Bonjour!
I went to bed last night planning to have a more "relaxed" day today since this power tourism is absoultely exhausting, but per usual, i was awake at the crack of 6:30 and then out the door at 8. i had to check out of my hotel and into the new one over by the eiffel tower (which required 3 metro trains). i always pack with the mindset that i have to carry my own luggage wherever i go, so it wasn't overly heavy, but while walking with it up and down the stairs in the metro stations i couldn't help but remember how anytime i was carrying luggage in a tube station in london, some guy would just grab it from me, carry it up the stairs, and then take off without even letting me say thank you...not the same in france, i did all my own carrying.
after dropping my luggage at the new hotel, i went over to Rue Cler, a cute little street of markets nearby in the 7th arrondissement. I absolutely love it!! It has little fruit shops, cheese shops, butchers, wine shops, patisseries, ice cream shops, chocolatiers...any specialty you can imagine. i made a mental note to come back for lunch and then i headed over to the rodin museum. all this time alone in museums has given me some time to contemplate what kind of art i like and dont like. fortunately, my toru book has descriptions that are simple and short enough to keep me interested, but do actually lead to me learning something. so i like sculptures, i like impressionism, i love degas, i love van gogh....and as i have always known, i dont so much care for picasso. the rodin museum is small, but nice. it has a collections of sculptures inside a mansion where rodin used to live, and a few outside in the garden area.
since the rodin museum was small, it only took about an hour (about 10:30 am) so I decided to stop into the army museum on my way back over to rue cler before lunctime. i saw napoleon's tomb right at the entrance of the museum, then got completely lost looking for the WW1 and WW2 exhibits, wandered through some galleries of armor, lost interest, and left. luckily that all took nearly an hour, and then the wrong turn i took on the way took up some more time putting me at around noon, and ready for some lunch preparations.
I went back to Rue Cler and purchased a salmon and spinach quiche from the boulangerie/patisserie, a frasier (strawberry cake), a pastry called dicorce (which was 2 pastries molded together...once chocolate and one coffee), 2 tiny apricots, and bunch of bright red cherries from the fruit market. I planned to go to the orangerie museum after lunch, so i decided to picnic in the tuileries garden right outside. i ended up walking all the way to the end of the garden near the louvre b/c that is the only spot where there is grass you can sit on. i like to lounge during my picnics, not sit upright on a bench. and these french certainly do love their gravel...every park is filled with it. It reminds me too much of a dessert, I want less gravelly walkway and more green.
when i finally reached the grass, i sprawled out with my picnic (and took photos before diving in dont worry). i was pretty darn full about midway through but still managed to eat every bite. then i laid there for awhile, then when the giant group of students on a field trip came to settle in for their lunch picnic, i decided to depart. the orangerie is also a very small museum, but worth seeing. monet's water lilies were painted just for this space...2 giant oval rooms with the paintings extending around, and per my guide book, one of the first occurrances of a space being designed to house specific art to enhance the experience.
after the museum, i kind of didn't know what to do with myself so i sat on a bench to contemplate. i was right by the louvre, but i'm planning to do that tomorrow morning when i'm full of energy and not totally tired. my other options were all things i had planned around other activities too, so i continued to sit there then finally decided to go find this gelato place i had read about. i couldn't find it, despite walking past the alleged address like 4 times...i guess it moved, but i did find a couple other chocolate/candy shops...one that has been open since the 1700s! I got some flavored marshmallows (rose, pear, lemon, violet, raspberry and a mystery blue one that i can't figure out) and some flavored caramels (mint, cafe, chocolate, raspberry, and original....all were delicious). i also found this patisserie that also sold savory foods that looked like pastries!! they had this really cool cup of guacamole, crab, then another layer on top that looked like 3 layers of mousse, and another really cool looking salmon thing that i can't even explain. too bad i was still full from my feast.
i'd had enough wandering so i hopped back on the metro and came back to the new hotel. i offically checked in and saw my room...i have my own bathroom here with a super nice shower/bathtub. i wish i'd known earlier, i would have gotten some bubble bath! my room has a mini fridge with 3 euro sodas, but i'm going to get some food from the supemarket around the corner for dinner tonight and tomorrow.
that's all i have for now on this "relaxing" day of tourism. it's been nonstop sunny but started drizzling a little on my way to find the cyber cafe so hopefully the rain won't last.
