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30 April 2014

Paris 2014 (Version 2) - Day 6

I am unsatisfied with my Field Reports. Years from now, when I look back and want to recall my adventures, they will not do the job… so here I go again using maps, our pictures (including the ones I posted on Facebook), and my memories before they fade!

Today was the last day and the rainiest, but it was the kind of day where it always seemed like it was about to rain, and when it finally did the sky was so bright you thought it would stop any minute. It was not the kind of rain that slowed us down at all.

Rain = Museums and I had 2 on my list that I wanted to see. A temporary exposition at the Petit Palais called “Paris 1900” and then the Paris History Museum (Musée Carnavalet).

We planned to walk to the Petit Palais since the rain was so light. We had a nice walk passed the National Archives, Hôtel de Ville and Théâtre de la Ville…

Map

Archives Nationales 2

Hôtel de Ville 5

Théâtre de la Ville 1

… but time got away from us, so we eventually just jumped in the metro. The exposition opened at 10 but based on the line-up we noticed on previous days we aimed to arrive early! We go there little after 9:30.

Map 2

Paris 1900 picstitch

The exposition was nice, but I would have like more photographs. It took us about an hour (we skipped some sections) and then it was time for a coffee (and something a little stronger) to shake off the Museum Fatigue!

Map 3

Le Grand Palais picstitch

We tried to think of a nice place to have our last lunch. I wanted something like we had on Wednesday at Terminus Nord (but I have a no restaurant repeat rule therefore we could not go there), so we headed out to Montparnasse. There is a kind of “Brasserie Row” there with a few biggies side by side.  The plan was to check them all out and pick a winner. I knew I wanted foie gras de canard as a starter again and my husband wanted calf liver.

Although there was no calf liver on the menu, we picked La Rotonde.

Map 4

Day 6. 4. Lunch on Friday - La Rotonde 1

Great meal – really nice… although not as fantastic as Terminus Nord! That would have been hard to beat.

We were seated in the interior terrace section as opposed to the “proper inside restaurant”. Nice, but I was not impressed with the paper table liners! Once we placed our order however, they quickly changed our table setting – crisp table cloth included. I guess we ordered enough food to qualify for a “nice” table? We were the only ones in that section.

I got my foie gras and it was the prettiest one so far, but Chartier’s was still the most delicious. I didn’t like the layer of duck fat along the bottom – even if it was pretty!

For my main I had steak. I asked for it well done because in my experience steaks usually arrived a little undercooked. In this case (as I should have known) they gave me exactly what I asked for, so it was a little TOO cooked!

Desert was the best! cheese! ever! It kicked my ass it was so generous and delicious… believe me I ate every last morsel! (It was Saint Marcellin, I have to check if I can get it at the grocery store)

La Rotonde Picstitch

My husband had oysters to start and in a happy surprise: calf liver for his main course! It was not on the menu, but was the daily special!

We left around 2ish and the idea was to hit the 2nd museum on our list: The Paris History Museum (Musée Carnavalet) but it was not raining anymore so I was less eager to spend time indoors.

We took the metro back from Vavin (right next to the Restaurant) back up to Châtelet and continued with our wander of that area.  I liked the look of the Vavin metro station, it reminded me of London! “Mind the Gap!”

Boulevard du Montparnasse - Metro Vavin

Metro 5

Map 5

We strolled along this path:

Map 6

Taking in the Pont Neuf, Conciergerie, Pont au Change, Boulevard du Palais, Pont Notre Dame, Pont d'Arcole, Quai des Gesvres, Hôtel de Ville, Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris, Église St-Gervais-et-St-Protais, Mairie du 4e Arrondissement, Rue Saint-Antoine and finally the Église Saint-Paul Saint-Louis… there was a lot to see along that path!!

Conciergerie 1

Boulevard du Palais

Quai des Gesvres

Hôtel de Ville 6

Rue Saint-Antoine

Église Saint-Paul Saint-Louis 4

By then it was about 3:30 and we said if we don’t make it to our goal soon (Paris History Museum) we’d miss it.

Map 7

Honestly in hindsight, we could have skipped it. It was not that bad but it felt like an extension of what we had already seen at the exposition that morning – therefore redundant – and I felt it was badly organized.  Many things were unlabelled, there was no clear path to follow, the leaflet was no help… we stayed less than an hour and didn’t take any pictures. Thankfully it was free.

I did however enjoy the section covering old signs, that was really neat! We should have taken pictures of some of those.

Being so close to Place des Voges, we decided to stop there for a drink – taking advantage of what looked the last chance we’d have to sit outside before the sky opened up!

Place des Voges Picstitch

La Place Royale picstitch

Here I discovered a new favourite drink: Peach Kir. I never knew there was any other way to have it than with Crème de Cassis…  I love discovering new things; Crème de Pêches is awesome!  (17.90€ for a 700ml bottle at duty free!)

Creme de Peches

Lucky for us, it only rained for about 10 minutes so we were able to walk around town some more before meeting up with Lou in front of Notre Dame to have a our Farewell Dinner.

