Petit Palais with a secret entrance

Had a nice relaxed breakfast at Eric Kayser a block away. We had some thunder and lightning last night and a bit of rain this morning but the sun came out and it turned hot and humid again. Wish I had brought more tee shirts!

Walking to the Petit Palais we passed the Berges of the Seine that I had wanted to see. It was early on a Sunday so there were not many people about, a few joggers and exercisers, but that's all. We did see the famous Birthday Tipis that can be rented for children's parties. There was an exhibit of Frank Sinatra memorabilia and lots of peace and quiet. Later in the day there are bicycles, skateboarders, walkers, flaneurs and lots of folks simply sitting and enjoying the floating gardens. It's a huge improvement over the highway that used to be here.

We continued on through the Tuileries and Place de la Concorde where there was little enough traffic that it was easy to cross the street. We continued to the Petit Palais for a Carl Larsson exhibit. He is a much-loved Swedish painter and it's the last day of the exhibit. We loved all his watercolors. It was a real treat, but of course I couldn’t take any photos because it was a special exhibit. Sigh . . . We also saw much of the “Paris 1900" exhibit before we museumed out.

When we arrived, there was a very long line at the main entrance and we dutifully lined up with everyone else. For some reason a uniformed woman came down and asked us what we wanted to see and we told her the Carl Larsson exhibit so she pulled us out of line and took us to a small door beside the main staircase but at ground level. We immediately went through security and into the museum where we bought our tickets. I suppose if we’d said the other exhibit, we would have stood there forever. (We returned a few weeks later to look at the permanent collection and used the same little door because the line at front was even longer than before. It worked and when we left, all those people were still standing in line in the rain and under umbrellas.)

Walked back to blvd. St. Germain looking for fizzy water and found a pleasant café. I managed to drink two entire bottles of Perrier by myself. We walked back to the apartment where I took off shoes and sweaty socks and put on a new dry tee shirt.

We rested me before walking a block to our little neighborhood brasserie, Café l'Empire, for another great dinner. Ed got the confit de canard again and I tried the poulet roti which was fabulous. Their chef is incredible and the wait staff are so nice. This is a real find. For dessert Ed got a crème brulée and I got a melted chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream that was to die for. They could easily charge twice as much but we’re glad they don’t.

We wandered down blvd. St. Germain as far as Eglise St. Germain des Pres and started home up rue Jacob. We found a shortcut home and a really nice little grocery with roasted chickens and cornish hens. Another find! Great neighborhood. (post script: The “love locks” pulled down a side section of the Pont des Arts today at 5:50 PM. We didn’t hear about it until we got back home.)