Bonsoir, bonne soiree
Howdy. In Paris. Pretty happy. Not a perfect journey (my old stash of metro tickets refused to go through the barriers, meaning I had to queue at Gare du Nord for 2 machines and 1 ticket kiosk along with 1000 other people off my Eurostar - busier than usual because the late night trains didn't make it last night on account of lightning storms hitting a power plant for the railway, ugh. I still don't know what's wrong with the old tickets, they look pretty much exactly like the ones I bought and are only a couple of years old. Metro tickets usually last pretty much forever, but eh, whatever, I have a new carnet and it'll see me out for this trip).
But. I'm here. I have an okay hotel (I've never yet had a 'nice' hotel in Paris. Okay is a considerable step up from some in my cash strapped student days). It's on the left bank, which I don't know so well, which is good regarding anxiety as it's less hurried and also less full of memories. I'm eating in the hotel tonight, having found a very handy supermarket nearby. Budget issues, meh. But the wine in the minibar is good bordeaux, and cold cuts with pate and good bread are going down just fiiine.
I set myself a slow day today, given prior collywobbles and also that it's been a stupidly busy few weeks and I do actually want to wind down this weekend. So, to my nearest museum (I thought - turns out Musee Maillol is about 10 yards away, but it's not on my list), the Musee Rodin. I highly recommend. It's a nice walk through very posh shopping streets (and also administrative/government streets clearly - lots of flics, lots of tricolores, and a buttload of Chinese flags, which gives a clue to which bigwig is in town, though I've not actually checked who it is). The museum is Rodin's old home, which is an 18th century mansion in gorgeous gardens. Frankly, even if you know and care nothing about Rodin's sculptures, you should come here anyway. It's very calm and lovely. There's a cafe in the garden, and about 8 rooms of sculpture in the mansion as well as more bronzes outside, but not enough to feel a drag. And Rodin collected van Gogh paintings, which I did *not* know, and was a considerable surprise when I got to that room.
I lunched in the sunshine at the museum, had a look at the exhibits and then walked down to the Invalides which is next door. And that was about it. I really am knackered, and my worse knee is very unhappy, which might constrain the next few days a bit. I may yet end up on a batobus or a bus tour, neither of which I've done since I first came here 19 years ago (Christ, I'm old). But that's okay. It's not time for competitive tourism. I live less than four hours away, ffs, I can come back any time. Lighten up. (Can you tell it's not really you I'm persuading here?)
The next few days is going to be mid-level museums which I mostly haven't seen at all, though I reckon I've been here 10 times or so, counting day stopovers. I've got a little Paris guidebook because its maps are better than a big flappy fold out thing - it's a Paris top 10 must see sort of deal. Apart from the aforementioned wander round the buildings at the Invalides, and the fact that from this angle of town you can't avoid seeing the Eiffel Tower every second glance, I don't think I'm going to see a thing in their main top 10. Second-tier Paris is pretty much stellar by any other city's standards, though, so this should be (continued) fun.
But. I'm here. I have an okay hotel (I've never yet had a 'nice' hotel in Paris. Okay is a considerable step up from some in my cash strapped student days). It's on the left bank, which I don't know so well, which is good regarding anxiety as it's less hurried and also less full of memories. I'm eating in the hotel tonight, having found a very handy supermarket nearby. Budget issues, meh. But the wine in the minibar is good bordeaux, and cold cuts with pate and good bread are going down just fiiine.
I set myself a slow day today, given prior collywobbles and also that it's been a stupidly busy few weeks and I do actually want to wind down this weekend. So, to my nearest museum (I thought - turns out Musee Maillol is about 10 yards away, but it's not on my list), the Musee Rodin. I highly recommend. It's a nice walk through very posh shopping streets (and also administrative/government streets clearly - lots of flics, lots of tricolores, and a buttload of Chinese flags, which gives a clue to which bigwig is in town, though I've not actually checked who it is). The museum is Rodin's old home, which is an 18th century mansion in gorgeous gardens. Frankly, even if you know and care nothing about Rodin's sculptures, you should come here anyway. It's very calm and lovely. There's a cafe in the garden, and about 8 rooms of sculpture in the mansion as well as more bronzes outside, but not enough to feel a drag. And Rodin collected van Gogh paintings, which I did *not* know, and was a considerable surprise when I got to that room.
I lunched in the sunshine at the museum, had a look at the exhibits and then walked down to the Invalides which is next door. And that was about it. I really am knackered, and my worse knee is very unhappy, which might constrain the next few days a bit. I may yet end up on a batobus or a bus tour, neither of which I've done since I first came here 19 years ago (Christ, I'm old). But that's okay. It's not time for competitive tourism. I live less than four hours away, ffs, I can come back any time. Lighten up. (Can you tell it's not really you I'm persuading here?)
The next few days is going to be mid-level museums which I mostly haven't seen at all, though I reckon I've been here 10 times or so, counting day stopovers. I've got a little Paris guidebook because its maps are better than a big flappy fold out thing - it's a Paris top 10 must see sort of deal. Apart from the aforementioned wander round the buildings at the Invalides, and the fact that from this angle of town you can't avoid seeing the Eiffel Tower every second glance, I don't think I'm going to see a thing in their main top 10. Second-tier Paris is pretty much stellar by any other city's standards, though, so this should be (continued) fun.