While wandering, we stumbled upon the Orient Express in front of the Institut du Monde Arabe (which incidentally: is a gorgeous building!) So cool! unfortunately, the line up was crazy-long and it did not strike me as a good deal: over 10€ to walk through 3 cars?? Forget it.

Map 8

Orient Express 4

Orient Express 2

Orient Express 5

Supper was a casual affair, in fact I had to force myself to eat because I was still full from lunch!  We went to the Départ St Michel, pretty touristy… but good.

Map 9

Depart St Michel Picstich

And so that was it! After dinner, a final walk to say good bye to Paris, then back to the room to pack our bags. It was a FANTASTIFABULOUS week.

Map 10

Here was my final vision of Paris… appropriate don’t you think?

Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris 23

29 April 2014

Paris 2014 (Version 2) - Day 5

I am unsatisfied with my Field Reports. Years from now, when I look back and want to recall my adventures, they will not do the job… so here I go again using maps, our pictures (including the ones I posted on Facebook), and my memories before they fade!

Today we left town again to go to Saint Denis (north of the city) and visit the Basilique Saint-Denis where the Kings of France were buried for 800 years… until the Revolution when their remains were pilfered!  This Basilica has such a rich history I was looking forward to visiting it!

Map

Sadly (predictably) the entire façade was obscured due to renovations.

Basilique Saint-Denis 12

Still, side was nice!

Basilique Saint-Denis 11

And so was in the inside…

Basilique Saint-Denis 7

Basilique Saint-Denis 2

The town of Saint Denis seemed poor and run down… but you can’t really judge a place based on what you’ve seen in an hour (Basilica, Town Hall, Main Street, Train Station).  We got back to Paris around 11:45 and I forget now if we had a specific plan but I am sure it generally included scouting a place to have lunch!

We walked through Place des Victoires, meandered around the neighbourhood near the Palais Brongniart (La Bourse) and we also revisited the Galerie Vivienne that we first saw in 2012. It looked a lot nicer this time; I think I was just in a better mood!  I then had a lucky flash memory of where to go for lunch: Restaurant Bouillon Chartier!

Map 2

2 people have recommended this restaurant to me, and I have to say I left with mixed reviews. I wrote on my Facebook page: Great starter, awful main course (had about 5 bites) great atmosphere, awful table, great prices, awful waiter.

Chartier Picstitch

I started with foie gras de canard again and it was too. die. for. !!!  Best foie gras of the trip hands down. My main was fish in mushroom sauce… not good. My husband had a grilled dorade royale and it still raving about how delicious it was. Mine was terrible. The cheese for dessert was bland. No garnish, just a slab on a plate.

The restaurant itself was very nice, but we were seated under the stairs in a dark corner behind a pillar. I had to get up from the table to go take a picture of the place! we were so “hidden” from the action that I almost feel like we were not there. I also didn’t like that your order was scrolled down on your paper table liner and to top it all off our waiter was an ass. Overall it lacked class BUT – it was cheap.  (relatively)

We were done by about 1:15 and then just wandering around town some more. Strolling aimlessly through the streets, back along the the Jardin des Tuileries again and ending up at Buddha Bar 2 hours later for a drink.

Map 4

End of Avenue de l'Opéra 3

Rue de Rivoli 2

Jardin des Tuileries 5

Rue de Castiglione & Colonne Vendôme

Buddha Bar is (allegedly) one of those seen-and-be-seen places where super models and celebrities can be spotted… but not at 3:30 PM; I’m sure this is why they let us in. I am convinced we would not have passed muster had we attempted to pop in for a cocktail in the evening!

It was SO DARK I had to feel my way down the stairs – I had to search for a menu and no one came along to take our drink order. Eventually I just went looking for someone at the bar. 

Day 5. 10. Drinks on Thursday - Buddha Bar

Day 5. 16. Drinks on Thursday - Buddha Bar

Day 5. 17. Drinks on Thursday - Buddha Bar

Nice and rested after this pit stop, we set off on another huge aimless wander of the city (including if you remember from Day 3: proper pictures of the true Palais de l'Élysée!!) We walked along Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, passed the Arc de Triomphe, down to Place d’Alma and across the bridge. Strolled along the Seine passed the beautiful Pont Alexandre III, down the Esplanade des Invalides…

Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré

Palais de l'Élysée 5

Arc de Triomphe 2

Pont des Invalides 2 - Le Grand Palais

Pont des Invalides 3

Pont Alexandre III Picstitch

Esplanade des Invalides 1

… and eventually settled in for supper at La Source around 6:30 (Lou met up with us there about an hour later)

Map 5

Day 5. 19. Supper on Thursday - La Source - Simone

La Source Picstitch

I managed again to convince my husband to stay out a little later after dinner so we could take some night shots of the Colonne de Juillet and he agreed (because it was close to home!!)

Map 6

Colonne de Juillet 3 - Night

We called it a night just before 10PM.