Paris 2019 Day Eight

Rod and Vic arrived at our flat about 10:00 A.M. and we made our way on foot to the Musée de Cluny to see the Unicorn Tapestries and a bit more Medieval art. Afterwards we grabbed the Metro to Château Rouge and Sacre Coeur. The Funiculaire de Montmartre was a boon to the lame and halt and took us almost to the steps of the church. We walked through the touristy bits of the village and descended the hill to the Abbesses Metro Station, which has one of two surviving édicule or canopy-covered entrances. Annie found us a superb bistro at the foot of Montmartre where we had a relaxing lunch. We made our way toward home and went in search of a hardware store for some screws and a screw driver. Sorry, no DIY within miles of here. But we did  get to see L'Institute du Monde Arabe, just north-east of our neighborhood near the river. Its window screens, that open and close to control light and heat, are mechanical versions of mashrabiya or pierced, wooden Islamic window screens.

 Tapestry detail

 One of the Unicorn Tapestries

 The species of plants depicted have been identified by botanists

 The doggies are cute, but look at that folded fabric

A Medieval Mary and Jesus by Jean Hey

Early 13th-century gold, ivory, and precious jewels: book cover

Roman baths at Cluny

Roman frigidarium (cold bath) at Cluny

Waiting for Vic to purchase some macarons before we 

head up to Montmartre -- Oh, and that's a nonfunctional

Wallace Fountain

They'll be comin' round the mountain...

I maybe have a problem

Basilique du Sacré-Cœur

Started in 1875 and completed in 1923

Lovely sunny, but hazy day

We found about three artists we liked at the Place du Tertre

 You can try to imagine the art community in the 19th and early 20th

centuries, but one sees only tourists today

This is an artsy man

This elegant Art Nouveau Metro entrance by Hector Guimard 

once stood at the Hôtel de Ville Metro Station

Annie is a wizard at finding good restaurants

This one was a winner

Vegetable soup and a cheese plate

Steak tartare with the best frites I have ever tasted, ever -- they were

even delicious as they cooled -- best EVER!

Soupe à l'oignon

Boeuf bourguignon

Institut du Monde Arabe


Dinner around the corner on the Place de la Contrascarpe


Veal Yero

 Dolmathes and houmous

 Côtelette d'agneau

Au revoir

Rod and Vicki leave for England in the morning, so tonight was our final fling. I'm not sure what tomorrow holds, but I will let you know. This is all for now.

OXO

D.

Paris 2019 Day Seven

Anna suggested that we book a tour of the Louvre with a lively English woman named Kate Chartier who provides guided tours of the history of art. Kate is a trained art historian and academic-style portrait painter who lives in Paris with her husband. She was wonderful: arranged a wheelchair for SKT and whizzed around the place, in and out of little elevators like she lived there. She was courteously assertive and moved us right to the front of large groups of Chinese tourists We had earphones and she had a mic, so it really was remarkable. Museums can be so daunting but this two-and-one-half-hour experience flew by without tired feet or museum back. Anna also suggested a small bistro called Le Rubis for lunch; it was filled with locals and no English was spoken, but the food was very good! We split up with SKT and AW and headed to the Avenue de l'Opéra for a quick look in Monoprix. At the Opera, we headed back down the Rue de la Paix past all the posh shops and hotels to the Place Vendôme. The Metro took us to Châtelet for a walk to the Marché aux fleurs, Notre-Dame, and the Shakespeare and Company Book Shop in the Quartier Latin. We walked home along the Rue Monge and stopped at Aux Merveilleux de Fred where we purchased six merveillieux: meringues filled with whipped cream and rolled in shaved chocolate. These were for a birthday celebration later. After resting at home for a few minutes, we walked to the Rue Mouffetard for crêpes and gelato. Back at the flat we celebrated my 73rd with merveillieux and some chocolate studded bread.

 Kate with our troops

 I showed this painting of Louis XIV by Hyacinthe Rigaud in my 

design history classes for years

 The view up the axis of Paris from the Louvre

 Venus de Milo

 Winged Victory of Samothrace

 China's millions of middle-class folks are traveling!

All Leonardo's subjects have the same face and Kate thinks they

are self portraits of Leonardo

One tiny painting in this huge mob of tourists

Using SKT's wheelchair, the six of us were able to push and 

wheel right up to the Mona Lisa and practically 

stick our noses in the painting

 Kate speaking into our earpieces

 Rod taking in the huge painting of Théodore Géricault's 

Raft of the Medusa 

 Le Rubis

 Lunch

 Encore de lunch

 People hate it when I take pictures of them eating

 Monoprix for well-priced stuff

We will wait  to eat at Pret in London, but I have

serious Pret envy

 Garnier's Opera

 Place Vendôme.

 A run-by fruiting at Notre Dame

 Who cares about a ruddy bookshop when there

is a Wallace Fountain out front (OK, so maybe I have

a little obsession with Les Fontaines Wallace)

 View of Notre Dame from the Rue de Fouarre in the 

Quartier Latin

 Aux Merveilleux de Fred in the Rue Monge

 Rolling the merveilleux in chocolate

 Soft little pillows of meringue and cream

 Fleurs on the Rue Monge

  Our favorite crêpes

Happy birthday!

A very nice day with more to follow tomorrow. Thats all for now.

OXO

D.