Paris, France Trip Diary - continued

Added 5 March 2006. Pictures and stories from our trip to Paris, France, the week of February 13–19, 2005. Page 1 | 2

Day 4: The sacred and the secular. And a tower.

By now, Jean was saying that not having seen any of the famous Paris landmarks yet (the tower, the arc), he didn't really feel like he was in Paris—just in a nice city with amazing museums. So, we were rather pleased when our metro ride to Montmartre rose from underground and gave us a fantastic view of—the Eiffel Tower. Definitely a worthy ride.

We enjoyed the Montmartre neighbourhood as well. One strip is just all sex shops (though not quite a blatant as Amsterdam's). But just in behind are good restaurants, nice shops, and a hike up the mountain further, we reach Sacré Coeur church, the highest point in Paris. Though we'd been before, we couldn't resist climbing there again, especially since the morning was rather nice.

Then, for something completely different, we went to have a boo at the exhibits at the Musée de l'érotisme. Sorry, no pictures. But, it is an interesting historical collection. And unlike most Paris museums, explanatory labels are available in many languages, including English.

After lunch and snapping a shot of the Moulin Rouge (too expensive to actually go in), we headed back to the Tower, although the day had clouded over and cooled off some. We did the obligatory walk to and under it (but didn't go up), and out into the Champs de Mars. Then we warmed up with coffee at another semi-famous café, the Select, where Hemingway liked to hang out.

Food highlight du jour: Dinner at La Bastide Odéon, the best meal of the trip. We felt it was time to step up our dining experience a little, and winded up here—highly recommended! The very best item was my chocolate soup dessert, a silken melted dark chocolate with candied orange and ginger and chocolate sorbet. But the whole meal -- the salmon spring rolls, ravioli aux tomates et parmesan, shrimp risotto, cheese platter—was just amazing.

Day 5: Notre Dame de Paris, City Islands, Picasso

Having determined that the Sewer Tours were likely shut down (they close for two weeks in February), we decided to try for the nearby Catacombs Tour. Unfortunately, they were under renovation until May. So, we took the metro to Ile de la Cité, whose most famous landmark is the Cathédrale Notre Dame. Which, it has to be said, really is an impressive building. (We also enjoyed watching the “bird man” outside.)

Departing from there, we walked to Ile St-Louis, home of a number of interesting shops and architecture. We stopped in at a candy shop, and the very nice proprietor helped us pick out a few gift items.

Then it was off to the Musée Picasso, where Jean concluded again that modern art isn't really his thing, but he did enjoy some pieces. I was struck by the fact that Picasso's art hadn't progressed as I'd expected it would, from realistic to increasingly abstract, but followed a much more nonlinear (I suppose artistic) style changes throughout his life.

Our next stop was rue de la Butte des Cailles, which didn't turn out to be quite as notably charming as advertised. (Perhaps it's different in summer.) But, we did stop in a nice tea shop there. We spent our evening in the Quartier Latin, enjoying walking around at night without feeling uncomfortable or unsafe (even when we got slightly lost).

Food highlights du jour: The pain au chocolat at Gallerie Lafayette—completely without atmosphere, but cheap and delicious. Also the dessert crêpes at some random crêperie in the Quartier Latin, particularly the dramatic-tasting ice cream that accompanied them.

Day 6: Weird science and fine wine

Today's goal museum was the Science Museum, located in the lovely Jardin des Plantes. This museum actually consists of three buildings: the dramatic Gallerie de l'Evolution, a Mineral museum, and a Paleontology museum, mostly featuring old bones. I had pre-determined that I really wanted to go to the Evolution museum, was somewhat interested in the minerals, but could definitely skip the Paleontology (which I had dubbed the “weird bone” museum).

Cathy: You sure this isn't the weird bone museum? I see a bunch of bones in there.
Jean: Well, they're not particularly weird bones.
(Upon paying and walking into the room and seeing nothing but skeletons)
Cathy: This is it! This is the weird bone museum!

Oh well. It turned out to be a somewhat interesting collection of old bones and fossils. Then we did go to the Evolution Gallery, which was more modern and interesting, though not necessarily better than similar museums in other cities. And we skipped the Minerals.

We then did a bit of shopping in the Quartier Latin, including some wine to bring back.

Food highlights du jour: The kir and white wine with dinner at Pré Vert. A Fodor's Choice, it didn't end up being quite as good as la Bastide Odéon, but it was still a nice meal.

Day 7: Toronto to Paris

We went for breakfast at La Coupole for a last hurrah (and chocolate croissant), only to be rained on during the walk there. Ah well. We were pretty much métro veterans at this point, so getting back to Charles de Gaule airport wasn't a problem. Finding our way around Charles de Gaule airport was another story. However, eventually someone helped us locate the Air France flights to Toronto.

The flight back was somewhat longer than there, but seemed very much longer, because we didn't sleep. Jean watched four movies; I saw two (The Bourne Supremacy and Alfie). Pearson was its usual crazed self on arrival; we got through it, checked into our hotel, and met up with Michelle and Hugh after dinner. Then it was back to Waterloo early the next morning.

See also: Some more Paris photos at our Yahoo Photo site