Paris Blog and Lots of Tips for Visitors

May 18, 2019 — Day 9 (Saturday)

Saturday is yellow-vest demonstration day in Paris so we started the day checking to see where the manifestations were and which Metro lines would be affected. Research done, we took the #83 bus to the Zadkine Museum. It drops you right at the entrance gate although it's a little hard to spot. There is a small black gate between two large buildings and a tiny sign for Musée Zadkine so we walked right in. You walk through the gate, down a driveway and see the house/museum tucked into a courtyard. It is free and very friendly. We walked through the house and since the promised rain hadn’t started, we went through the garden and his atelier. There had been a large couple pulling suitcases in the house before so we returned after they left to get a better look at some of the sculptures and a kindly museum worker offered to take our picture. Fun! [Musée Zadkine, 100 bis, rue d'Assas, 75006 Paris; tel: +33 (0)1 5542-7720] Click here for the Zadkine Museum web site

Garden of the Zadkine Museum - Paris

We left the Zadkine and walked through the Luxembourg Gardens toward St. Sulpice where I got photos of the Fountain of the Orators on the square. Continued on to Café Bergamote on rue Montfaucon near Hôtel Clément. The chef from our favorite and now-closed restaurant Bastide d’Opio is there so we decided to try it. Food was good; service was painfully slow and ambience nonexistent. Too bad but at least the food was good. I had Peg’s beef brochettes and Ed got magret de canard. The other customers all seemed to be Oriental and had a guide of sorts helping them. Interesting experience . . . We weren't sure if they were a tour group or not but the very pleasant Oriental young man seemed to be helping all of them even though they weren't sitting near each other. Perhaps he was just a very helpful young man.

We walked to the Cluny Museum to discover a new entrance in a very modern addition. We paid and entered and climbed the stairs to the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. They are gorgeous and we love them. We wound our way through an exhibit on the senses and symbolism relating to the tapestries, climbed down to the Roman Baths and enjoyed a special one-month exhibit of Kings of Judah sculptures from Notre Dame de Paris. Then we looked for the rest of the museum and couldn’t find it. We finally asked at the ticket desk and learned the old museum is closed for renovations until at least 2021. Sad . . . [Musée du Moyen Age - Cluny, 28 rue Du Sommerard 75005; Tél : +33 (0)1 5373-7800]
Click here for the Cluny Museum web site

Then we tried to get home. The buses were running short routes that didn’t work for us. This was caused by demonstrations. We waited for a while, finally gave up and took the Metro that was very crowded. Got off at Censier-Daubenton, shopped at Androuet for cheese and Saines, our boulangerie, for bread and a couple Religieuse pastries for dessert. Relaxed until church at St. Medard. We had a very good organ to go with the pretty bad cantor. A few sprinkles of rain accompanied us home and after supper we had a real thunderstorm. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

May 19, 2019 — Day 10 (Sunday)

Rainy Sunday and we went to church last night so we slept ‘til 7:15, checked email, ate breakfast, upped umbrellas and walked up rue Mouffetard looking for a carved tree on a building mentioned in an article we had seen. We found and photographed the tree, a rather odd looking thing and started looking for fondue although it was quite early. The Saveurs de Savoie that we love wasn’t open and had no hours posted so we walked on and found another fondue place, but it was playing loud rock music and we couldn't bring ourselves to enter. We walked on to Place Contrascarpe that was empty due to the rain. I'm not sure we've ever seen the popular square empty before. We decided to check Verse Toujours, another restaurant we enjoy, but it was early so on the way we stopped at Le Comptoir des Arts for hot chocolate . . . delicious!

Fortified with hot chocolate, we walked down to Verse Toujours but Ed didn’t care for the menu so decided the second fondue restaurant, even with bad music, would be better. Upped umbrellas and started the hike up rue Mouffetard again. It's becoming quite familiar . . . As we started to pass Saveurs de Savoie, we noticed it was now open and it had pleasant music. Voila! We entered and ordered the three-cheese fondue we had been looking for along with a Savoie wine. It was wonderful but there was so much we couldn’t begin to finish it. No dessert . . . stuffed! [Saveurs de Savoie at 83 Rue Mouffetard, 75005 Paris; tel: +33 (0)1 4587-9029]

We programmed my phone to walk to the Jardin des Plantes where we got tickets to the Grande Galerie de l’Evolution and entered along with half the families of Paris. We walked through the sea exhibits on the ground floor then went up to the long parade of animals. Next took the elevator to the top floor to work our way down. It was fun and interesting but most of the information was in French so much went over our heads. We covered it all and as we departed noted a huge line at the door . . . the other half of Paris waiting to get in. Click here for the Grande Galerie de l'Evolution web site

Fairly short walk home and I think we’re in for the night. Still stuffed from lunch . . . the portions were huge.

