Farnsniente

Runners and bikers enjoying the sun along the Siene

A sunny Saturday running around Paris

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in
📍 Paris, France

Photos

Trip index

Summary

We woke up to a gorgeous day! It was another holiday, this one celebrating Victory in Europe Day,  the end of WWII. There was a military parade on the Champs-Élysées which we avoided. We, along with thousands of our best friends also not at the parade, checked out the Bread Festival being held in front of Norte Dame then began a walk that took a good portion of the day. Along the quai, through the courtyards of the Louvre, around Place Vendôme, to La Madeleine church and finally the Musée d’Orsay. We enjoyed a special exhibit featuring the works of Pierre-Augusta Renoir then went up to the 5th floor to see the rest of the Impressionist collection. Dinner at Mexi and Co. near our hotel.

Details

Looking out of our 5th floor Paris hotel window we see what we’d hoped for: Sunny, cool (48°), and lots of blue sky.

At breakfast downstairs we’re asked how we’d like them to prepare our eggs (ham and cheese omelette). There are big cups of freshly cut fruit (citrus, kiwi, pomegranate, pineapple, melon, apple, berries). To that, from what they have on offer, I add walnuts, almonds, dried plums, and dried apricots. I’m in heaven. Coffee is made to order (likely one of those big automated machines but it’s hidden from my view). 15€. We’ll be back tomorrow. 

This hotel where we’re staying (Hôtel du Collège de France) understandably gets good reviews. It’s on a quiet street close to the Latin Quarter where the Americans cluster. Before we checked in they were very communicative via WhatsApp. Even after we were checked in we got a lot of info (by WhatsApp) including a link to a YouTube video explaining how to control the room’s climate control system (and, I guess, also providesing lots of explanations for why it’s not working on the hottest days). This must save the hotel staff LOTS of time. 

We’re on the 5th floor. The design of many the buildings here in Paris is very similar. Shops on the 1st floor, balcony of the 2nd and 6th (as the Americans count them… 1st and 5th in the French way of counting floors). We have an elevator up to our floor (but not the one above us, which was traditionally just for the maids). We also have a stairway (just one) with a spiral staircase. 

Karen normally elevators up and I do the stairs. So far I’ve always gotten there first. I think it says more about the slowness of the elevator than my speed.

We eventually set out for a walk. It’s still sunny and cool. We’re headed north and so pass in front of Notre Dame again, where the big bread exposition is in full swing. The tents are now open and inside talented boulangers are plying their craft in front of adoring crowds. They’re working quickly but interacting with the observers. Karen’s able to snag a sample cookie and it’s awesome. The croissants each look perfect. We see them being made and we see them coming out of the ovens. They’re also selling all things baked. Our guess is that it’s an attempt to keep the traditional boulangeries in the minds of the Parisians and tourists. It works for us.

Next we’re walking along the Siene, on a road that used to be for cars, but now is permanently for walking, biking, sitting, and whatever. There are lots of young Parisians jogging. We see a Paris fire department boat tied up  and a fire fighter off getting a swim. We pass a big group off people, thankfully off to the side, just standing there. They’re all wearing Meta Headsets. We gather this is a business where the tour includes you seeing what Paris looked like 100s of years ago. It’s a bizarre sight from our vantage point.  

At the Louvre, we head up from the Siene into the big Louvre courtyard. Through an arch and we’re admiring the I. M. Pei glass pyramids (along with many hundreds of other tourists). 

We continue along towards the Tuileries in the direction of the big Place de La Concorde. Karen remembers today is a holiday (to remember the end of WW II). There was likely a parade and that would have undoubtedly gone down the Champs Élysées, probably good to avoid that area for a while. 

We leave the Tuileries and go see the shiny gold “Joanie on a Pony” (Joan of Arc, aka Jeanne d’Arc) on the Rue du Rivoli. We continue in that direction, over to Place Vendôme with its tall cylinder monument. We see where Karen took cooking classes at the Ritz (the same place Princess Di’s last chauffeur was over served that fateful night). We see what was “the” official meter measurement for many years. 

We walk down the chi-chi Boulevard Faubourg St Honoré with all its fancy expensive clothing shops. On display are some cute leather coin purses for only 650€. The perfect stocking stuffer (for some people). 

