Tuesday in Paris

Tuesday 15 October:

1pm Lunch at Astrance and 430pm tickets for Atelier des Lumieres were our bookings for the day.

We decided to walk over to the Palais de Tokyo for the Musee d’Art Moderne‘s free collection. What a lovely walk! Paris is just so beautiful. When we arrived at MAM, we discovered that the permanent collection would be closed until Thursday and we didn’t feel like paying 13E (I think) for the special exhibit. We exited through the Gift Shop thinking perhaps to return another day.

This building is really kind of ugly but it faces the Seine and has views of the Eiffel Tower. We headed to the nearest bridge (Passerelle Debilly, sadly covered in stupid locks) and crossed to the other side, chasing some golden domes. The walk along the river, past the Quai Branly Museum, lead us to the Russian Orthodox Center. The domes are pretty but the building itself is a modern monstrosity, in my opinion. It was closed until the afternoon. We crossed Pont de l’Alma to the other side of the Seine, fondly remembering taking many trips from this Metro stop with our niece in 2015, and meandered back to our ‘hood. There were loads of runners, walkers, Asian tour groups, tourists, traffic, bicyclists. It was wonderful!

We changed clothes and took the short walk to Astrance. This was our third time lunching there and it was as good as ever, for me (the non-red meats or pork eater). Husband was unhappy to receive the same “meat” dish that I did--a yummy chicken—which they hadn’t done before. Overall, we enjoyed our lunch but probably prefer the menu Chef creates in late Summer. I missed the floral touches.

After changing shoes at the apartment, we grabbed the Metro to the Pere Lachaise stop and walked to the Atelier des Lumieres. We’d seen the excellent Klimt (plus two) last year and knew this was something we’d enjoy again. This year they only allow tickets to be purchased ahead of time. Ours were for 430pm and we were a little late. But we were waved right in. We walked in to what turned out to be the 3rd presentation--reminded me of the cosmos. It was ok. Then the Van Gogh, which was fantastic! And then the Japanese presentation which I surprisingly loved. I would have stayed for all of them again but husband was antsy to get going. It was not crowded this late in the day.

Next on the agenda: Sitting and drinking—two of our favorite pastimes in Paris. From the Tripadvisor forum, I’d learned that rue Oberkampf had lots of drinking options so there we headed, passing pretty buildings, lively streets, and cute cafes. Husband lead us to Le Bercail and we first sat on the street then moved inside because of threatening rain. The servers couldn’t have been nicer and the prices for beer and wine were really cheap. We enjoyed this stop--except for the portapotty blocking the view of the street.

We continued down Oberkampf toward Menilmontant Metro stop. We spent a good 1.5 hours at Café Menilmontant drinking and munching on popcorn and being entertained by the frenetic waitress and much calmer bartender and waiters. By now it was around 830pm and we were hungry. There were loads of places to choose from along the way to the Pere Lachaise Metro station but we ended up very happily at Zagros. My chicken was delicious and husband enjoyed his beef. It was quite the contrast from Astrance but I enjoyed it just as much.

We took the Metro to Trocadero and stopped to see the Eiffel Tower. It was a beautiful clear night, with a full moon, and the ET was green. We don’t know why. But it was magnificent! And breathtaking when it sparkled! This was such a fantastic surprise to end our day.