Just back from Paris! Over the next several posts, I will share the best of what we saw, ate, experienced.
One Day in Paris:
The Day we Ate on the River Seine, Went to a Museum and Had a Celebrity Sighting.
On a typical day for this trip, we did a lot of walking, but also took public transport. We usually had one pre-planned activity per day, and let the rest of the day develop naturally. Links to the places we went at the end.
We left our apartment on the Rue de Bretagne (3rd arrondissement)
around 9:45 am, after a quick breakfast of yogurt, muesli and a brioche and of course, coffee. The plan was to walk along the Seine until we got to our lunch spot.
We were heading for the Pont d’Iena (near the Eiffel Tower), about a 4 mile walk. Our lunch reservation called for us to be there by 12:15.
We headed south through the Marais, looking at all the small shops and cafes until we got to the Hotel de Ville, then headed west along the Seine. The day was sunny and cool, perfect for a long walk.
We went down to the river level and mingled with the joggers and cyclers, watched the people exercising on the conveniently-placed gym equipment and looked at the playgrounds.
We passed Notre Dame and the Conciergerie Buildings, where we noticed that they’ve taken all the love locks off of the fences surrounding the Equestrian Statue of Henri IV on the Pont Neuf. Last year when I was there, the fences were full of locks and there were lock vendors everywhere.
This year, there is plastic covering the fencing on all the bridges. Locks are fewer and far between and in out-of-the-way places. The love lock phenomenon just won’t die. You can read a couple of recent articles about them here and here.
We went up to the street level just past the Louvre, and crossed to the Left Bank on the Pont Royal. Lots of traffic here, pedestrian and motorized.
We continued our walk along the Left Bank, past the Place de la Concorde and the ornate Pont Alexandre III. We looked at the newly renovated Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac Museum with its stunning living walls and came up to the base of the Eiffel Tower.
MS and MN take a selfie
We crossed the Pont d’Iena back to the Right Bank, arriving there about 11:45 am, enough time to get some water and admire the views of the Eiffel Tower before we went down to the water level.
The event for the day was lunch at the elegant Ducasse Sur Seine restaurant, a new dining venue on the Seine.
We boarded the boat and settled into our seats by the windows at the bow. This is a fine dining restaurant that just happens to give you a lovely Seine River Cruise while you eat. The boat is electric so there is no engine noise and provides a very smooth ride. The experience lasts about 2 hours and 30 minutes, enough for a leisurely lunch and time to watch the city glide by.The 3-course lunch with amuse bouche and pastries was delicious and exquisitely presented, the service was friendly and efficient. Between courses we were invited to the top deck of the boat to enjoy the view, and we had time before the end of the cruise for coffee on the top deck as well. This turned out to be the perfect day for this excursion.
Well fed and ready for more, we disembarked around 2:45 pm. Still on the Right Bank, we walked to the Pont a L’Alma to look at the Statue of Liberty flame replica, noticing the Princess Diana memorial objects there. (This location is near where her car crashed and a place where people leave flowers and notes.)
We caught the Metro back to the Hotel De Ville and walked over to the Pompidou Centre Museum. The building is striking and huge. With the structural elements all on the outside of the building, the inside is wide open for exhibit space and other uses (libraries, theater, etc.). As it was nearly 4:00pm, there wasn’t a long line to get in. It was easy to get our Paris Museum Passes (we just needed the correct ticket window) and made our way to the 5th floor-Modern Art. I spent time in the Kandinsky room and sat by the outdoor sculpture pool. After a brief tour of the 4th floor (more of the permanent collection) and some very weird exhibits (think many headphones dangling from hanging wires overhead emitting static noises and a room lined with bales of bay leaves) we headed back to our apartment for a brief rest before dinner.
For dinner, we decided to walk to the Place du Marche Ste. Catherine where there are several small bistros. We made a reservation for one and got ready to go. This showed up as a 12 minute walk on Google Maps but somehow we missed the entrance to this small square and spent another 15 minutes wandering until we got back on track. We finally found the small Bistrot de la Place. We sat outside and enjoyed our Cotes du Rhone wine and ordered dinner.
Pretty soon a family came in and sat just beyond us. I do a double take and recognize the British actor Matthew Goode, his pretty blond wife and 2 darling girls. We act cool, even when he speaks perfect French to us (Pardonnez-moi, Je suis désolé de vous déranger-Excuse me, I’m sorry to bother you) when he has to take one of the daughters past our table to the restroom. He must feel my eyes boring into the back of his head during dinner because he smiles at us with that “I know you’ve recognized me” look as we leave. In the square, I take a picture of the front of the restaurant, but he has put his head below the fence so he can’t be seen. Understandably….
