Thursday 1st October
Our two days in Paris all seems a bit of a blur as I write this on the plane heading back to Spain.
Here's some highlights:
The accommodation:
Jude had booked a tiny apartment on Airbnb ages ago, but was contacted by the owner and offered a larger apartment at the same price. The original one required some maintenance and wasn't available.
When we arrived we discovered a large apartment in a huge semicircular block in the 7th arrondisement within walking distance of the Eiffel tower and opposite the golden-domed Eglise where Napoleon is buried. A very nice surprise! Lovely decor, a silver candelabra and a washing machine - what else could we need?
The food:
The food ranged from a DIY picnic in the sunshine at the Tuileries Gardens to dinner in some of the sidewalk cafes and brasserie. We had a riotous night with Michael C. and his mate Mike in a very noisy brasserie. I had an omelet with foie gras: delicious!
The weirdest food choice award was one by Liz who ordered a raclette of ham based on a vague memory of having one on a previous trip. The waiter arrived with a one person cooker complete with flame to heat a metal plate. A plate of thick cheese slices, ham and - to Liz's great joy! - 3 large cooked potatoes accompanied the cooker. We were all rather mystified, and unfortunately couldn't see any other diners using the same contraption. So Liz piled all of it on the hotplate and cooked it and ate it with relish!
Not surprisingly, my pick for the best 'food' was a hot chocolate made with North African chocolate at a cafe near the Musee de Luxembourg called Angelinas. It has quite a reputation for these fabulous 'signature' hot chocolates and I wasn't disappointed. When my order arrived it consisted of a cup and saucer, a pot of cream (!) and a JUG of thick dark smooth hot chocolate! Heaven! It made about three cups of creamy chocolate and I loved every mouthful. I was astonished to see how many of the diners had both hot chocolate and one of the many exotic sumptuous cakes on offer. I have a sweet tooth but even I couldn't have managed that!
The sights:
Between the five of us we did a great job of seeing as much as possible, once we had sorted out the Metro map and various GPS devices. We walked so far that Liz's feet, my leg and Ewan's knees were complaining, but it was worth it!
The Eiffel Tower:
On our first night we had dinner with Merry and Bruno, who mentioned that there was a five minute light show at the Eiffel tower at 9pm. We were only a short walk away and managed to see the sparkling lights in action on this amazing structure. Ewan and I decided to go to the summit as the queues were short. After passing security we entered the first lift to the viewing deck, and watched as the ground fell away and we moved quickly up into the criss cross metal structure that is the Eiffel Tower. Our stomachs lurched and we were right up against the windows so I have to say that was scary enough!
We spent some time trying to get our bearings on the viewing platform which encircles the Tower. The Paris lights and views were dazzling, and at 10 pm the light show made the structure around us light up and sparkle.
We were asked by a couple of honeymooners to take their photo, which was cute.
As the queue to the summit was very long, and Ewan was without a jacket we decide not to go any further. That's our excuse for not going to the top but actually it looked terrifying!!
Musee d'Orsay:
All of us were keen to visit this wonderful Museum and, apart from Liz, we all thought it was great. Art appraisal is very subjective so each to their own I say.
Because it is so popular we decided to visit the day before and see if we could get tickets or a tour, as the online system wasn't helpful.
There is a lesson to be learned from the process that occurred to obtain our tickets and it is this: Be nice to people doing boring jobs and you will get your reward!!
How did I come to that conclusion I hear you say?
Well. ..... there were several hundred people waiting in the queue to buy tickets and get in. Not a good start!
As Jude and I approached one of the'gate keepers' manning the queue for those who had pre-paid tickets, we heard him trying to explain to a group of Asian tourists that they still had to join a short queue - he seemed exasperated and repeated the same message with no response from them. I just turned to them and said "You have to queue! " and pointed in the right direction. He rolled his eyes and Jude commiserated with him about the difficulties of his job. So when we asked about getting tickets for the next day in the hope we wouldn't have to queue for hours, he very quietly, under his breath, said " You can buy them at the newspaper kiosk" which was definitely not the official response! We followed his advice and three minutes later had purchased the tickets at the same price as they were at the actual Musee. Our bit of empathy had resulted in us gaining a couple of hours of time so we were impressed. Thus the moral of the story!
Anyway this is my favorite Museum as it has lots of the impressionists work and many famous paintings from a range of painters. The sculptures are also beautifully displayed. I have enclosed my photos of some of the most famous paintings so you can keep those brain cells synapsing by trying to remember who painted them. And there's a few others that I liked as well.
The Musee is in a huge old railway station building so we enjoyed having coffee behind one of the old clocks.
For me the highlight of the visit is a beautifully sculpted polar bear by Francois Pompon. When we were in Saleuil near Beaune we had seen a similar bear sculpted by him, as it was his birthplace. But this one had been moved since my last visit and time was running out, but then I just managed to find it.....so all was not lost!
The other highlight is the sculpture of a young dancer by Degas, and also his ballerina paintings. But we all enjoyed different aspects of the works, except Liz who had moved on in her tastes, and so she went off to get a picnic lunch for us.
The temporary exhibition was about The Art of Prostitution: I can hear my mother groaning from here! It was far too long we all agreed, but quite fascinating too, particularly as so many famous artists have at some time painted prostitutes in their work eg. Henri Toulouse Lautrec. The were some rooms where young people under the age of 18 weren't allowed in. I went into one and there were some very old photos and film footage of explicit sex scenes: although some people were fascinated I didn't linger!
We spent quite a few hours in the D'Orsay and I loved it! Definitely my recommendation when next you visit Paris.
There's a lot to say about Paris, so I am at risk of writing the world's longest blog. Instead I am going to finish there and provide some further episodes later!
your Parisienne correspondent
Dianne
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