It's snowing in Paris! As if the city wasn't pretty enough, here comes a coating of stardust.
This may be the end of our jet lag as neither of us dozed off any time during the day?
We're now having breakfast at home almost each morning including Tropicana blood orange juice and muesli with milk...trying to stay away from the buttery croisants (so good). But we do go for Cafe au Lait at our favorite bar Le Nemrod down the street, still the best around here, and a place where we've met a few interesting people.
We decide to walk to the Musee D'Orsay today through the snow. Few cars are on the road and it's beautiful. Along the way we come upon the Hotel Lutetia where about two years ago Hermes commissioned a famous architect to transform what once was its gigantic Art Deco swimming pool into one of the most spectacular retail stores we've ever seen. The pictures don't do it justice. We force ourselves to leave but will return again.
Our main destination today is the Musee D'Orsay, the converted rail station on the Quai D'Orsay which runs along the Seine opposite the Louvre. The transformation of this beautiful old building into a MoMA rival is spectacular and brings to mind the successful rescue of the Grand Central Terminal building in NYC. As we walk on the treacherous, snow covered sidewalks we arrive at the museum to find a ticket line of hundreds of people. We are in shock at the prospect of a long, cold wait and there are only a few hours to take in the exhibits before closing. Out of nowhere appears a lovely French woman waving tickets she purchased on-line but cannot use...two of them. For some reason she locks onto Jill, offers her a discounted price of 10 Euros each, and agrees to accompany us to the entrance, skirting around all these hundreds of people waiting in line, to guarantee their authenticity and make sure we get in if we buy her tickets. Wow! It works and we get right in. Who said the French weren't nice, and Kudos to Jill for handling this opportunity.
Inside the place is huge and jammed and you hear every language. We find the Impressionist Galleries way on the top floor, and it is spectacular, even beyond words. Signs all over indicate no picture taking, but to Jill that is just a suggestion. She manages to task dozens of great pictures for our blog.
At closing we hop on the Metro to Place de la Madeleine and Rue Tronchet. Jill needs to confer with the Optique store where she has ordered frames. All is in order and we return home to freshen up for our 8 o'clock restaurant reservation.
Then we trudge out into the cold snowy night...but not just any cold snowy night...this one is spectacular because it's in magnificent Paris. Our restaurant tonight, La Cigal Reclamier, was recommended by a sales lady at the Hermes store. They specialize in soufflé, both savory for main courses and sweet for desert. The choices are amazing, like fois gras, legumes (vegetable), epoisse (our favorite stinky cheese), and caramel avec fleur de sel. We will probably come back to try some of the other flavors.
After dinner we stroll home again, totally in a dream state from the delicious dinner and snow-kissed night!!
No comments:
Post a Comment