ONE DAY IN PARIS

So great to be back in Paris in spite of a drizzly day.  We came specifically to see an exhibit from the Bridgestone (yes, the tires) Museum in Tokyo on loan to Paris' Musee de l'Orangerie.  We took the Metro from Republique to Place de la Concorde and were so surprised to see this wheel where a wheel shouldn't be.

Also blotting out the landscape was a bevy of motorhomes with generators running...someone is making a movie.

Some things can't be spoiled no matter what.

The museum is one of the lesser museums in Paris only because there are so many world-class museums here.  The setting is nice - in the corner of the Jardin des Tuileries, next to the Seine - and the building and gallery space are lovely.    The museum is best known for Monet's series of Water Lily murals.  He designed and painted them specifically for this space.

Several Rodin sculptures are on the grounds and there are lots of lovely impressionist paintings in their permanent collection.

The Kiss

After our visit here we walked across the Seine and had some great views.

We went back down to the Metro at Assemblee Nationale, near our old friend Rue St. Germain.  We were headed to our old neighborhood in the 5th where we have stayed for several weeks over the last 20 years or so.  This fun neighborhood is near the Sorbonne and the Pantheon and is known as the "Latin Quarter" and as "The Left Bank."  Our hotel is still there,

though many things in the neighborhood have changed.  There still plenty of places to see and be seen while sipping your Pastis or Kir

and the cheese shops still have me swooning.

We ate the little one with black and red label.  Magnifique!

Gorgonzola!

There are many new restaurants, not all good.

After our long stroll down Rue Mouffetard, stopping to buy scarves and a beret from our favorite merchant at Par'ici (www.souvenirparis.com), and having a wonderful discussion about politics, freedom and democracy (tomorrow is France's presidential election, not unlike our recent one) with a lovely young woman at Diwali, we caught the Metro near Rue Monge and headed home.  It's been over 10 years since we were last in Paris and we both had forgotten how many stairs one goes up and down to ride the subway here and how much walking one does underground to change lines. We were happy to put our feet up at the end of our rainy day out in Paris.

Tomorrow we are off to the U.K. to do some family history research.

Audrey