after dropping my luggage at the new hotel, i went over to Rue Cler, a cute little street of markets nearby in the 7th arrondissement. I absolutely love it!! It has little fruit shops, cheese shops, butchers, wine shops, patisseries, ice cream shops, chocolatiers...any specialty you can imagine. i made a mental note to come back for lunch and then i headed over to the rodin museum. all this time alone in museums has given me some time to contemplate what kind of art i like and dont like. fortunately, my toru book has descriptions that are simple and short enough to keep me interested, but do actually lead to me learning something. so i like sculptures, i like impressionism, i love degas, i love van gogh....and as i have always known, i dont so much care for picasso. the rodin museum is small, but nice. it has a collections of sculptures inside a mansion where rodin used to live, and a few outside in the garden area.
since the rodin museum was small, it only took about an hour (about 10:30 am) so I decided to stop into the army museum on my way back over to rue cler before lunctime. i saw napoleon's tomb right at the entrance of the museum, then got completely lost looking for the WW1 and WW2 exhibits, wandered through some galleries of armor, lost interest, and left. luckily that all took nearly an hour, and then the wrong turn i took on the way took up some more time putting me at around noon, and ready for some lunch preparations.
I went back to Rue Cler and purchased a salmon and spinach quiche from the boulangerie/patisserie, a frasier (strawberry cake), a pastry called dicorce (which was 2 pastries molded together...once chocolate and one coffee), 2 tiny apricots, and bunch of bright red cherries from the fruit market. I planned to go to the orangerie museum after lunch, so i decided to picnic in the tuileries garden right outside. i ended up walking all the way to the end of the garden near the louvre b/c that is the only spot where there is grass you can sit on. i like to lounge during my picnics, not sit upright on a bench. and these french certainly do love their gravel...every park is filled with it. It reminds me too much of a dessert, I want less gravelly walkway and more green.
when i finally reached the grass, i sprawled out with my picnic (and took photos before diving in dont worry). i was pretty darn full about midway through but still managed to eat every bite. then i laid there for awhile, then when the giant group of students on a field trip came to settle in for their lunch picnic, i decided to depart. the orangerie is also a very small museum, but worth seeing. monet's water lilies were painted just for this space...2 giant oval rooms with the paintings extending around, and per my guide book, one of the first occurrances of a space being designed to house specific art to enhance the experience.
after the museum, i kind of didn't know what to do with myself so i sat on a bench to contemplate. i was right by the louvre, but i'm planning to do that tomorrow morning when i'm full of energy and not totally tired. my other options were all things i had planned around other activities too, so i continued to sit there then finally decided to go find this gelato place i had read about. i couldn't find it, despite walking past the alleged address like 4 times...i guess it moved, but i did find a couple other chocolate/candy shops...one that has been open since the 1700s! I got some flavored marshmallows (rose, pear, lemon, violet, raspberry and a mystery blue one that i can't figure out) and some flavored caramels (mint, cafe, chocolate, raspberry, and original....all were delicious). i also found this patisserie that also sold savory foods that looked like pastries!! they had this really cool cup of guacamole, crab, then another layer on top that looked like 3 layers of mousse, and another really cool looking salmon thing that i can't even explain. too bad i was still full from my feast.
i'd had enough wandering so i hopped back on the metro and came back to the new hotel. i offically checked in and saw my room...i have my own bathroom here with a super nice shower/bathtub. i wish i'd known earlier, i would have gotten some bubble bath! my room has a mini fridge with 3 euro sodas, but i'm going to get some food from the supemarket around the corner for dinner tonight and tomorrow.
that's all i have for now on this "relaxing" day of tourism. it's been nonstop sunny but started drizzling a little on my way to find the cyber cafe so hopefully the rain won't last.
Oh and I did get an email from the metro guy about going to some music festival tomorrow night...I'm undecided so I haven't replied yet. we'll see.
xoxo,
P
xoxo,
P
Rue Cler
Statues at the Rodin Museum
Chocolat on Rue Cler
Check out these beautiful berries!
Pastries on Rue Cler
Lunchtime picnic!
Water Lilies at the Orangerie
I like my macarons and chocolat to come with flexing foreign men...
American sauce....that doesn't look too tasty...
Pate de Fruit from Jeff de Bruges - so realistic looking!
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