May 20, 2019 — Day 11 (Monday)

Strange day. We decided to take a walk and visit the Louvre after lunch. We left the house in light rain and took the Metro to Pont Neuf where we got out and walked over to Square du Vert-Galant and climbed down. We walked through the pretty little square jutting out into the Seine. Took lots of pictures and climbed back up to street level and crossed to the triangular Place Dauphine. We walked around it taking pictures, stopping briefly to watch a bookbinder at work. Place Dauphine is a favorite place in Paris. It's one of the quiet corners of the city.

We had decided to lunch at Café de l’Empire so started in that direction. We crossed Pont Neuf and walked past the Monnaie de Paris and the Institut de France, the French language police. Stopped by the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts to take pictures of statues in the courtyard. Continued along Quai Voltaire noting the Sennelier store was closed on Monday. Probably fortunate as I couldn’t spend money . . . At rue du Bac we turned toward Café de l’Empire. We were too early for lunch so walked up rue de Verneuil to see if Le Bonne Excuse was still open. Thankfully it is open so we’re planning our 55th anniversary lunch there. When we got back to l’Empire, we saw a few men walk in early so we joined them and got a great table by a window. We both got confit de canard for lunch and nougat ice cream with chocolate sauce for dessert. As usual, it was delicious. The place was packed with a line outside but the two waiters handled it cheerfully.

After lunch we walked back to the Lion’s Gate at the Louvre where we usually walk right in. It was closed and padlocked so we went around to the Carrousel du Louvre entrance. We walked down and signs directed us to the northern entrance so we walked up but when we asked about entering the Louvre, they sent us back to where we had come in so we walked back. When Ed asked about entering the museum, the woman guard tersely told us we needed tickets. Nice, but no one seemed to be selling them. She told us we needed to go “up those stairs,” pointing to a nearby stairway so we climbed up . . . and found ourselves back outside. Crazy! We walked across to the Pyramid where they had a tent set up for people with tickets and a very long line for those of us who needed tickets. Catch 22 . . . we left. Seen it before! [We later learned that the Louvre staff staged a walk-out and they closed the museum for the day. Attendance at the Louvre has gone up 30% but they have cut staff and they were overwhelmed and frustrated and finally just walked out. Looking at the crowds, we understood.]

We walked back to the Tuileries down to the second pond and claimed a couple chairs to figure out what to do next. Decided we’d stop at a café for tea and check to see if Invalides was open on Monday. We crossed the Pont de la Concorde climbing around a lot of construction. We arrived in front of the Assemblée Nationale to a huge, very noisy traffic jam. Ed commented, “Look at all the taxis” as we crossed over to blvd. Saint-Germain heading for a café. At that point I realized it was probably a manifestation (demonstration). There was a line of taxis two or three abreast clear down blvd. Saint-Germain, all at a complete stop with horns honking and people yelling and police all over the place. We quickly decided a café on a side street would be a good idea so kept straight on rue Aristide Briand to Café Le Bourbon and claimed a table. A kir seemed a better idea than tea at this point so we ordered two that came with a small bowl of olives. I pulled out my phone to check news as we watched all the police outside our blocked-off street. It seems Paris taxi drivers were protesting Uber and had blocked traffic all over town including the Peripherique where they were burning tires and it was getting violent near the airports. The kirs tasted better all the time . . . [Brasserie Le Bourbon, 1 place du Palais Bourbon; tel: +33 (0)1 4551-5827; email: [email protected]; https://www.brasserie-bourbon.fr/]

It was pretty obvious we weren’t going to take a bus home so I dug out my Metro map and figured out how to get home on the Metro. We paid and left heading back through the striking taxis to get to our Metro station. No one bothered us and we zipped underground to leave the furor behind. We had two train changes but they were fast and not crowded so we were home in a half hour.

When we went to the grocery, rue Broca was partially closed by police at the Sorbonne Residence. By the time we returned, police were gone and all was quiet. Hope it stays that way! What an exciting day.

