{"id":119,"date":"2009-07-20T05:43:26","date_gmt":"2009-07-20T13:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/bigmap\/blog\/?p=119"},"modified":"2009-07-20T06:36:11","modified_gmt":"2009-07-20T14:36:11","slug":"paris_france_may_22-may_27_2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/bigmap\/blog\/2009\/07\/20\/paris_france_may_22-may_27_2009\/","title":{"rendered":"Paris, France: May 22-May 27, 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five days in Paris<\/a> at the end of May.<\/p>\n

Day One<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lines were way too long at the Eiffel Tower on a Saturday of a holiday weekend (Friday had been a bank holiday throughout France):<\/p>\n

\"Tour<\/p>\n

But the morning sun was good for a picture at least from Champ de Mars<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"Tour<\/p>\n

Went to Rue Cler<\/a>, where we got a “tranche” of gold medal-winning Fromage de Tete (head cheese) at Charcuterie Jeusselin<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"Fromage<\/p>\n

Then walked by or through the Esplanade des Invalides<\/a>, Petit Palais<\/a>, Champs Elysees<\/a>, Place de la Concorde<\/a> and the Jardin des Tuileries<\/a>, where we visited the Musee de l’Orangerie<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"Le<\/p>\n

And then the Musee d’Orsay<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"Musée<\/p>\n

After, we went back to the Hotel Malar<\/a>, the hotel in the 7th Arrondissement where we stayed, via Place du Palais Bourbon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We had dinner at Bistrot Victoires<\/a> in the 1st Arrondissement, then walked around by the Louvre, Eglise Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois<\/a>, La Samaritaine<\/a> (which is closed until 2010 or something) and Place du Chatelet<\/a> before getting Maison Berthillon Ice Cream<\/a> on the Ile Saint-Louis. Then we walked by Notre-Dame<\/a> at dusk:<\/p>\n

\"Cathédrale<\/p>\n

Day Two<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pere-Lachaise Cemetery<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"Jim<\/p>\n

An Antiquite Brocante<\/a> street sale outside the cemetery:<\/p>\n

\"Les<\/p>\n

Lunch at L’As du Fallafel<\/a> in the Marais:<\/p>\n

\"L'As<\/p>\n

The Musee Carnavalet<\/a> city history museum, where you can see Proust’s bedroom:<\/p>\n

\"Proust's<\/p>\n

A Bateaux-Mouches river cruise<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"Pont<\/p>\n

Snack at Lenotre<\/a> and dinner at Restaurant Ma Bourgogne<\/a> in the Place des Vosges<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"Escargots,<\/p>\n

Day Three<\/strong><\/p>\n

We delayed our Trip to the Top of the Eiffel Tower<\/a> until Monday, and fortunately the weather was just as nice as it was on Saturday when the lines were too long. It still took a long time. We got in line at 12:33 p.m., reached the second level (first elevator) at 1:42 p.m., then waited in line for the elevator to the top for at least 45 minutes and finally got champagne on the top level at 2:42 p.m.:<\/p>\n

\"Champagne<\/p>\n

Yes, you can “do” the Louvre in under two hours<\/a>, at least if you hit the<\/a> highlights<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"La<\/p>\n

Dinner at Les Fetes Galantes<\/a> in the 5th Arrondissement (recommended):<\/p>\n

\"Les<\/p>\n

We swung by the Pantheon<\/a> and Saint-Etienne-du-Mont<\/a>, stumbled on a night of street art<\/a> at Place Saint-Sulpice<\/a>, and saw the Eiffel Tower at night from the Hotel National des Invalides<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"Eiffel<\/p>\n

Day Four<\/strong><\/p>\n

Picked up victuals at Rue Mouffetard<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"Palet<\/p>\n

Ate a breakfast in the Jardin des Plantes<\/a> before boarding a RER<\/a> train at Gare d’Austerlitz<\/a> for Versailles<\/a>. We didn’t realize that the employees who hand out audioguides would ever go on strike, but there they were, on strike:<\/p>\n

\"Audioguides<\/p>\n

\"Audioguides<\/p>\n

The other group of workers on strike that day were the people who sold tickets, but the work action only meant that instead of being able to buy a pass for all the Versailles attractions in one place at a reduced price, you had to pay separately for each. And that is when France turns into a parody of itself.<\/p>\n

Dinner at Chez L’Ami Jean<\/a> in the 7th Arrondissement (highly, highly recommended):<\/p>\n

\"Langoustines,<\/p>\n

A note about the 50 Euro tasting menu at Chez L’Ami Jean: It is totally, totally worth it. Remember that the service is included in France (and most of Europe), so 50 Euros (which today is $71.09) is really reasonable for a meal of this caliber. For comparison’s sake, a tasting menu at WD-50 is $140 and one at Momofuku Ko is $85 — those are just two examples of places we’ve eaten at that seemed (sort of) similar in experience (and that we’ve like a lot). Chez L’Ami Jean was $70, service included. Unbelievable value, and as fantastic a dining experience. Like I said, highly, highly recommended.<\/p>\n

Day Five<\/strong><\/p>\n

Food shopping around the Place de la Madeleine<\/a> was just window shopping except for macarons from Laduree<\/a>, which were consumed just before visiting the Palais Garnier<\/a>, or Paris Opera:<\/p>\n

\"Grand<\/p>\n

Then we took in the view from the roof of Galeries Lafayette<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"Eiffel<\/p>\n

A final croque-madame at a place in the 7th Arrondissement<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"Croque-Madame,<\/p>\n

Also . . .<\/strong><\/p>\n

We saw<\/em> the Arc de Triomphe<\/a> and Sacre Coeur<\/a> but didn’t visit either one. At least one of us used one of those fantastic free Sanisettes on the street<\/a>. And not only is the Paris Metro<\/a> a convenient way to get around but they also have funny cartoons of rabbits:<\/p>\n

\"Faire<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five days in Paris at the end of May. Day One Lines were way too long at the Eiffel Tower on a Saturday of a holiday weekend (Friday had been a bank holiday throughout France): But the morning sun was good for a picture at least from Champ de Mars: Went to Rue Cler, where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-out_of_town"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/bigmap\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/bigmap\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/bigmap\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/bigmap\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/bigmap\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/bigmap\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/bigmap\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions\/121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/bigmap\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/bigmap\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/bigmap\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}