Day 3

Neighborhood Paris

I'm so excited to meet the rest of the group today! And we're going on a walking tour! And we'll see parts of Paris I haven't before!

We take the metro as a group to Châtelet station (hey, that's the station I used last night for the Pompidou!). But now I'm with a tour guide, so I get to learn a whole bunch more. First lesson: Châtelet means Little Castle.

Our guide is Elisabeth, and I recognize her from my 2018 Best of Paris tour! I also learn that our tour apprentice Richard is Patrick's son. Patrick was my guide in 2018. Wow, it's like I'm a part of a special Rick Steves French family!

We start in the Place Ste Oppurtune, and Elisabeth introduces La Rive Droite. It translates as Right Bank, because that's what side of the river we're on. It has royal origins, starting with the fortress that is now the Louvre.

We proceed to a square where King Henry IV was assassinated. Henry III (who we'll meet in a few days on our tour!) had no sons, and Henry IV was a distant relative that took the crown after his death. Problem: Henry IV was a Huguenot (a French Protestant, more or less following the reformer John Calvin). Even though he converted to Catholicism to be king, the French People were not okay with a Protestant king, so they killed him in the square.

Next up, a stop at Forum Des Halles. I've heard the name before because it has a very big metro/train station, but now I get to learn about it! And...it's a mall. The architecture is rather mid-century tacky, but its origins are centuries old. Just as we're standing under the mall's cover to be cool and comfortable on this warm, sunny day, 600 years ago merchants built walls and roofs over the market on this space to protect their goods.

It really is a beautiful sunny day. After walking through a lovely park, we step into the church of St Eustace. It's just a church because there's no bishop seat here, but it's bigger than Notre Dame cathedral because it was built in a rich neighborhood. Inside the church, Elisabeth teaches us that we can tell it's renaissance rather than gothic because of the baubles on the ceiling, and that stained glass was the best way to teach bible stories to a congregation that couldn't read.

Upon exiting the church, we stumble onto Rue Montorgueil, a very Parisian street. Elisabeth has been leading this walking tour for decades, and she remarks how she's seen it change. It used to be the perfect market street, with all the food and cooking supplies you could need. Now, more and more Parisians leave the city to shop, loading what they need into their cars, changing the character of the street. But I have a feeling I will still love it. I confess to being quite distracted as soon as I see Virginie exit the Pâtisserie. Does she have treats?

This has become my favorite photo of Virginie...yum!

Yes. Yes she does. Her boxes are full of petits choux. Choux is puff pastry, and mine is pistachio flavor. Petit chou is also a term of endearment. But chou is also cabbage, so lots of French people call their loved ones little cabbage.

And the choux are just the beginning of the adventures our mouths will take on this walking tour! Next up is the cheesemonger, where we sample two types of cheese, accompanied by quince jam, cherries, and strawberries. I invent something I've named pique-nique à la main, or hand picnic.

We leave the Rue Montorgueil, continuing our walk past beautiful architecture, a pretty little shopping arcade, and pause under the shade of an arcade on the grounds of the Palais Royale. Did Virginie just go in a chocolate shop?

She did, and she brought us Praluline, that I gobbled up before I thought to take a photo. Not chocolate, but a nutty brioche bread with the perfect amount of sweetness.

As our tour winds down, Elisabeth runs into a friend, and she seizes the opportunity to teach us that in Paris they kiss on four cheeks! Virginie reads our surprised expressions and shares how surprised she was when she got her first hug in America: "why is your whole body touching mine?"

And amongst the columns of the Palais Royale, I remember one final French culture lesson because there are two words for you in French. Elisabeth and Virginie both commented on who they call tu and who they call vous.

The four hours we've spent on this walking tour have flown by thanks to snacks and park stops, and it's time for our Louvre reservation!

Elisabeth, Virginie, and Richard

Today's Highlights:

walking tour
Louvre
Orsay
Museum of the Middle Ages (well, most of it)

Forum Des Halles

I found the pharmacy!

a café on Rue Montorgueil

mon pique-nique à la main

A lot of us in the group recognized this garden from Emily in Paris!

