Paris -- Oct 18

Start the morning with croissants from another spot but they aren't as good. We had planned to go to the Louvre but discover they are closed in spite of all our research. So instead we do St. Chapelle. We have tickets ahead and the wait isn't too bad. As pretty as I remember it.







Our next stop is the Musee D'Orsay in the old train station. We decide to walk since it is along the Seine. Very picturesque. We buy a small painting of Notre Dame from an artist along the river. 


We didn't buy tickets ahead for the museum but the wait isn't too bad and it's mid afternoon. The museum turns out not to be my favorite. Since it is located in an old train station the central hall is interesting but just overstuffed with sculpture. It is a bit convoluted to get to the various painting areas. Ryan and I go through the Edvard Munch exhibition which is very crowded. Best things are the impressionist paintings. And then we find Whistler's Mother which has moved from the Louvre and is also in an somewhat inconspicuous spot. 

After a few hours we are done and have walked a lot. We turn the corner on the way out and find a café where we sit and have coffee and a glass of wine. Much needed break. Ryan locates a nearby YSL store and so we walk to that to try to get the VAT paperwork. But they cannot -- you have to get it from the store where you bought it. It is an interesting part of town however and the metro stop is nearby. 



Rest stop at home and then we walked to a nearby restaurant called La Table des Ternes. This is the evening we were supposed to have dinner with Greg and Mary but they are feeling under the weather. It's a small and cozy restaurant but I start to wonder when we are served Lay's Potato Chips to start! But the food turns out to be delicious and it is certainly Ryan's favorite meal. He and Steve have duck confit. They especially like the sauteed potatoes in garlic. I have Coquille St. Jacques Provençale. We started with a homemade duck foie gras with onion jam and a goat cheese spring roll salad. Steve had an amazing looking bone marrow plate!








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On to Cairo -- Oct 5

Image
We have to be out of the apartment by 10:00 a.m. We are ready to go and the cleaners are indeed right on time. We head out with our suitcases and walk up near the Passy Covered Market where we sit down outside at a cute patisserie where our suitcases are a bit out of the way. We have a delicious croissant, éclair, and a cup of coffee. They also have good looking sandwiches which we pick up for our trip on Egyptaire.  Stop at the mall across the street for a bathroom break then we head to the McDonald's on the corner so we can use their Wi-Fi to call our Uber. We get to ride in a Tesla to the airport! Very nice. We are there by 12:15. We wait a while to drop our bags and then we clear security and head to our gate. We have some time to eat our sandwiches, buy some sodas and relax before we board. Flight is full but there is some on-screen entertainment and they serve an onboard meal which is actually very tasty. Steve is feeling a bit under the weather so sleeps much of the time. Fl...
Read more

Abu Simbel -- Oct 12

Image
Up for as much breakfast as I can handle before we leave for Abu Simbel. First we are in the bus. We stop at the high dam. Then we head to the Aswan airport. Thru security 2x, and we wait at the gate for a good half hour. Some nice hassle free shipping however. Then on an airport bus to get to our chartered Petroleum Air plane. It's about a 45 minute flight over very desolate country. Then on to the next airport bus and then we are on a tour bus to take us to the temple. It's around 11am when we get there. And after a short hike.... lo, the magnificent temple of Abu Simbel is in front of us. Yassir has been our guide for this trip. We have about an hour to walk around. Narrating is not allowed inside so hopefully Yassir has given us enough of an intro. There are two temples -- one for Ramses II, one for his wife Nefertari. Again, it is hard to imagine how well preserved these temples are considering their age and that they were moved stone by stone! ...
Read more