May 21, 2019 — Day 12 (Tuesday)

The day started bright and sunny so we foolishly decided to leave our umbrellas at home. We walked to our Metro stop and took the Metro to Hôtel de Ville for the start of one of Ed’s Paris Walks (#10). We exited the Metro and got our bearings and soon arrived at St. Gervais Church (Église Saint-Gervais and Saint-Protais). The sun was shining through the wonderful stained glass windows in the soaring church. There are very old windows but there are also five marvelous modern stained glass windows by Sylvie Gaudin (and Claude Courageux). There is a stunning oak crucifix by Antoine-Augustin Préault along with a beautiful old clock, sculptures and several paintings. It is a beautiful church on a small peaceful square.

We stopped at the religious book store on rue des Barres looking for a book about the stained glass but had no luck. Wandered around the corner and up rue du Pont Louis-Phillippe and turned right onto Rue François Miron to discover two marvelous medieval half-timbered houses. We continued through the Marais and found some quaint little shops including spices from the Middle East and Aux Merveilleuse, a patisserie, where two young ladies were having a grand time finishing the little cakes in the window. We started passing cafés and checking menus and finally decided to lunch on the Isle Saint-Louis so we walked over and started checking menus. We ended up at La Brasserie de l’Isle Saint-Louis with a very nice older waiter who reminded us of Tony, one of our ushers at church. Ed got Coq au Riesling and I got the daily special of Osso Buco, both good. However, the Berthillon’s ice cream was the star of the meal. Our delightful waiter gave Ed a chocolate with my coffee . . .

Walked to my favorite scarf store, Diwali’s, and didn’t find anything I particularly liked. Their prices have easily doubled which didn’t help. It was sprinkling when we left and soon turned to a very hard rain. We waited under a construction overhead until I ran down to a tabac and bought an umbrella. That effectively stopped the rain! What power . . .

We walked on to the Hôtel de Sens/Bibliotheque Forney for the exposition, “A Life in Colors, from Matisse to Prévert” of book illustrations by Jacqueline Duhême. They were children’s books and thoroughly charming. We left in search of the ancient Paris city wall and had no trouble finding it since it was surrounded by tour groups. Continued to Place du Marché Sainte-Catherine that was very quiet on a rainy day. Stopped at Église Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis on our way to the Metro station and finally hopped the Metro home stopping for bread on the way. Good day.

May 22, 2019 — Day 13 (Wednesday)

Woke to sun again and it stayed that way. We took the Metro to Alma-Morceau and following one of Ed’s “Paris Walks” cards, walked along ave. du President Wilson until we got to the street market at rue des Frères Périer where we crossed and walked through the market which was really fun. I got lots of pictures! We checked the Palais Galliéra but it was closed for renovation. We passed the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (free), the Palais de Tokyo, the previously mentioned Palais Galliéra and continued down ave. Wilson to Musée Guinet but it didn’t look very appealing so we moved on to Place du Trocadéro to look for lunch. After we checked the menus, we chose Le Malakof. We had the 19 euro menu with crudité, roast chicken and dessert. I had ice cream and Ed got a crème caramel. Nice restaurant; nice lunch.[i] [Le Malakof Restaurant, 6 Place du Trocadéro and also at du 11 Novembre, tel: +33 (0)1 4553-7527; Click here for Le Malakof Restaurant
Click here for the Palais Galliéra web site
Click here for the Museum of Modern Art web site
Click here for the Musée Guimet web site

After lunch we crossed over to the Palais de Chaillot to take Eiffel Tower pictures, then through the gardens, past the Aquarium of Paris and down to Pont d’Iéna. We walked across the bridge dodging scammers and fellow tourists. They have built a glass wall around the Eiffel Tower and are directing everyone through the “East Entrance” that we did not bother looking for since we wanted to visit the new Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac.

We found the Branly with no trouble, passed security and bought combo tickets for their collection and the Oceania Special Exhibit. The permanent collection is presented as a circuit in a continuous manner on either side of a central aisle conceived to resemble a river. Going up a very long ramp from ticket check, there was a wonderful projected installation of a moving river of words, "The River" by Charles Sandison created for the museum in 2010 that contains 16,597 names of all the peoples and geographical places present in the museum's collections to accompany the flow of visitors. The entire museum is arranged to resemble a river so this gets you started on the river theme and you then follow the river upstream through the various exhibits. We walked and walked and walked and went back down the river of words to the Oceania Special Exhibit in which the outstanding work was a highly carved bright red Steinway concert grand piano. Some things just speak to you! Click here for the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac web site

Exhausted, we exited and walked back to Alma-Marceau Metro for the long ride home. Ed had mercy on me and did supper shopping while I transferred photos to my computer. The ladies at Saines Patisserie had our demi-blondie bagged and ready for him and asked where I was. I think we’ve officially moved into the neighborhood.