The Louvre

After helping us through security at the Louvre, Elisabeth says goodbye, but first she gives us the best Louvre advice...a secret toilet location! There are a lot of places to wait in line at the Louvre, and I'm exceedingly glad that the toilet is not one of them. And if you think I'm going to share this secret location, then you are very, very wrong; you'll have to book your own tour!

She also gives us permission to skip Mona Lisa. I'm excited because she says there's a nice copy in Amboise, and we'll be there in a few days.

Most of our tour group is at the Louvre for the first time, so they follow the audioguide on the Rick Steves Audio Europe app. (how about a link so you can download the app too?) That tour focuses on the Denon wing, whose entrance is on the right. The Denon wing was also the focus of our Louvre tour in 2018 (where Elisabeth was our guide as a matter of fact!). So I go left, to the Richelieu wing. I get to see French sculptures, European decorative arts, and paintings of Northern Europe. I happily wander through works by old friends that I've met on previous trips to Germany and the Netherlands, like Holbein and Vermeer. And it is perfectly un-crowded.

As I exit, I wander over to the Denon wing, and I catch just a glimpse of the queue for Mona Lisa, and bits of a temporary exhibit called Naples in Paris.

I conclude my Louvre visit with a coke from the food court, where I sit, sip, people-watch, and plan the rest of my day.

paintings in the Richelieu wing >

More art at the Orsay

I've already seen tons of great art with just 2 days in Paris, but I find myself wanting more. And the Orsay is beckoning me from right across the river...

But I'm also aching to go to the Museum of the Middle Ages. It was closed for renovations the last time I was in Paris, and Dean, one of my tour mates, showed me his photos of the unicorn tapestries...

And I'm in luck! Both the Orsay and the Museum of the Middle Ages are open late tonight! I'll have time for both! So I cross the river to the Musée d'Orsay.

I fell in love with the impressionists when I was a teenager taking my first trip to Europe, and the Orsay has the best collection in the world. Revisiting this collection was the primary goal of my visit, but with the help of Rick Steves Audio Europe, I can examine other works too.

The Audio Europe app guides me through a couple of rooms of classical-style (not truly classical--the Orsay's collection is from the late 19th and early 20th centuries) paintings and sculptures until I meet Manet and the realists. Painting real people instead of religious and ideal beauties marks a major shift, and I'm here for it.

Beyond the impressionists, the Orsay also has an excellent collection from Van Gogh. Their exhibit emphasizes a shift in his work after he moves to France, like warmer colors and a happier tone. And apparently his Starry Night is the Orsay's Mona Lisa.

Near the end of my visit, I say hello to another old friend. On my first visit to the Orsay, I thought the polar bear felt out of place. But now I've found the plaque that tells how he fits in among the works of Rodin.

Impressionism at the Orsay >

La Rue Montorgueil!
We've been there!

"Cézanne's rather impersonal canvases can be hard to appreciate"
--Rick Steves Audio Europe

Do I see hints of cubism?

The most "real" Manets I found

Van Gogh >

new friends from the Orsay :-)

Museum of the Middle Ages

I finish shopping at the Orsay, then take the metro back to the hotel to drop off my souvenirs, and for a quick recharge of my camera battery and my spirits. The museum is just a short walk away from the hotel, so my feet don't need too long to rest before setting out again.

So...the museum's website said they're open late tonight. The website did not say that only the ground floor would be open, so no tapestries :-(

I still get to see some cool things on the ground floor. I really enjoy the pieces of Sainte-Chapelle's original stained glass, especially since I didn't get to go to the chapel yesterday with the group.

The museum building itself is pretty awesome too. Most of it is a 15th century mansion, that was built around some 3rd century Roman baths. This room is the frigadarium, or cold room:

I'm really bummed that I don't get to see the tapestries. There's a possibility I can go back at the end of our tour when we return to Paris, but it's a bummer I won't be able to take advantage of our Museum Pass then.

And I'm not quite ready to say goodnight to Paris, because we're leaving in the morning. So I linger in the Luxembourg Gardens, watching les petits bateaux float by.