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Monday, November 14, 2005

A Day of Museums

» Posted by Jon at 9:19 pm :: Comments (1)

At the Carnavalet Museum, you get a broad history of Paris.

Day 6: Friday

Today's walk through the Marais district got us into one of Paris' longest-running upper crust neighborhoods, though that kind of took a hit when the Revolution came along.

We had three more museums on our pass to make sure to hit, all grouped in this area to the east of "downtown."

The Metro dropped us off at the new opera house: Opera Bastille. Yep, it's on the site of the fortress stormed in 1789 after dissenters from the crown had already ransacked the weapons supply across town at Invalides.

The Modern Opera House

Marais

We won't get into too much French history here, but the Carnevalet museum is all about the history of Paris, the kings, the republics and the revolutions, of which there have been several since the famous one covered in history classes around the globe.

King Louis	The Battle of Faith
Mini-cathedral	Big painting

Lunch down the street took us to a fine little corner bistro named Camille. (Hint to future France visitors: Trust the guide books, especially where eateries named after women are concerned. We're only half kidding.) I had a marinated salmon with toast and Jen had a cold pasta salad, which included plenty of olive oil, basil and tomatoes.

The Picasso museum is not too far away, and while it doesn't have a collection of great works, it does have and extensive collection of his notebooks and the sketches that became the famous works. I'm convinced the man never stopped drawing.

Picasso: Guitar (I think)

Picasso: Woman in a Red Chair

Picasso: Women at their bath

With the afternoon drawing on, it was time to cross another food stop off our list. We headed to Berthillon on Ile St. Louis. The ice cream specialist runs a take-away and tea room right next to each other. Since it had started to sprinkle, we decided to sit down. The double scoop cups are served with an almond crisp sort of wafer. Delicious. For the record, we chose combinations of white chocolate with hazelnut and praline with dark chocolate. I repeat: delicious.

Our final museum of the day, and possibly the trip, completes the timeline from the Lourve, through the D'Orsay to the Centre Pompidou, France's ultra modern building that houses the modern art museum.

Interesting. But we'll save our rants about modern art for another time.

More Notre Dame	Giant lamp
Rainy Street	Rainy View

Dinner was another tour book hit: La Fou de Face. The main dish, which they referred to as a beef stew, was more of a home-cooked pot roast: large chunks of beef served with potatoes and carrots. For dessert, the classic creme brulee and a fondant with some coconut and cherries.

» Filed under: Paris, Photolog

Comments

Since we left the guide books at your house, I'm taking notes of the museums and eateries to find on our trip. Thanks for useful info!!

» Posted by: Mom on Saturday, September 16, 2006 at 4:55 pm

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