WAY off the beaten path!!

1) Viaduct des arts; shops in each of the arches!
2) Start of the elevated walk from Bastille;
3) Beautiful flowering trees on the viaduct;
4) Lots of places to sit;
5) More flowering trees (and no, Katy, I don’t know what they are!)

Allo! Allo!

What an incredible day!! We woke up early (for us since we’ve been in Paris) at 6:30 a.m. – I stepped out on the balcony, and it wasn’t raining!! Figured this might be a good opportunity to get to Versailles … although I have to admit that I did get a bit of a jolt when I went downstairs to get croissants. I stepped out of the door, and the streets and sidewalks were soaking wet! Turned out that the street cleaners had been through, washing the streets … whew!!

Got to the RER station about 7:45 a.m. and bought Passeports Versailles (train tickets + access to Versailles). Transferred from the RER B to the RER C5, and made our way out to Versailles. It was a gray day, but very, very mild and not raining; yea! Actually got to Porte A (our entry door) by 8:55 a.m. for entry at 9 … and that’s when trouble began – or, to be honest, nothing began! Signs were posted indicating that Versailles would open “late” – although what “late” meant was very open to interpretation! We waited in the line for about 15 minutes, and finally a man came out and told people (in French) that there was a meeting going on, and he had no idea how long it would be! (“How Italian”, I told Robert!!) Lots and lots of grumbling, but what are you going to do?? In our case, we headed down a side street for a coke and cafe (actually a bathroom, truth be told…) Walked back to the Chateau, and apparently no one had any idea how long the chateau would be closed. We decided to head back to Paris, as we had other days we could visit Versailles; SO sorry for those folks, especially the ones on tours, who don’t have the opportunity to come back! So…back on the RER C to Paris; decided that we would tackle the Viaduct des Arts near the Bastille.

Got off at Gare d’Austerlitz, and from there caught the bus to the Bastille. And voila! There was the Viaduct! Our plan had been to walk the top of the viaduct one way and come back along the shops the other. However…turns out, the Viaduct is an AMAZING place! It is a wonderful park (about 20 feet above street level) along what was an old elevated railway line; closed in 1969. The plantings are wonderful, and divided into separate areas; many of the flowers are just coming up, but we did fine several patches of daffodils and flowering trees. The views were fantastic – including the most incredible Police Station we’ve ever seen (see the picture)!! We walked and walked – several km’s, and when we finally got to street level, we were WAY off of our Streetwise Paris map; thank goodness for local maps and our big bus and metro maps! And we were now VERY close to Bois de Vincennes!! Amazing! When we went there on the bus, it took 45 minutes and we wound all around – but if you walk straight from the Bastille, you get there in practically no time at all! Go figure!!

One of R’s favorite Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot stories is “Death in the Clouds” which primarily takes place in Paris; lots and lots of wonderful sights! On one of our bus rides, R instantly recognized one of the buildings used for outdoor shots, and we’ve been trying to find it ever since! Saw it again briefly when we went to Bois de Vincennes last week, and this time decided to really find it. So…from the street map, we located it at the Porte Doree, just outside Vincennes. It was called the Musée des Arts d’Afrique et d’Oceanie. The building dates from 1931, built for an exhibition.

As it was lunchtime, though, we needed to stop somewhere first for food! Wandered into a wonderful little bistro, La Truyere, near the metro stop Dugommier – just a wonderful find! We both had the same thing – chef’s salads followed by faux filet. The chef’s salads had boiled potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes, corn, red and green peppers, cucumbers and lettuce; excellent! The faux filets (sirloin steaks) came with potatoes Lyonaise, haricots verts (green beans) and grilled tomatoes – absolutely WONDERFUL! Also had the usual BIG bottle of sparkling water and a pichet of terrific red wine! All for something like 41 Euros! Plus, I wanted to take the little old water home with us; he was wonderful too!

From the restaurant we took the metro one stop and changed at Doumesnil for the Porte Doree. Got up to the surface again, and voila! The musée! However, it has changed quite a bit! The exhibits in the original museum have been moved to Musée Quai Branly, and the building has turned into an aquarium and a very controversial immigration museum.

We were beginning to wear out a bit by this time, and not being very interested in either the immigration museum or the aquarium, we walked around the open rooms inside – just an amazing art deco building; and the outside is truly amazing! No wonder it made such an impression on Robert!

Decided to bus back for naps, so we took the PC2 (one of the bus lines that run around ring-road around Paris) to Porte d’Ivry, where we caught the good old ever-reliable #27 which dropped us right off in front of our building!

Now we are napped and refreshed, and contemplating if we have any room whatsoever for a meal of chicken, potatoes and – yes, haricots verts! To be honest, not sure … but am sure that the chicken will last one more day; just as long as we don’t eat a huge lunch again!!

So take care from a gray but not-rainy Paris!!
More later!
Love,
m