Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Paris - day 2



Monday. We woke up around 5am to a downpour outside, went back to sleep until 7:30 and it was still raining.  Oh well, it's just water, not a problem.  We left the hotel and bought an umbrella then decided to take the metro to our first destination, which was the Pompidou to see the Kandinsky exhibit.  We arrived a bit early so sat under an awning at a cafe and had a coffee.  Then we walked over to the museum...the line was HUGE and we don't do lines and huge crowds (i know, what are we doing in Paris in June then), so we decided to just shop around the Marais. It wasn't raining very hard anymore and we had a great time.  Then we went over to Place de Vosges and looked in some of the many galleries.  We cruised around that area a bit more and then took the metro back to the hotel for a little break.  Then we went back out around 5pm and decided to go to one of the biggest shopping stores in France "Les Galeries Lafayette, in the  8th.  OMG is all I can say, 6 levels of shopping and each designer has it's own little shop in the big shop, a bit overwhelming but amazing.  We spent about 1 1/2 hours there and then decided to head out to dinner and come back when we had more time.  

Dinner was over in the 7th at a restaurant we went to 8 years ago when we were here.  It's on Rue Cler a lovely street and it was excellent.  Nothing fancy, but good food, good service and great wine.  We then decided to walk home, which was quite a ways away but what the hell.  We went over to the 6th and then over to îsle de la Cité and then back into the 4th where we stopped for a glass of wine (because it started to rain really hard around 11:00 pm) and then to the 11th to our hotel - Grand Hotel Francais (we did jump on the metro in the 4th to get us home because it was raining so hard.  So we visited the 11th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 8th, 1st, 2nd, 7th, 6th and the isle de la Cité all 1 day.   The metro is amazing, so convenient and so easy.  We road it quite a bit today when it was raining.

We had a lovely day today and didn't do anything touristy, which is so us.  We have been here before and seen most museums and attractions so this week is just finding places that are cool and different.  Here are some shots from the day.


place de vosges

notre dame




yummy!



5 comments:

La Framéricaine said...

I'm right there with you on the lines, or the NO lines! However, you can skip the lines with the Museum Pass from the L'Open Tour office just across the street from the Garnier Opéra. Since I'm a gimp, I've taken that tour bus a zillion times (4 routes) on the top level and love the aerial view that it offers as a contrast to the métro view.

I'm also right there with you in spirit because I was there last month. My now time flies!

Have fun & LOVE the photos!

Cindy said...

Nice photos! sounds like a lovely two days you've had in Paris! glad to hear Fanny is doing well too.

Randal Graves said...

Now what's wrong with long lines and huge crowds? Nothing spices up ogling fancy artwork like pushy yokels.

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

Hi I found you on Barbara's blog ...she is so lovely, I met her in April, also Leesa and Dawn. We had a fantastic lunch that Leesa had organized for 14 of us, bloggers and expats, it was an amazing trip..

Yes we don't do line/queing either, only for the Eiffel tower, and this was our(my friend Caroline) first visit to Paris and my friends first to France..we saw lots of tourist sites but next time we won't have to do that, it was awesome.

leesa, Dawn and Barbara are fantastic hostesses...and Leesa was an amazing tour guide. We have now made new friends, which is wonderful.

Barbara said...

Hi Alisa,
Just catching up with my comments ( I was sooo busy this past week).
First, Kudos to Ann for the warm words; Thank you honey !

That sounds like a great day to me. Why do like everyone else? You are both artists and are more attracted to artsy places.Though everyone should try at least once to stroll in the Galeries Layette. Did you see the huge dome from the inside?? Incroyable !

Join the club; I hate crowds too !

xx