Around Town

At first I didn't think we were doing much since arriving in Paris, but as I look back, we've been pretty busy with lots of activities.

Since the Nabis exhibit and Jacques birthday lunch we've been out with our sister, Carol, covering a lot of territory. After returning from Nabis on the bus, we ran into our friend, Paul, from Le Peloton, along with his kids. We told him we were on our way to get a chicken at St. Paul and he reminded us not to forget the roast potatoes... we didn't.

On Sunday, we decided on one of the Paris Discover Walks free tours. These are conducted, on a volunteer basis by the Pink Vests.The timing was right for the tour of Montmartre. We met the guide at the Blanche metro stop and he had to split the large group into two groups of 15.








We began our tour in the doorway of the Moulin Rouge. He would take us on a back road tour climbing up to the top of the area giving us a great insight into who lived there and how the area evolved into what it is today. It is more than Pigalle and more than Sacre Coeur. There was a suggested "tip" to cover all the expenses that made this free tour just a little bit cheaper than a paid tour. But very good.


After the tour, we made our way down the hill to a restaurant we had noticed on the way up, Le Sancerre. As we like Sancerre wine, we thought this was a good spot. After soup a l'oignon , salads, profiteroles and a bottle of wine, we were ready to make our way  to the metro and back to our apartment.

At 8pm we were hungry enough to go to out for dinner at Au Petit Fer a Cheval one of my favorites.

That night we went on line to get tickets for the Van Gogh exhibit at the Atelier des Lumieres (ADL from now on), We got tix for the 12:30 entrance. This was an amazing exhibit of a multi-media film that displays much of Van Gogh's work via multiple projectors on the walls, floors and objects in the large open space. Click HERE for lots of pictures of "La Nuit Etoilee - Starry Night".


From there we walked to a meeting spot for another "free" tour by the Pink Vests. This was through the Marais. Although we had spent a fair amount of time in the Marais section of Paris, we found this a very enjoyable and informative tour. We met at a metro stop at the edge of the Marais and worked our way to the Place des Vosges and finished at the Hotel de Ville.
On this tour we  met a woman about our age from Australia. She had come to Paris for a 30th birthday party for a young woman whose van broke down in Australia in front of this woman's house. She ended up staying with the woman for 3 weeks while the van was prepared. They  have kept in contact and the Aussie decided on the spur of the moment to be a surprise guest at the birthday party. Nice story.

But the day didn't end there as Carol and I took the 6:45 Seine river tour. The timing was just about right as the sun set and the City of Light came to life.

We capped things off with a late dinner at Les Philosophes. Unfortunately some of the specials were no longer available.

We had a good night sleep and a light breakfast the next morning then walked Carol to the metro station with a direct line to Charles de Gaulle airports. We really enjoyed her company and her help around the apartment and her spirit of independence.