Continued from Part I written in April 2017
I have to make a confession of something very sad (don't worry, it's a technology thing). I have an app called Life360 on my phone. When I got back from Paris, I noticed that it had kept track of my entire journey in Paris - EXACTLY where I had walked or ridden all day long every day. It was AMAZING!! I could look back at each day and write the journal, remembering the stops we made and the sights we had seen. I developed a dependancy on it to look lovingly at that map and see the streets I had walked or the metro stops I had seen.
Well... what I didn't know was that Life360 only keeps data for 30 days... BOO HOO!! Had I known that, I would have taken screen shots of every day for my journal!! OH WELL - at least my pictures have information on location, date and time. But I truly liked seeing the streets as well. So - R.I.P. lovely maps of Paris with the dotted lines of my journeys. And on on using my shaky memory to write Part Deux.
After our lovely LONG walk above the streets of Paris on the Coulée verte René-Dumont we headed back to the apartment to get ready for our lovely dinner date at Le Train Bleu. We stopped at a store that looked like the Paris version of Ikea and bought a red geranium and an ivy plant to re-pot a lovely window planter that was at the apartment and had not made it through the winter. I love all the plants and flowers in the windows everywhere! I noticed that the plant under the spider plant on the left was doing REALLY well...
We knew the Train Bleu was located in the Gare de Lyon (a train station), but what we did not realize was that it was actually IN a train station - as in, you go in as if you are going to take a train - and this beautiful restaurant is right there inside. It was very fancy - the food was very good, the service was very good and we both had a very good glass of wine. It was expensive, but we thought it was a beautiful dinner.
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| Le Gare Lyon panoramic view of all the trains parked in the station from the entrance of Le Train Bleu. |
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| Above my head at our table! |
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| Chris thinking "I have no idea what any of this says. I hope I'm not ordering Frog Legs!" |
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| On the ceiling were murals painted of all the places you vacation by train! |
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| This tiny little cup of coffee (capucino) was the cause of NO sleep. We ordered "decaf" but I don't think they heard or understood. It was deadly and I thought I was never going to sleep again. |
Here is what I read about Le Train Bleu in Bonjour Paris:
"In 1900, Paris mounted an International Exposition, a “World’s Fair” for which several magnificent structures were built, structures that continue to delight with their exuberant, even over-the-top, turn-of-the-20th-century optimism and panache: the Grand and Petit Palais; the exquisitely beautiful Pont Alexandre III; and the Gare de Lyon.
The entrance to Le Train Bleu is inside the station, at the top of steps leading up and away from the hustle-bustle of the main quais. To enter this restaurant is to step back in time and into another world: the extravagant décor is breathtaking, the welcome respectful and dignified. Entering here you feel a natural inclination to speak in hushed tones, as if you were entering a sacred space. And yet the restaurant is filled with lively conversation, enjoyed at the lower decibel level the French are famous for.
The fact that this restaurant was nearly closed in the early 1970s adds to the sense of privileged good fortune in being there. The story, as told by American food critic M.F.K. Fisher, is that she was informed, in hushed and mournful tones by the devoted and aggrieved waiters who served her one day, that the restaurant’s survival was threatened; she in turn passed the word along to her friend, New Yorker correspondent Janet Flanner, who spoke about it to the French Minister of Culture André Malraux, who saw to it that the place was designated as a national historic monument, securing its preservation. So it is that the restaurant survived and is still there to be enjoyed in all its belle époque glory.
And glorious it is! Imagine being able to enjoy a meal in a space as elaborately decorated as the palace of Versailles, with its abundance of gilt decoration and painted ceilings. Imagine enjoying a classic three-course French meal while looking out on Paris as the sun sets, massive windows open to the evening breeze, heavy red velvet curtains pulled back to reveal the view."
After our dinner at Le Train Bleu we had a nice walk home. We had beautiful weather the entire time in Paris. Warm spring days and cool nights. I had a light rain coat that I wore sometimes that I didn't need for rain, fortunately! There were still lots of people out and about.
Monday, March 27th, 2017
The Louvre, 2nd visit - and the walk to photograph the Eiffel Tower
I went out for a morning walk and went to the Boulangerie Bo, recommended by Michel, our AirBnB host. The boulangerie right outside the door of our apartment was ONLY to buy our baguettes, he told us. We were to get our pastry from THIS bakery, a block down the street.
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| BUY BAGUETTES HERE, not pastry. |
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| BUY PASTRIES HERE (not baguettes) |
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| Boulangerie Bo for pastry. |
They did not disappoint, and we had our coffee and pastry upon my return. NOT Gluten Free in any way, shape or form, by the way.
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| We made coffee and had our croissant with it! |
Inside the Louvre. We wandered and wandered. We listened to an audio tour on our phone (Rick Steve's free audio tour of the Louvre, very interesting and helped us get acclimated. I took pictures of some of the artwork, I loved seeing everything! We saw enough naked men statues to last a lifetime. Or longer. We took in as much as we could and then left to start our walk from the museum all the way to the Eiffel Tower.
