April 25, 2017

This was indeed a lazy day until about 4 pm when we finally got out of the apartment. I did wake up early but then read another couple of chapters of The Strangled Queen (Book 2 of the series The Accursed Kings by Druon recommended by my cousin Linda who is a student of the Middle Ages).   Went back to sleep and finally got up and started reading emails and news before brunch.  I should note that George spent 3 hours working in his studio on the 7th floor of our building — in the little room that came with our apartment where the maid is supposed to stay.  (Not everyone has such a room.  Some people sell them off separately for a goodly sum.  The people we bought from had the good sense to keep theirs.)

We decided to go to the Marmottan – the museum of Monet in the 16^th. I’ve talked about it before. It is in the home of an industrialist who left his collection and home to his foundation stipulating that both be open to the public. We love this little museum although it isn’t the easiest to get to. We are always trying different ways to get there and today we did an all bus route: the #28, to the river, and from there the #63 to the last stop. The bus was packed with school kids with their nannies and some moms. As is typical , French people do not move to the back of the bus even though there are big signs requesting that one do so. Everyone gathers just at the entrance making it almost impossible to pass through. I’ve learned to just push through with my, “Excusez-moi, s’il vous plait”. It works but not with out determination to get to the back. I did and both George and I found seats. We had a 20 minute ride through the 16^th arrondissement (district) which is a high-end residential area with beautiful apartment houses and embassies, lining a grand avenue. Our stop was the last one, Porte de Muette followed by a short walk to the museum. It was 5 pm by the time we arrived. We had one hour to view the new special exhibit: Pissarro.

It was well worth the trip – simply wonderful. Photos are not allowed or I could share with you the beauty of these paintings. It has been 36 years since Paris has seen an exhibition dedicated to this early impressionist’s work. The exhibit moved from his earliest paintings which were straight forward representational to his development as an impressionist with short brush strokes giving the impression of landscape – water, snow, sky, fields, and sun. I was going to buy a book of his work but none of the photos came even close to conveying the mastery of the originals.

Since the time was late the galleries were not full and we could walk back through the exhibition looking at our favorite paintings and lingering. We were pretty tired when we finished and sat next to a couple on a bench in a long hallway of the mansion. We started to talk. They were from the Netherlands in a small town just 3 hours by high- speed rail from Paris. Thus, they came often for a day or two. When I asked what else they had gone to see on this trip the man confided that he was a cemetery buff and they always go to find graves of famous people because that this the way they learn history the best. Interesting!

We started our return trip on bus #32 from right out side the museum and got off at the Trocodero between two great museums and the best view of the Eiffel Tower. There were more venders today than tourists – and for the first time I felt sorry for these poor guys trying to sell trinkets to the few tourists around. The gypsies with their usual scams were nowhere to be seen.

From here we walked down the impressive stairs across the Seine, right up to the base of the Eiffel Tower. We decided not to go through security which would have allowed to walk underneath it to the park area.   Instead we walked up Avenue Suffren what felt like several miles to a place close to home where I knew we could get a good meal. It was again a corner café type place with seats outside and lots of young people drinking (happy hour) and eating fries. We went in and had a really nice waiter give us a warm friendly reception. He smiled and asked us in English, “where are you from?” And I replied, “From down the street.” He was so surprised. I explained that although we have been coming here for 10 years I still have a great deal of difficulty with the French language. He laughed and we continued in very slow French. He was so nice. Dinner was very good, too. We had two kirs (white wine with peach liquor) for an aperitif with a small bowel of pommes frites (French fries) as an appetizer. For dinner we each had a small stuffed white fish, called Bar…

We headed home but on the way picked up some necessities from our local grocery – a Monop – a small version of MonoPrix.  Tomorrow we are locked in to wait for DHL.

Our first selfie ever!  Here we are on the Trocoadero… truly the best place to view the tower, especially at night when it sparkles.  I don’t know the name, but these blossoms these are all over Paris .There was a really funny scene just a few minutes before I shot this with lots of Asian tourists running in to this shop… I had never noticed a duty free shop in the middle of the city… I guess they exist.  These might not look great in the photo, but they were absolutely delicious — crisp and hot and we were hungry!  Some of my relatives really like French fries — thus I’ve included these…The little grocery with everything!  These shops are new — a smaller version of the big MonoPrix stores that are everywhere in Paris.Our apartment house — we are on the 5th floor, but really the 6th the way we count.  In France the second floor is called ‘the first floor’ because the ground floor is the ‘rez de chaussez.’  (I think I got that right!).