At the huge church of La Madeleine we walk the streets of the church’s perimeter, admiring the church and looking for a restaurant that we think we used to eat at around here. We never do find the restaurant (I think it’s now a clothing store) but we’re happy with the bustling brasserie where we end up: London Paris, or some such name. 

Our lunches are yummy and the people watching is first rate. After lunch we press on smartly towards the Orsay Museum. Along the way we walk across the Place de la Concorde where cars normally drive crazy fast. For now they have half of the Place blocked off for an enormous photography exhibition. It’s 6’x12’ photographs of “groups”. Firemen, lady barristers, a big family, fishermen, ballet dancers, etc. etc. They have a big room set up where other groups can be photographed. It’s apparently encouraging the idea that we’re all one big group, let’s get along. 

At the d’Orsay (museum) we queue up for the Renoir exhibit going on. Everyone’s tickets are for either the top or bottom of the hour, so there aren’t too many people in at once. Inside we get to see his studies and sketches that later became famous paintings we all know. It’s an interesting exhibit but we feel underwhelmed. 

Continuing on, to see other art in the museum’s permanent collection, we find the real Renoir exhibit we had tickets for. Whoops!! This is better and more crowded. Of course all of his greatest hits are there and people are crowded around to see. By the end of those two exhibits we’re exhausted from the crowd but head up to the 5th floor to see the permanent impressionist paintings. Again, talk about crowded. 

We recover with a beer and coffee in the 5th floor restaurant. Before we head out I ask the lady at the next table, as she’s getting up to leave, if she’d be so kind as to take our picture. We want us plus the big clock behind us. I use my best French. She’s happy to oblige and takes a number of pictures. She tells us to say “Fromage!” It turns out she’s a Brit from the UK. 

For dinner we succumb to our hunger for Mexican food. The place we find (Mexi&Co.) is really pretty good. 

Photos

Just what we were hoping for: blue sky and sunshine. It’s deliciously cool and supposed to be lovely all day.
Heading the six flights down to breakfast. You can see Karen’s hand on the banister a couple of flights below me.
Breakfast is only 15 euros each, but includes coffee service, eggs to order, and bowls of freshly cut fruit.
We enjoy and try to be our usual silly selves.
In the sun, in front of Notre Dame, the bread show is going on.
We poke our heads in and get to witness pastries being made by highly accomplished bakers. Questions are asked and answered, and samples are given out. You can also buy what they’re making. Mindshare is the name of the game. Keep boulangeries in the Paris experience for years to come.
In the near distance we can see the pastries both before and after baking.
On a road that for decades was for cars we see the only travelers now allowed: joggers, bikers, walkers, skaters. Much more civil. Behind is the new bridge (the Pont Neuf) which I think is the oldest bridge in Paris. We can see boats, the Eiffel Tower, and the Institute where they decide which words can and can’t come into the revered French language.
Something we’ve not seen before: a crowd of people unable to see the Paris around them, or at least the Paris of today. Per the leader’s tee shirt I gather this is a tourist offering whereby people see and hear what different parts of Paris would have looked, and sounded, like back in different times in history. Interesting.
In front of the Louvre there are, of course, mobs of tourists. For years that arch had been covered in scaffolding, but they’re now done and it looks marvelous.
To get away from the crowds we head away from the Louvre, making a quick visit to what we call “Joanie on a pony” (Joan of Arc).
The obelisk at Place Vendome looks pretty in the sunlight. Behind, with the white awnings, is the Ritz where Princess Di was staying and where her chauffeur had a bit too much to drink before driving her off for the last time.
Lunch across from La Madeleine Church. Nem for me (fried chicken rolls wrapped in a lettuce leaf with a big leaf of mint, to be dipped in sweet sauce… divine). Karen is good and has chicken paillard. And of course beer, yum.
At the Renoir exhibit, about love, they have many of his lesser seen works, but also his greatest hits, like this one from the flour mill.
Alas we weren’t there alone.
Recovering at the cafe on the 5th floor of the Orsay, the iconic clock behind us.
Mexican food in Paris. Not bad at all. Filled the craving we’ve been having. This is our first course.
We walked after dinner, ending up at the garden by the Cluny. Very pretty. Loved by people and (as we saw) lots of rats. Sorry, I didn’t catch them in any of my pictures, don’t spend time searching.