it as much as the impressionists or Klimt. -We headed to St. Ambroise church but I had forgotten to bring the information I printed up about it. At any rate, it’s pretty. It’s newer (like 127 years old) and obviously a parish church. -I wanted to check out a particular purse, by Faure Le Page, so put in their flagship store’s address in the google and there we headed. It was a metro ride but when we got off, I realized we were close to Printemps so in there we went. There was no Faure Le Page but there was a Goyard. We looked at the bags through the cases, none of the clerks seemed very inclined to help us. -Printemps is a pretty store. I knew they had a terrace so up and up and up we went. Ended up on the 7th floor where there were very high end “second-hand” designer items for sale. We saw our first Hermes Birkin bags. They were older models ranging from 9,000E upwards of 20,000E. Beautiful and way too extravagant! -The view was very pretty from the terrace, as it was from the bathroom. Took elevators down to the street and walked around a little in the cute streets. My feet were killing me! -Routed ourselves to Galleries LaFayette and one Metro stop later, we were getting out right in front of it. Very pretty store, although it’s not as special as at Christmas. -Found Faure Le Page and very nice clerk showed us the bag. I like it but don’t think I love it. And not sure I want the one with the zip after all. Would have to allow time at airport for VAT refund, and with our early flight, didn’t want to risk it. Will reconsider next time. -We grabbed the Metro to La Muette and had drinks at the Tabac, which closed at 830. They were kinda wrapping things up but still served a few latecomers. We considered getting fries but decided to try a different place. -Le Bois was busy. Le Rally Passy smelled bad and the servers ignored us. We went down to the Aero, which is a hotel with a bar/restaurant, and they couldn’t have been nicer. Had a drink and my fries and all was well with the world. -Back to the apartment in time for the 10pm sparkle show.

Paris

Paris Day 3: Carnival, libraries, etc

 

Tuesday

4/23

1030am Musee des Arts Forains (printed), Bercy Village Lunch: Brasserie de l’Isle Saint-Louis  BNF Richelieu Museum closed Monday; Tue-10a-8p; W-Su 10a-6p   -I’ve known about Musee des Arts Forains for awhile but since it is far outside central Paris, it hadn’t made the list. So it was time to see what this place was all about. -It’s a bit of a hike from the 16th to Bercy Village on the Metro. But the metro station lets out at the shopping center which was clean and fresh with cute stores and eateries. We were running a little late so kept walking to the museum. We arrived at 1003, lol, and the tour had already departed. It was all in French but they gave us a handout to follow along. The very nice young woman guide did not translate or engage in English (except to tell me she loved my hair and had done some blue in hers in the past, and to tell all non-French speakers that the race games would be repeated so all could participate, and to give the safety instructions for the bike carousel). She did a great job with the kids on the tour and kept their attention. -It was a fun place to see and explore. We heard opera from wax mannequins; rode a horse carousel; I sat on a goat; there were waiter and horse races--they moved when a ball was successfully rolled into their slots, I finished 3rd in my race; the bike carousel was so fun; and dancing in the grand ballroom was a kick. The guide actually thanked me for dancing, lol. -It was about 90 minutes long. I told husband I wish they would record the commentary in English and make it available on the website so we could listen along instead of having to read. We did miss a lot! But it was fun. -We were hungry so went over to Bercy Village and settled on a Japanese place. Pretty good lunch. Very busy place! -With no real set agenda, and the parc de Bercy right there, we walked through it-very pretty. Climbed up over the road and looked at the flowering plots on the other side—still too early for many blooms, heading in the direction of the Biblioteque Nationale de France (BBF) Francois Mitterand. I had read they had Louis XIV globes on display. -It was quite a hike (and my feet were definitely hurting) and included crossing the Seine—it was bigger than expected out there. -The library was enormous! The hall we went down was lined with chairs and people working on laptops or reading quietly. Behind the hall were the library stacks but you’d need a library card to access them. At the end of the hall was a terrace and a café and the enormous globes. Only 2 on display and the exhibit was closed. But they were quite impressive. -We walked into another free exhibit about punk in France. Then made the long walk out along a different hallway from the one we entered (no chairs or patrons on this one). There was a small forest in between the two long hallways. It was a massive library! -I wanted to visit the newly reopened museum at BNF Richelieu so we found the Metro and there we headed. When we arrived, we realized that our old favorite brunch place, Les Manufacturers Alain Ducasse, was on one corner. We’re still sad that place has closed down permanently. -Got through security, paid our entry fee, and explored the collection. I liked that there was a QR code with descriptions of specific items in each room and once we figured out how to find the items (there’s a number next to their description on the physical display board), we read up on these treasures. One fact that blew me away was that the BNF has 600,000 precious coins in their collection. There were maybe 100 on display. -The Mazarin Gallery was spectacular! So many precious items on display. I loved seeing the original manuscripts like Zola’s J’accuse, for example. -We saw the oval reading room and it was as impressive as I remembered. When we saw it the first time, the museum was closed and under renovation and they had some sad little displays in another building. The new museum is great and I would recommend it to anyone. -Outside, we walked into the cute Square Louvois with the statues of French Rivers and little girls gawking at my hair, lol. -We had drinks at Earth K, packed with youngish locals. -Then grabbed the Metro to have dinner at Brasserie de l’Isle Saint Louis again. Better seats this time, in the middle of the restaurant. Got crowded. Husband loved his burger again. I had the salade du jour and his fries. Fun. -Back home for the 11pm sparkle show and a spectacular full moon. Was a long day!

