The streets of Paris

It only took one afternoon of walking the streets of Paris to appreciate the romance of the city and to understand why people from outside France would want to live there. There's beauty and mystery around very corner. 

Take a walk along the Seine, cross one of the many bridges, stand at the Place Concorde and look up the Champs Elysees toward the Arc de Triompohe, start each morning with a fresh croissant and take a mid-day break for an espresso at a cafe. This is a life anyone could quickly get used to. 

Ah, but them someone brings you the bill and breaks the reverie: $4 for coffee with cream, $12 for a vodka and tonic, $2.50 for "Coke-a Light," $68 for a taxi to the airport. It's soon time to return home to earn more money . . and save for another trip to Paris.

 

Monet's gardens

Sullen gray skies and the constant threat of rain could not dampen the spectacle of Claude Monet's home in Giverny. Flowers sparkled in the morning light while frogs screeched from their hiding places.

The studio inside the little house where Monet lived and worked is filled with reproductions of his famous paintings and and decorated with his collection of Japanese prints. The garden outside explodes with riot of colorful flowers and ponds look calm and serene, even as hordes of visitors ramble along the paths that surround them.

  

Versailles

Versailles is bigger than you could imagine and more crowded than you would ever wish. And our guide said that on the day of our visit, it wasn't as packed as on many days in the high summer. When we got to the Hall of Mirrors, there was a multitude of faces looking back at us from the mirrored walls.

We used the Viator tour service for a trip that included both Versailles and Giverny. Our coach was comfortable and our guide was very knowledgeable. But our time at Versailles was limited: about an hour inside and a half our in the gardens.

Indoors, we moved through the royal bedrooms, down the Hall of Mirrors to the room dominated by huge battle murals and the revisionist painting of Napoleon's coronation of Josephine.

Respite came when we exited to courtyard where we could stroll past the sculptures and overlook the vast gardens. If we ever return, we might rent a golf cart and just cruise around outside.   

Le Pere Lachaise

Who is the most famous person buried in Le Pere Lachaise cemetery? The French might say it's composer Frederic Chopin, writers Oscar Wilde or Gertrude Stein, singers Maria Callas or Edith Piaf, or maybe actor Yves Montande.

But visitors quickly discover that the most popular grave site belongs to American pop singer Jim Morrison who died in Paris in 1971. Like Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, Morrison will be forever 27.

Although his headstone is blocked by a small fence, it is decorated with candles and flowers left by admirers. On a nearby tree, they leave blobs of chewing gum and tiny notes written with Sharpie pens. In contrast, we found Maria Callas' marker in the crematorium largely ignored.

 

Museums

Most visitors to Paris would have skip the Louvre. But George and Janell had been there once before and we had been warned about big crowds and long lines in June.

We started our art tour in Tuileries park. That's where the statue of the chunky lady at the top of the blog was taken. The garden connects the Louvre with the Orangerie museum where we saw two rooms that house Monet's giant paintings of his lily ponds in two large oval rooms.

The museum has works by Cézanne, Matisse, Modigliani, Picasso, and Renoir but we were struck by the paintings by an artist we had never heard of: Chaim Soutine, a Jewish painter from Belarus.

The Orsay museum lives up to its top rating on Trip Advisor. There was a special exhibition on Degas and the Nude that included sketches and paintings. The rooms are large and bright and well-connected with a wide variety of items including sculpture, oils and photography. I found a photo taken near Atlanta during the Civil War. Janell found a new friend.

As good as the Orsay was, we probably enjoyed more our visit to the Rodin Museum. Not so much the smallish gallery that held his marble pieces but rather the large and peaceful garden where you could see pieces like The Thinker, Balzac, and the Gates Of Hell up close and in the sunlight.

My favorites: Ugolino and his Sons, which is featured in the center of a fountain, and The Burghers of Calais, another large sculpture, also  with a chilling story behind it.

   

After Rodin, we walked to the sprawling Les Invalides nearby. It houses centuries of armaments, from medieval pikes and helmets to ornately-carved muskets and pistols. It's also the home of Napoleon's tomb, a giant marble sarcophagus that contains the emperor's ashes.

Gastronomie

A friend gave us some good advice about restaurants in Paris. He said "Just eat your way through the Paris," so we gave it our best shot.

Our first night in Paris took us to Brasserie Bofinger, just off the Bastile circle. I had the beef filet but Jeannene's chicken might have been better.

Au Bourguignon du Marais was around the corner from our hotel. The specialty is bourguignon, beef and potatoes slowly simmered in red Burgundy. I told myself that I had done enough walking that day to deserve something that rich and heavy. This is where I discovered leek salad.

Maxim's has a long and storied history. It was popular with celebrities such as Aristotle Onassis and Maria Callas in the 1950s. Wolfgang Puck was chef at the restaurant and Ho Chi Minh may have worked there as a busboy. It's mentioned in Ian Fleming novels and shown in a scene in Woody Allen's Midnight In Paris.

So, when we happened to walk by one afternoon, we had to check out the mini version next door. The ambiance was delightful, the waiter was attentive and we loved the Art Nouveau decor. The food, no so much. We discovered why TripAdvisor readers rate it No.5,008. Skip the veal special, go for the salad.

On a night when the weather stayed warm enough to dine outside, we found the Cafe St. Catherine on a quiet side street near Place de Vosges. I had the fish wok but the salmon lasgna was the star of the evening.

Pasta in Paris? You bet. We found Sens'o on stroll down the Rue St. Louis and I suggested we take a break from French cuisine. It turned out to be a popular move. Everybody loved their plates and their Sicilian wine. And the prices were also a nice break from the French. I had penne pasta with chicken in a cream sauce. Jeannene loved her pizza with salmon.

We chose Le Dome Bastille for the seafood. I gave my crawfish risotto a thumbs up. Also at the table: dorage (also called seam bream), sardines, a nice pouilly fume and a souffle and tiramisu for dessert.

Le Colimacon had all the exotic food we expected to find in Paris: foie gras, rabbit, and escargot. We stayed with more familiar fare. I had a very tasty tataki and Jeannene got the half lobster. George ordered the rabbit and I tried a sample. It was good, a bit like chicken with a darker look and texture. Jeannene said the lobster was unimpressive and Janell's scallops were undercooked. Also, the service was slow and not well organized our waitress brought us shots of apple liqueur to make amends.  

My favorite place to eat? That would be Au Petit Versailles, the little bakery and coffee shop around the corner from our hotel. It was the perfect place to get fueled up for a day on the streets.

On the Rue Rivoli

Our home in Paris was the Hotel Paris Rivoli, a tiny, 79-room hotel at 19 rue de Rivoli, 4th Arr., Paris, Ile-de-France in the historic Marais district. The room was not much larger than the bed, but it had a window that opened onto the street and the people were very friendly and helpful.

It was also a terrific location: two blocks from Louis Philippe bridge to Ile St. Louis and close to the St. Paul and Hotel de Ville Metro stations. It was an easy walk to Notre Dame, the Left Bank and the Bastile area.