Paris

Just kind of a wandering around day, with a few very nice experiences. We have always found that there comes a time in Paris when we're just worn down and today was the day. A bottle of wine and an early evening and we'll be ready to go. But how people come here, start at 8 a.m. and go to midnight, or visit three or four museums a day, well, I don't know how they do it. And I wonder if they really feel the magic of this city.

We started today at the Louvre. Now this is one huge museum, so we picked a small part to see, trying to limit ourselves to a couple hours there; after that, museum comatosity sets in. We got up early so we could be there soon after it opened, at nine. At 9:15, we're there, and there are lines to get in, which we expected. The lines are not moving, which we didn't expect. Oh, a sign explains it: there is a general meeting of museum staff and today, the Louvre will not open until 10:15. Forget that.

We walked down to l'Orangerie, a smaller museum that contains Monet's "Water Lillies," a series of huge paintings, in rooms designed for them in cooperation with Monet. I think there are seven of these paintings, all but one of them about forty feet long and six feet high. We have seen them before and were glad for the serendipity that allowed us to see them again. When we entered the first of the two rooms containing the Monets, there were four other people and an almost reverent silence.

Lunch was at a tiny restaurant recommended by son Craig, Au Pied du Fouet, the Whip Handle. The server explained that coachmen used to come there and leave their whips at the door, hence the name; this was when the restaurant first opened 150(!) years ago. It is a typical neighborhood restaurant - crowded (they'll seat two couples, completely unknown to each other, at a small table for four), small menu, nothing fancy, but great food. I had a soup, beef bourguignon, Laurie had a salad and salmon, we both had a claufoutis for dessért. All portions were big; none of that nouvelle cuisine here! Cheap for Paris: about $65 including half a liter of wine.

Then we went to a new, to us, museum: Cité de l'Arhitecture et l'Patrimoine. Big name for some big exhibits. In the early 1900s, someone got the idea to do molds of large parts of French buildings to preserve the history of French architecture. They did thousands of these molds. The museum is comprised of casts made from the molds. It's as if they've transported all these building parts to the museum; they are 100% accurate copies of the real thing. To give you an idea, here's a picture of one part of one room of one gallery.

That's a full-sized cast, painted to match the color, of the entrance to a Romanesque church in France. There are probably fifty such casts of church facades, and hundreds of other architectural features.

Laurie and I have gained an appreciation of architecture and what it tells about a country's history and culture; this museum provides a tour of the most important architectual sites in all of France, in one place.

Next time, we'll come to this museum early in the trip and early in the day. As fascinating as it was, our brains were full and it really overwhelmed us.

Then it was back to the hotel for a rest and some wine, a late-night walk and a relatively early evening. Bonne nuit.

Location:Rue Le Regrattier,Paris,France