Memories of Paris, part 2

To continue...

Day 5, Thursday - Today dawned as the coldest so far, I was thrilled to have my new scarf when I headed out for croissants that morning. We decided to bite the bullet and hit the museums. Fortunately the group was only terrible excited about the Musee d'Orsay and the l'Orangerie so off we went to find a way back to the Seine. We got lucky and caught a train without too long of a wait. We wandered back through the Louvre courtyard, funny how we keep ending up here, and then across the river. Though it was a cold day, the sun was shining and central Paris looked amazing, I could just stand on the bridge across the Seine for hours. However, if I had I would have been an icicle. CF and I dropped off the rest of the crew at the d'Orsay, he was tired of staring at art, and we headed off to check out a different museum. I know that sounds wrong but we were off to check out the outside of the new quai Branley museum. It is the new home of the Africa/Orient collection but I heard the architecture was pretty amazing. I have to agree, it has great gardens and some crazy reflections of my favorite tower. After two coffees at my favorite 7th arr. cafe we hoofed it back to meet the crew, on the way we were passed by 7 police crowd control vans. Hmm...wonder what they were doing. We then headed off to lunch at a cafe named for MW's favorite Art Deco artist. After a nice lunch, of course, we headed back to try the l'Orangerie again and were rewarded with a great experience. In this perfect setting, the paintings were really amazing. The rooms are oval with a large bench in the center to sit on and just contemplate the art. After our time with Monet, the others took off so they could head out to peripherique to catch a concert, without much help from public transportation. Mom and I headed back too and got very lucky catching a train that delivered us to the Place de Republic, which wasn't far from the apartment. Mom and I decided to stop for some cafe time, we had some of the newly released Beaujolais Nouveau and watched the world pass by. Side note about European fashion at the moment...skinny pants, tall, low heeled boots, long tunics, black or herringbone coat and the requisite scarf, for the women at least. After the cafe we walked back to the apartment. The others were still planning their route to the concert but we just relaxed until dinner time. Mom and I went to a nearby cafe, also recommended by the apartment owners, Chez Justine. It was another great, dark place with excellent food. Though the portions were so big, I wasn't about to finish mine, so I embarrassed myself by asking the waiter for a to go box. So shameful. Oh well, it provided us with part of dinner come Saturday night. Favorite experience of the day - having too many great options for dinner within walking distance.

Day 6, Friday - Today was the Z's last day in town so our big finale with them would be the Eiffel Tower at night. However, for the majority of the day we split up. I intended to start the day with the W's and then go my own way. Our first stop was the Google office with the ridiculous view of the Opera House. Of course we walked there and along the way we stopped at a beautiful cafe to use the bathroom, the odd part was...it was Starbuck's. It really was a neat place inside, why can't they do that here? We found the office after our short stop and had no trouble getting in, the receptionist's only concern was whether we were intending to have lunch or not. Just crazy. From there we back tracked through the Palais Royal, past the Louvre and onto l'isle St. Louis. We found a great, tiny place for lunch and just kicked back for an hour. I had a great smoked salmon pasta and split a caprese salad with MW. We then wandered done the street that runs the long way of the island. I have found some great little shops here in the past. We had success yet again, I found some purple earrings and MW found 2 scarves. After that we wandered down a bit further and found the Berthillon cafe. We split a couple of scoops of ice cream, but wished that we had each had a tub of the caramel au beurre salé glace. Once again salted butter caramel flavor wins hands down. I want to find it here. Any suggestions? After our short encounter with nirvana we turn toward the Latin Quarter for some random wandering. We wandered our way past the Pantheon and into the Luxemburg Gardens. Though the temperature was in the mid 40's there were many people sitting around the gardens enjoying the late fall sun. They had filled the huge stone vases with masses of autumn color flowers giving the garden a brightness that it would have lacked. We wandered through taking photos and then headed out on our way to the Eiffel Tower. We were fortunate enough to come across Pierre Herme again and since CF had promised us all the cafe and macaroons we could want, we headed in to replenish our supply. From there we were on a mission to be at the Eiffel Tower by 5pm. Even in the chilly weather the line of the elevators to the top was quite long so we prepared to wait. By the time we got to the first floor it was dark and the city looked beautiful, practically glittering in the frigid air. We spent about an hour on the tower, unfortunately most of the time was waiting in line for the elevators. However, I still believe that the ET at night is one of the greatest visual experiences I have had. From there we ventured out for dinner after determined that a Seine boat trip would have entailed more waiting around. So I lead my trusting crew back into the 7th arr. to try one of my reliable locations. The first, Chez Agnes, was booked but the second, La Bosquet, was a success. We had a delicious dinner, they make the best onion soup, besides my own, and creme brulee that I have found. We got lucky with the Metro again and got a ride baby to the Place de Republic and we home in no time. Now was the sad part of the evening, we had to say good by to the Z's. They were off early in the morning, headed for home. Favorite experience of the day - cliché but being on the tower when it sparkles for ten minutes.

Day 7, Saturday - Saturday dawned lazy, yet clear again. We all took our time getting ready, we didn't have much energy for a big breakfast following the departure of the Z's. First thing on the agenda was a ride to the airport, without the Metro, the taxi's were impossible get so we decided, like the Z's, to reserve a shuttle. Then on with our day. Mom and my plan for the day was to take the Metro to the Rue Cler area to wonder around and shop and the W's were planning to do as much as possible with their last day. Mom and I got down to the Metro and caught the first train without too much wait. We then proceeded to wait for the next train. As we waited for the next train some announcements were being made and from my understanding they were saying that our line was stopped completely. However, not everyone was leaving the station so I decided to wait for a bit. More people filed in but once they heard the repeated announcement they departed, so my translations were confirmed. So I had to revise our plans for the day and keep the walking to a minimum. Looking at the map I realized we were near the Canal de Midi, so we headed of in that direction. The canal was quite and warm in the sun so we walked almost the entire length and back. We found a great little place to enjoy our last, long lunch in Paris and then wandered our way home. We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon and then just had leftovers for dinner, then packed our luggage and cleaned up the apartment. We were done with our week's stay in Paris. Favorite experience of the day - duh, I was in Paris, what wasn't amazing.

Thanks for reading.