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| The beginning of the walk from the Louvre. |
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| We started at the museum - Pyramid entrance, through the gardens then crossed the bridge at the Pont de la Concorde, |
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| walked along the Seine River past the beautiful bridges and then crossed the bridge at Pont d'Lena |
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| The upper star is the place from which Chris wanted to take his pictures of the Eiffel Tower. |
Tuesday, March 28th
visiting Cimetière du Père Lachaise (Père Lachaise Cemetery) and dinner in the Marais.
Chris and I took the bus to the cemetery. When we got there, I had to use the restroom so we went into a McDonald's! It was much more technologically advanced than any we had ever seen! While I went down into a cellar to find the restroom, Chris tried to order something on this electronic board.
I love a beautiful above ground cemetery. There is something about the aging stone and the creeping plants that makes for a beautiful visit. Père Lachaise has so many famous residents that I felt I had to go. The people I was most interested in seeing before I got there were Jim Morrison (pop curiosity), Oscar Wilde Balzak and Molière (just because I know those names) but there were many many more interesting people buried there and many beautiful tombs.
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| James Douglas Morrison 1948 - 1971 |
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| One of my favorites - an artist I suspect! |
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| Jim Morrison - crowded in amongst others and now protected by a moveable railing. |
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| Oscar Wilde's had to be put in plexiglass because too many women were leaving their lipstick on the stone. They can still throw flowers inside. |
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| This guy gets an amazing amount of visitors. He is a philosopher whose name escapes me. |
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| Another favorite of a dancer! |
There were so many beautiful statues and tributes.
A walk in the Père Lachaise cemetery with ParisByM
After we spent a couple hours browsing the streets inside Pere Lechaise, we decided to split up for a couple hours and meet for dinner. Chris wanted to photograph the Arc de Triomphe and I wanted to go back to Le Marais since this was the last free day we had in Paris. We already had the plan to go to museums on our last day. After making sure Chris had the proper directions to get to the Arc de Triomphe and then back to Le Marais, we split up.
I walked and walked, looking in shops and down alleys all over Le Marais. Chris headed back to me for dinner and we ate at what became one of our favorite restaurants and meals, MIZNON at 22 rue des Ecouffes. We got literally a "window seat" - our little table was right in the open window. Space was at a premium, look at the size of our table! But the food was so good. It was Israeli. The restaurant had been recommended by our flight attendant, Adam, as one of the not-to-miss restaurants in Paris. I agree. You order at a counter and then sit down if you can, and they bring delicious food to your table. They were famous for their Pita full of Boeuf Bourguignon but I got one full of fish and Chris got chicken. We share their string beans which were sauteed in butter and za'atar. YUM!!
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| Vegetables in pita and green beans with Za'atar |
Wednesday, March 29th, 2017
Two last museums - getting our fill of the Impressionists! We devoted the day to Musee d'Orsay and L'Orangerie. We loved both of these museums. The Orsay was my very favorite - so full of things I never thought I'd see with my own eyes. And that you could get very close to the paintings to see the brush strokes was wonderful! My favorite things to see were all the paintings that the artists painted of each other! We listened to the "Rick Steves audio tour" which was really helpful.
Last dinner out - in a Place de la Bastille neighborhood restaurant, recommended by Michel, our Air Bnb host. La Table D'Aligre, orT'A(tuh ah) to the locals. It was right at the marketplace at Place D'Aligre and was very crowded with what seemed to be neighborhood professionals coming from work. The host/waiter (one - for the whole little restaurant) looked at us like we were crazy to try to get in to his restaurant. But we fooled him! We had made a reservation! He was very relieved and showed us to our waiting table. In Paris, it is not at all smart to try to go out to eat without a reservation. He was very busy, so when Chris tried to "chat" with him, he looked a little perturbed. I had to laugh, because this is probably what American's refer to as "rude" but he was very efficient and took our orders (we had to guess a little because this was the most truly french restaurant we ate in, and the menu was completely in french and so was the waiter). It was a seafood restaurant so we had fish and scallops and it was SO good! We each had a glass of red wine, also very good. It was a lovely way to end our trip (thanks to Mom and Dad, Anne and Ray, again!)
We loved staying in the Bastille, it was such a central location and lovely to walk from and to.
Thursday, March 30th - Au revoir, Paris!
We had to get up very early and were out the door to a 7:30 a.m. taxi that Michel, our AirBnB host arranged for us. He was so accommodating and communicated with us throughout the trip. He offered to arrange a taxi and we were only too happy to take advantage of his offer since it was for an early departure.
The taxi was waiting just outside on the street and we packed up our bags, blew kisses to the wonderful apartment and headed off down the street. We asked the taxi driver to stop at the bakery so that we could buy pastry to bring the kids, which he was happy to, but the bakery had just opened and they had not unloaded the trays yet and there was a man ahead of me who was VERY indecisive. He kept repeating (in french) I'll have..... I'll have..... I'll have - and I was watching the taxi driver watching me so after about the third "I'll have..." I just went back to the taxi empty handed and broken hearted. Oh well - we'd just have to describe them to the kids. Our flight was on time and we enjoyed sitting in the Delta Lounge for a few minutes before boarding.
We will miss Paris - it was truly a lovely city. We felt like everyone we meet was very friendly!
