Thursday with Beeb

We have an easy morning and Kwan and Beeb get all dressed up for our fancy lunch at Les Ambassadeurs at the Crillion Hotel. It is absolutely fantastic, be it food, service, ambience. They even picked fresh leaves from the garden for our herbal teas!

Beeb goes out in the evening on her own and we take it easy and have a simple vegetable stir fry dinner.






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Mercredi au revoir Clare

This is Clare's last day.

We have coffee and croissants at Cafe de la Paix before exploring Galleries Lafayette. Last minute shopping for Clare and major excursion on Brittany's Parisian calendar. Success all round.

Philip reserves surprise lunch which means two Metros back to the left bank to Bouillon Racine, an establishment which is near to impossible to get into in the evenings but dejeuner is not so difficult.

Apres we travel out to La Défense. A must, to see another side of Paris - the business quarter.

Back home Clare does a quick pack and Philip escorts her to Opera from which she catches the CDG bus for her evening flight back to Oz.

Dinner at home.

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Mardi rive gauche

Clare spends the day with her friend Bridie.

Kwan, Beeb and Philip walk to St Germain and have hot chocolate at Café de Flore. Retail therapy until lunch at Le Comptoir. This is a very nice brasserie. No reservations.

Kwan and Beeb continue at Le Bon Marche and philip walks home.

In the evening we have Chinese dinner with Jacques, Annie, Vincent and Jane at Mirama.

Lundi marche de la Seine

We decide today to visit the Grand Palais - which everyone is telling us is stunning after its renovation. It's a nice 20 minute stroll down Esplanade des Invalides from our place on a sunny spring morning. The mandatory 30 minutes queue is in progress for security and to let those bright sparks who reserved in advance pull rank on us. It turns out we have been queuing for The Golden Age of Classical India - The Gupta Empire. The other one is the queue around the corner. So we stay. It's OK but we are really here to see the magnificent building. We see a staircase - no glass roof or the wonderful construction built for the 1900 Exposition. After the Indian antiquities we circumnavigate the building looking for the entrance to the magnificence. It must be closed, given today is a public holiday. Let's get set for lunch before it gets too crowded.

Across the Champs Elysees is the Pavilion Elysee Lenotre - surely we will not get in here on such a magnificent sunny public holiday in spring. - The gods are smiling on us - "no outside table Monsieur but a nice one inside", parfait. Apres dejeuner we walk through the gardens up to the Louvre and then along the Seine with the cyclists, roller bladers and other amblers to Ile St Louis and through both Iles before catching a Metro home.

A classic Parisian day in the parks and along the Seine.

Dinner at the local Italian joint.

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Brittany et Vivaldi

Clare heads out after our coffee and croissant at the local - this has become a ritual now - to explore the left bank.

Kwan and I head off to the Organic Market on Boulevard Raspail. Some good some very ordinary all more expensive because it's organic. We have an early lunch at Le Nemrod in rue du Cherche Midi, not far from Bon Marche. Food is nice and a happy experience.

I head off on train to CDG to pick up Brittany who is scheduled to arrive at 2.20pm - she's early, I'm late.

In the meantime Clare has spotted a Vivaldi, Four Seasons recital at St Jullien le Pauvre at 5pm. Kwan is sceptical and Beeb is humouring us. While no doubt targeted at tourists the musicians turn out to be excellent as is the venue and the whole experience. Kwan is also impressed - Beeb is tired.

We look for places to eat - but we are a stone's throw from Notre Dame which seems to be the tourist capital of Paris these days. All the restaurants seem to be there solely for extracting money from visitors wallets. I remember a wine bar in the back blocks of Ile de la Cité and we go there. one of only 2 tables at 7pm. La Colombe - Atmosphere is great, food is simple - mission accomplished.

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Samedi Murphy at work

We set out to go to Jeu de Paume and arrive to find it has just closed as of 1st April for work. No probalem we had planned to follow this with a visit to Musée de L'Orangerie nearby; so we walk across the Tilleries to find it does not open for another hour and a half. No probalem we shall use the time to visit Madeleine, somewhere none of us have previously been. We still have a little time after to browse the food delicacy shops in the surrounding square.

Returning at 12:30 (the opening time) to Orangerie we find ourselves in what turns out to be a 40 minute queue - mostly caused by the security screening. No probalem once inside we find the most amazing exhibition of Monet paintings together with Renoir, Cézanne, Derain, Picasso and Matisse. This is definitely a Musée to put on the must do Paris list. Kwan discovers a female French painter, Marie Laurencin, to her liking.

Now after 2:30 we head off to the the third part of our schedule where we are planning to have lunch in the restored 19 century dining area at Musee Jacquemart-Andre before exploring. It's quite a walk Boulevard Hussmann and by the time we get there the staff are putting out the sign telling us that only afternoon tea is now being served. "No salad?", we enquire - "non". No probalem we will find something nearby. The local brasserie says the kitchen is closed and the nearest will be Champs Elysées. We stumble across a patisserie much closer and are well satisfied with a baguette - jambon et fromage et poulet et crudités we share.

Back at Jacquemart-Andre we partake in afternoon tea avec gateau et tarte - we are happy. The house and gallery prove very rewarding. Musee Jacquemart-Andre is a private museum in a mansion. The design of the mansion is really something (apparently it’s the architect who didn’t get to design the Opera House so poured his heart over this mansion instead). There are lots of Italian religious collections that are much better preserved than the ones we saw in Italian national museums. All of us were pleasantly surprised by this little museum and enjoyed our little tea in the salon which was part of the mansion with original tapestry and high ceiling.

We luck out with a last minute reservation at Brasserie Gallopin in the 2eme. This place is great - another good find; nice surrounding, good food, reasonable prices and waiters who treat you well.
- No probalem. So notwithstanding a day of many hiccups we are well satisfied in the end.

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Vendredi Monet's Jardin

We cross the Seine to Gare St Lazare. Monet's garden is in Giverny which is 75 kilometres to North of Paris, in Normandy, by the Rouen train to Vernon followed by a 15 minute bus ride. Our DIY tour goes to plan and we arrive at the ticket office of Monet's house and garden shortly after 1pm. While it is early in the season, the garden is very beautiful with lots of flowers showing off a stunning display on what has turned out to be quite a warm day of 20+C. The house has been preserved in its early 20 century state, colourful rooms many full of Japanese art, which he collected, as well a huge gallery with many reproductions of his famous works which are now spread across the museums and galleries of the world. The yellow dining room and blue kitchen are most memorable. The water garden lives up to its reputation as a gorgeous garden and not withstanding the many visitors is a most tranquil place. The lilies are not out yet, but colours and beauty still exceptional. We have lunch in a local eatery - salade, une bouteille de vin rosé et un morceau de tarte sitting in the sun. Far from gourmet food but we are thoroughly content and satisfied. A visit to the local church is equally beautiful and calm. The grounds have a memorial to the soldiers of the Commonwealth which incorporates part of the propeller of an allied plane which was shot down nearby. Adjacent is the Monet family plot and we overhear a guide say that there are no surviving descendants notwithstanding his having 8 children. Our return bus and train journey is crowded and goes to plan arriving back in Paris around 7pm. Dinner at our local favourite - Bistro 7eme. 9k