Paris

Paris Day 2: Alliance, etc

 

Monday

4/22

10am-5pm Delacroix Museum 1pm Alliance lunch (him, 5 rue de Poissy, 5e) Things open: Conciergerie, Deportation Martyrs, Marche aux Fleurs   -Our first of 4 “boozy” lunches in Paris. Today was 1* Alliance on Rue de Poissy in a lovely area of St. Germain des Pres close to the Seine. -We talked about going to the Delacroix Museum first but didn’t get up early enough to make it worth our time. So we did a wander about Passy. We walked down to Rue Raynouard close to Balzac’s house and took a little street called Rue Berton, cobbled between high walls, apparently one of the original streets in the area. Cute. Clean, no dog poop which was surprising. We came out and went into Parc de Passy and was that just gorgeous. Beautifully landscaped, with a nice playground for the kids, arbors with flowering plants, flowers planted all over. Kind of idyllic. Totally envious of the people living in the apartments with it as their backyard. -We came out of the park, got a little turned around and wandered over to Musee des Vins which is a dead end. Figured out a different route to the Passy Metro station and started our journey to Alliance. -We got off at Maubert-Mutualite and slowly made our way there. Pretty area. We were a smidge early and the restaurant was empty but 3 other tables arrived shortly. He greeted us with hand sanitizer. Very pretty restaurant and view of the kitchen. Lots of people working there—they kept appearing from out of nowhere, lol. Host had perfect English. They were very accommodating to my pickiness which I really appreciated. -The host was exceptionally welcoming and helpful. We enjoyed everything we had and I had to tell him the chicken dish was better than at Core. -Amuse: spring rolls, crumbly cheese brioche bread and spicy breadstick, lollipop of carrots, onion tart, foigras cane with port. Main courses: lobster bread pop-wow!; French caviar; oyster in cream;  sorrel mushrooms and peas; crab ravioli; sorrel egg and asparagus; artichoke brulee; lobster croque monsieur; john dory with celery sauce and glass wort; lobster with morels mushroom and sauce; lamb rack with kidney (ok), peas, and lamb crackling on toast; chicken with fresh asparagus-wow!; cheese plate. Everything was paired with nice wines. Definitely would return! -Left and headed toward the river and exceptional views of Ile Saint Louis, Notre Dame, Hotel de Ville (which now was covered in tents and security barriers), and into BHV’s Bricolage in the basement. -It’s Lowe’s and Ace Hardware and Sherwin and a little Target all put together. Really cool. I lost husband for awhile so found a handy chair and hung out while he shopped. We walked around the main floors of BHV after but they weren’t quite as exciting as Bricolage, lol. Pretty store. -Husband wanted to go to La Meurice, eventually, so we routed ourselves in that direction via Tour Saint Jacques. It’s in a pretty park and would be cool to climb. My uncle Blaise Pascal’s statue is in the middle of it. Through the Louvre outer buildings where classical music was being performed by a cellist, then in another section by a violinist (I think). Pretty low key at the Louvre it being a Monday later in the afternoon. We saw the Joan of Arc statue which always looks so impressive on TdF, but less so in person. -Got to Le Meurice around 645pm. Very expressive black man on the piano accompanied by a man on saxophone. We were sat in the Dali restaurant area but eventually moved inside to the bar seating. Impeccable service and tasty cocktails made for a really nice time. We had 2 drinks in the restaurant area and 4 in the bar but weren’t charged for the ones in the restaurant. We brought it to the server’s attention and they seemed grateful for our honesty and then still only charged us for one drink. -If money was no object, I don’t think I’d choose this hotel because of its very touristy location but it was sure nice to hang out there. And I really wish the restaurant would start offering lunch again. -Metro back to La Muette, using the escalator to get us to the street, lol. Caught the 11pm sparkle show from my window.

