Random Highlights and Delights of our time in Paris

We are beginning our final week in Paris (for now…) and, although I’m looking forward to the adventures to come, I’ll be sad to leave the City of Light.  There is just so much here that there is always something new around the next corner.  I wanted to share some of these delights…

On the recommendation of someone we met, we took a guided tour of the Palais Garnier, an opulent building that is the home of the Paris Opera.  Finished in 1875, and recently restored, it is well worth visiting. We decided after the guided tour (15 euros), however, that we’d probably been just as happy renting the audio guide (5 euros) and this doesn’t require a reservation.

Everyone takes boat cruises down the Seine (and we will, too), but few know about traversing the Canal St Martin through Paris.  This cruise begins at the Port d’Arsenal (near the Bastille Metro) to the Bassin de la Villettes. In 2.5 hours, you travel through a 2km underground tunnel(!), 4 double locks and 2 swinging bridges right in the middle of the neighborhoods of Paris. It’s a lovely way to pass an afternoon.

Last week, I took a cooking class at La Cuisine Paris and learned how to make macarons. These little cookies are everywhere in Paris, and they’re not cheap! Now I know why they’re so expensive.  There were 8 people in my class, all English speakers. We didn’t just watch the master; we got our hands sticky and had fun making our own creations (chocolate praline and salted caramel fillings…yum…). We ate a few during the class, but each person also went away with a box of macarons, too.

Paris is full of museums. Our favorites are the smaller ones that don’t overwhelm,  like the Orangerie and Musée Marmottan, both of which feature Monet’s paintings. We visited the Marmottan with our friends Anne & Jeff last week and enjoyed the special exhibition that put paintings by Monet, Hodler and Munch side by side.  The museum also houses the largest existing collection of Monet’s work.

 

We then returned to Anne & Jeff’s neighborhood markets and put together a spectacular ‘picnic,’ which we enjoyed in their lovely dining room.

I’ve been reading about the covered passages in Paris and, yesterday, we set out to discover a few of them.  These were the early version of the shopping arcade and in the 1850s there were as many as 150 in the city.  Today only about 20 exist, all on the Right Bank.  Each has it’s own unique character; some are a bit run-down, but some, like the Passage du Grand Cerf (rue St. Denis, 2nd arr), are beautiful, and filled with little shops that just sparkle!

Another type of shopping altogether is the Paris flea market.  Here you can find everything from knock-off watches and leather jackets to antique furniture and paintings next to random drawer pulls and buttons in bins and guys hawking hot iPhones!  Marché aux Puces (Metro #4 to Pte de Clingancourt) is the biggest and most famous of these.  It is a maze of alleyways filled with stalls.  It’s easy to get lost browsing the eclectic offerings.

Department stores are not usually worth noting, but the Galeries Lafayette  on the Boulevard Haussman is an exception.  The views of central Paris from its rooftop terrace are great, but the real lure is the atrium inside. This store rivals any building we’ve seen in its grandeur!

Speaking of views, though, a trip up to the top of the Tour Montparnasse provided a pretty spectacular 360° look at Paris and its surrounds.  We began on the 56th floor where you view from inside, but walking the 3 flights to 59 provides an outdoor view that is even better. We think this view is better than that from the top of the Eiffel Tower, and it’s a lot easier to get a ticket! It is in the 15th arr and there is a Metro stop close by, but we got there on the #96 bus straight from rue du Rivoli.

On Beverly & Ginny’s last night here (more about their visit in a later post), we took a short (1 hour) cruise on the Seine.  It was a lovely way to see the city by night without committing to a dinner on board – there are way better places to eat in Paris. There are lots of boat companies, but we chose Vendettes du Pont Neuf because they had many excursion times and they picked up from a convenient spot on the Ile de la Cité under the Pont Neuf.

We’re packing in a lot as our time here winds down.  And there’s still more to come…