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…
… 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.
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!
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.
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)
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!”
We strolled along this path:
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!!
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.
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!
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!)
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.
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.
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.
Here was my final vision of Paris… appropriate don’t you think?
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