Paris

Back in Paris! Day 1

 

Sunday

4/21

Eurostar to Paris 1024am-1358 at Gare du Nord, (in apple wallet) check in to Rue Lekain, procure groceries, L’As du fallafels, Bansky, Stravinsky Fountain, St. Merri (8a-8p), Pompidou (11a-9p) free terrace   -Today was the London Marathon and I’d been concerned that it would affect transportation to St. Pancras. It did not at all. Per the google and citymapper, there was a direct train to St. Pancras from St. James’s Place. It was a little confusing because not all the trains on the line went there. So an attendant helped us figure it out. We trudged our bags down the steps and waited about 5 minutes for our train. It was empty except for a few commuters and runners. I got to hear a long conversation between two runners/strangers about how they qualified for the race. I guess they don’t just let any ole person run it. -We arrived at St. Pancras and followed the signs to check in for our train at 1031. No problem going through bag check or passport checks. It’s funny that you exit England and in three steps are entering France. Of course I said “bonjour.” -We had about 90 minutes until departure and there was not much to do in the waiting area. I got coffee and husband got us a sandwich to share from Pret. -Boarding was a bit of a pain since the escalator to our carriage was broken and it was a struggle to pull the bags up it. The other escalator was jam packed so we didn’t want to bother with that. We made it, me more tired than husband! We marveled at the man in front of us who was pulling two rolling bags, he looked pretty old but must’ve been in great shape, or the bags were really light… -The seats were facing forward, hallelujah, but didn’t have a window, yup. I hate trains. Thankfully there was no one seated directly in front of us so as soon as the doors closed, we moved up. Much better. The views were good but a bit hard to see out of the filthy windows. -We were served a meal with wine (if so desired, rose pour moi svp). Husband got falafels, I can’t remember what mine was. It was OK. It was a pretty smooth ride, the train was going really fast, like 260km at times. The section in the Chunnel was no big deal. I’d definitely take it again for the convenience of city center to city center travel. -At Gare du Nord, we decided to take the metro line 9 to the apartment, getting off at La Muette. Pretty easy as we’re quite familiar with this subway system. We didn’t realize, though, that there are escalators for the final leg up to the street at La Muette and boy those last steps were tough with heavy luggage. But we made it to Rue Lekain and were met by Sophie to check us into her apartment. -Great location. Building a little run-down, needed more lighting in the lobby area. Tiny elevator but it fit both of us and our luggage up to the 3rd floor (4th US). The apartment was spacious with a good layout. Enter at the kitchen, to the left is the large living and dining with windows onto a courtyard and a view of the top of the ET. Behind the glassed in kitchen wall, a small hallway with a bedroom on each end and a bathroom and toilet in between. Well stocked. Husband didn’t like that it was not as sterile as the one in London. It had the owner’s personality all over it. And he didn’t find the bed very comfortable. The toilet seat was very noisy! He got up each morning to close the second bedroom window, which looked out onto Rue Lekain, because of the garbage and traffic noises (I didn’t notice). But we left the windows open to keep it cool. -He decided he didn’t want L’As du Fallafel (I was shocked!!) so we decided to have dinner at Le Brasserie de l’Isle Saint Louis later on. The plan was to walk around, stop in at St. Merry, see the Stravinsky Fountain, take the escalators at the Pompidou for the views, then dinner. The Metro got us there no problem. -This was our third attempt to tour St. Merry. The first time, with Joel, it was closed. The second time, a mass was going on. This time there was a free concert in progress. The music was lovely. I stood and watched/listened and husband wandered around. We left when it ended. It was lovely and now officially my favorite intro to Paris! -Around the corner was the Stravinsky Fountain that recently reopened from a renovation. It was so cute! And whimsical. All it needed was funky music. Really cool. -The Pompidou had lots of barricades and construction out front. I asked the guard about entering it and he answered me in French! Must have had a pretty decent accent, lol. He also repeated everything in English. We walked around the corner and chose any line to get through security control. -The Pompidou is free so we just asked inside for the terrace, which is on the 7th floor. Up the clear escalators with lovely views of Paris. We decided against sitting outside for a drink, too chilly, and were placed at a table right next to the inside door. Husband was unhappy about it but my wine and his drink were tasty. He was at his grumpiest today. -We lingered, enjoying the view then headed out toward Hotel de Ville. It was so beautiful! Still decked out in Paris 2024 Olympics decorations as it was just a few weeks ‘til the games. The plaza in front was all open but no one was performing. -We crossed over to Ile de la Cite to check on Notre Dame and studied the spire. We could see from the Pompidou that it was two toned, black on top, light brown wood color on the bottom, but couldn’t believe it would be bare wood. But that’s what it looked like up close too. There was still a ton of scaffolding around the cathedral but there has definitely been progress since December. I would be shocked if it really reopens in 12/2024. -We were sat at Le Brasserie de l’Isle Saint Louis around 730. Us and a bunch of English speakers. The place was pretty empty but they had everyone in the back ¼ of the restaurant, including one completely stoic couple in the cat-bird seat. -The burger was as good or better than husband remembered. I enjoyed my salade du jour and some of his fries. They had a new waiter, a younger, maybe Italian, guy. He said the old guys (esp the one with the white goatee and the funny voice) had been there 60 years and were still working because they didn’t contribute to their pensions when they could so didn’t have enough to live on without working. -Back to the Metro, where we were in the first car and had access to the “controls” after the kids got off. Pretty cool.

