Paris - Day 2!

Allo, allo! Welcome to Paris Day 2!

Actually, it feels like I just got done blogging … but then I realized that yes, I did – that was only about 9 hours or so ago! Time passes SO quickly! So…on to today, Sunday.

Woke to another beautiful day; very cool and crisp, but clear blue sky and lots of sunshine. Started out about 11 (after posting last blog) and, in the spirit of something new every day, headed out to Le Jardin des Plantes (garden of plants). Very nice walk, around the Pantheon and past the Arenes du Lutece (small Roman arena still in use for kids playing soccer!) Found the gardens without any problem – except for the runners/joggers! Fairly narrow paths, and MANY folks jogging! Whew! Cut it close a couple of times! Walked up to the top; good but not great view, and discovered that this was an area of natural history museums. (So much for not going to a museum on Sunday…)

We first went through the mineralogy museum, which was very timely considering the Gem Show on right now in Tucson … wonder how many of the samples were acquired there over the years?! They were also hosting an exhibition on sea life down very, very deep – around the ocean vents and volcanos – sponsored by National Geographic. The movie was incredible – and they also had wonderful photographs as well as preserved sea life – apparently not possible to bring these fellows up to the surface, as the pressure change is much too great for them to survive. At any rate, saw creatures like we’ve never ever seen before – in fact, had no idea they even existed! Something possibly that the ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) folks could use if they ever make another Star Wars movie!

From there we headed to the paleontology and comparative anatomy museum … most of which was pretty grim. In the first place, this is a VERY old museum, and while there were a fair amount of people there, it seems like no money gets spent on it at all – which is SO sad! Paint in hallways peeling; naked steps; needs dusting on top of exhibits – but in spite of all that, we loved the paleontology part (after we got through an entire HUGE room – size of a railway station – with nothing but SKELETONS in it…YUK!) So, after avoiding most of the first floor, the second floor had a truly incredible collection of fossils and skeletons. We saw many long-extinct animals we’d never even heard of before! Some were just amazing! Would LOVE to have some of the fossils – whew!

From there, we debated about lunch; it was heading toward 2 p.m. Headed down the street and just randomly selected a bistro – and it was GREAT! (How could you have bad food in Paris, really?!) R ordered a salade vert with entrecote (steak) et frites (fries). I had salade crottin (two slices of melted cheese on toasted bread slices with greens and tomatoes) with polet fermier (free-range chicken)…and it was AMAZING! The other amazing thing was that I managed to miss my mouth on the way up with some red wine and have now ruined a white turtleneck … oh well!! Oh! We had a nice pichet (small pitcher) of red wine (oh that it could have been white…) and several bottles of sparkling water. Oh! And while we were eating, along came Sunday’s roller skaters – THOUSANDS of them! (Every Friday night, the really good skaters cruise all around Paris in one HUGE mob; we’ve seen them. And on Sunday afternoon, led by police cars and tailed by police cars, the not-so-great skaters come – they go for miles, and there was, quite literally, a mile of them!)

By this point, we were both getting tired, so decided to head back to the flat for a nap. We were pretty exhausted from all the walking so thought we’d take the RER C train to RER B and back to the flat … well…made it to the RER C platform, only to be informed via message that there were some “social protests” holding up the train … no idea what that’s about! So, after waiting a few minutes, we headed instead to the Metro and took 10 (oh yes, from the Bois de Boulogne/Roland Garros days!) back to Cluny. From there, we caught a 27 bus back to the Luxembourg, and were here in no time. (Stopping, though, to get our Cartes d’Orange for next weeks’ transport – saves LOTS of money and time, as the cards will work on all metro, buses and RER within Paris.)

So, back to the flat for naps … and yes, we did sleep – R in the living room and me in the bedroom – for several hours; hope we sleep tonight! Up around 6. Talked about going out for a walk this evening, but we are out of metro tickets (used up the carnet of 10 today) for getting home. Also, many buses don’t run on Sunday, and even fewer run on Sunday night, so decided to forgo that excursion until tomorrow night. (We did just poke our heads out to see the 7 p.m. sparkle of the Tour Eiffel; and as I see on the computer that it’s 8:03, will run out there now!)

Instead, had light supper – bresaola salad with parmesan on arugula along with the dried tomatoes; wonderful!! Also opened up a great bottle of sparkling wine – made by Nicolas Feuillette (whose champagne I like) – but it’s wine from the Loire, so it cannot be called “champagne” – not in the right region! It’s nice and light though (and white; much safer for klutzes like me to drink…) and we have Cameroon vs. Egypt on the TV; world cup qualifying; Egypt won 1-0. What could be better!

Tomorrow we’re heading – surprise!! To the Louvre for our first of what should be many visits. We are members of Les Amis du Louvre, so can go for free anytime – also, go in through the Richelieu gallery, which is like having our own private entrance, right into the museum! After that, we’ll head to the Monoprix near Le Pyramid; I’m looking for some hair stuff that I left at home (big mistake…) and as they also have a grocery store inside, we will pick up dinner as well. (And I may be looking for a white turtleneck…)

So, on that note, I’m signing off for yet another day!

A demain!!

m

Oh! I really wanted to label pictures that I included, but can’t figure out how … so, instead I’m going to list the captions at the end of each blog, numbering (hopefully!) 1-5.

So, for today’s blog:

1 – Pantheon, which is the dome we can see from our bedroom window; stunning building!
2 – Street scene – I loved the painting on the building!
3 – One view of the Jardin des Plantes. Everything is nice and trimmed; it will be spectacular later in the spring.
4 – Blooming tree – we found one that had already started! And was BEAUTIFUL!
5 – RJB at our little table right before dinner!