Paris

London: Things on the list/next time!

I keep a running list of sights and restaurants to try. I cross out the ones we've been to.

London Transport Museum, Euston Tube Tunnels, daily 10-6

Denis Severs’ House in Spitalfields Th-Sun

Ben Franklin House (only place he lived)

Kenwood House, 17C Mansion and art collection, free,daily 10-5pm

Garden at 120

Leadenhall Market

Smithfield market, St. Bartholomew the Great

St. Dunstan in the East 8am-7pm, enter at Idol Lane or St. Dunstan’s Hill Metro Tower Hill-Monument

Knole House in SevenOaks, 1 hour South of London, attic, grounds, tower, showrooms, National Trust

Strawberry Hill House, outside of London, Su-Wed 11a-4p, 268 Waldgrave Rd, Twickenham, Metro Strawberry Hill

Design Museum

St. Alphage Gardens Roman Wall

Primrose Hill at Sunset

St. James’s Park open 5am-midnight

From airport: Picadilly to Hammersmith or Baron’s Court to District Line to St. James’s Place

 Cotswolds: Places to consider www.cotswolds.info

Guiting Power

Hidcote, Kiftsgate (both close to Chipping Campden)

Northleach

The Swells

Stow-on-the-Wold

Elkstone (greatenglishchurches.co.uk)

Ikoyi Restaurant 2*; #35 world; dinner M-F L320; lunch W-Th L200

London Day 4 (last)

 

Saturday

4/20

British Museum (850-10am out-of-hours tour ) (printed) Me Ancient Greek World; husband Life and Death in Ancient Egypt   ? Wellcome Collection/Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology Lunch at Ship Tavern The Courthauld Gallery  Dinner: ??Dammika’s Peninsula (12-10pm)   -It was a bit tough getting out of the apartment at 815 to arrive at the British Museum before our 850am tour but we did it! Were actually about 10 minutes early, lol. -The welcome was a bit disorganized in that each of us had to find our tour and get a lanyard by asking the person with the clipboard, which did not have any identifiers. I was OK for Ancient Greek World but husband's group left before checking everyone in which was a bit of a problem since security wouldn’t let anyone in the gates without a lanyard and one could only get the lanyard from the group leader with the clipboard. Ugh. It got sorted. -My group was small but everyone was attentive (one man, with his young daughter, had all the answers). My guide spoke very softly. The museum was empty save for these tours and some employees. Pretty cool! We spent some time at a krater which was used to mix wine slush and water to make wine. We stopped at a couple of other vessels, statues, then on to the Parthenon marbles. I was amazed that this famous marble frieze was actually hidden under the roof on the inside top of the temple, behind columns. Maybe that’s why it is well preserved. We also saw two humongous  statues that were part of another temple that can’t be recreated because it’s so huge. Our tour ran over by 30 minutes and by then the museum was filling up. -Husband  met me in the courtyard café after I pushed myself through the hordes around the Rosetta Stone. He took me to see some of the things he saw on his Life and Death in Egypt tour. He’s a good guide! He led us to a room that had a replica Rosetta Stone and as I touched it (allowed), a lady was all “don’t touch it” lol. There was a good explanation on how the stone was decrypted. This room also had George V (?) book collection. Very cool. -I did a little shopping while husband went to see some of the other Egyptian displays. The museum was now quite crowded. I’m so glad we went on the tour! And that they had portable camp like seats to rest my tired feet (shout out to the lovely lady from CA who now lives in London who refuses to use them and her friend who loved my hair). -As we were hungry, we decided to head over to the Ship Tavern for lunch. We got there, via tube, right around 1230, found a place to sit and husband got our beers. The staff were very efficient and we shared the huge platter of fish and chips  and a salad. Very good. -It was our last day in London and we wanted to get Fortnum and Mason tea for brother-in-law so routed ourselves there. It’s such a pretty store. We went to every floor. We had drinks at the bar at the top. Bought towels and the tea. Wandered and oohed and ahhed. -One the way into F&M, we noticed that the Royal Academy across the street had some type of (free) exhibit on so we popped over there. It was called Entangled Pasts 1768-Now: Art, Colonialism, and Change. The exhibit was very well done and quite popular. It was thought provoking and maddening. And saddening. We left as they began to close it down and went back to Fortnum and Mason as husband had seen a Wine Bar on the first floor. -Very cute bar. Our server was very new but trying. We got flights of wine (3 pretty hefty pours, all delicious) and a cheese board and a small salad. Fun, tasty break. We laughed that we spent all day at F&M! -We routed ourselves by foot back to the apartment but encountered a few closures because of the London Marathon to be held the next day. No biggie. We walked by Buckingham Palace on our way. -Packed up our stuff then went to the Albert for dinner. All good.

London

London Day 3

 

Friday

4/19

Choose: Leighton House, Design Museum, Sambourne House 2:15 Lunch at Core by Clare Smyth (me, open table) Walk down Portobello Road   -We didn’t rush out of the apartment since our reservation at Core wasn’t until 2:15. We decided to visit Sambourne House. -It was a wet morning; but nothing the umbrella couldn’t handle.  -Linsley Sambourne was a cartoonist for the Punch  magazine in the late 1890’s. He and his wife and two kids lived in the tall narrow house. They were maximalists so every surface was covered and decorated. I liked the place a lot. -When we exited the tube earlier, husband noticed something about Japan House. So because we still had a little time, we headed there. -What a beautifully peaceful space! The staff were welcoming, the scents were soothing, as were the music, colors, and items on display. I walked around enjoying the different selections on offer (some very expensive, all pretty). I got a cup of tea (not great) then went to meet husband in the exhibit area. I can’t remember the name of the indigenous group but it showed their crafts,  food, way of living, all that is being lost to time and “progress.” Very interesting. And I’m a little closer to agreeing to a visit to Japan. -We grabbed the tube and made our way to Core by Clare Smyth. It’s a 3 Michelin Star restaurant in a beautiful area of London (Notting Hill). We were greeted warmly by all the staff, including those in the open kitchen. The space was open, warm, a little opulent and feminine, leather top table, beautiful silverware. Instantly felt at ease. There is no choice of menu (it’s 215GBP per person) but they do cater to preferences and allergies. We opted for champagne to start and the wine pairing (145GBP). It’s probably our most expensive meal to date but seriously one of the best, too. I loved (almost) everything, especially that potato. The chicken was a bit disappointing-lacking in real flavor or interest. (Thought I wrote down what we ate but can’t find the notes husband has a picture of the menu). We spoke with a nice couple (from Belfast, NI, in to celebrate his birthday, she’s a fashion maven) at the next table for a bit during the meal then met them after in the beautiful bar for a cocktail. Wonderful experience. Hope to return even at the exorbitant price and difficult booking. Arrived 215pm, left 637pm -We walked down the Kensington Park Street to Penbridge Rd, forgetting that the famous Portobello Road was ~right there~! It was a pretty cute walk, anyway, bustling with people and cars. We bought a King Charles bobble head (cuz hilarious!) at a souvenir shop. We stopped at the Prince Albert pub for drinks (Acresie, Ghanian security was really nice) then headed home.

London