Paris

Paris
View from Montparnasse Tower (2013)

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Day 15

I bought tickets online for the Picasso Museum and our time was set for 11:30 today.  The museum was closed for several years while the building was undergoing extensive renovation.  Since it was closed so long there was a lot of interest in the museum once it reopened, so they pre-sell tickets as a means of crowd control.  We got there about 11:15, queued up and were inside the museum by 11:30.

The did a fantastic job on the building renovation.  The outside retains its original look while the inside is a mixture of modern and original features.  The rooms are fairly small, but there are only 4 - 6 pieces of art in each room.  The elevators are very slow, so we went to the top floor and worked our way down on foot.

I have to admit that Picasso's art isn't high on my list of favorites, but it was interesting and there were some works of other artists, Picasso's contemporaries, as the museum houses his personal collection.  The visit did provoke some interesting conversations between Kathy and I, and that is one of the things art is supposed to do, so I'm glad we went.

We had lunch at nearby Cafe Sevigne. We both had the "plat du jour," which was roast pork with sauteed vegetables, and it came with a salad with goat cheese and ham.  It was a very nice lunch.

After lunch we caught the bus to go back to Montmartre so we could go to the fabric market on Rue St. Pierre.  The fabric market is actually a number of shops on about three streets loaded with fabric.  Fabric flows out onto the sidewalk.  When I walked into the first shop I immediately saw a rack of fat quarters - I got so excited.  However, the fabrics really aren't anything very unusual or uniquely French.  In fact, I didn't see any typically French textiles except for some toiles.  But, I did buy some fat quarters - how could I not?

We stopped at a cafe and had a really good beer - we were so tired and thirsty - and "les toilettes" were on the main floor, no steep stairway.

As we walked back towards the bus, we spotted a taxi with it's green light showing, so decided to take it home.  Sometimes, when you're tired and just want to get home, a 12 euro taxi ride is a good investment.  It was 5:00 so the buses and Metro would be crowded.  The driver was real nice and understood my French.

I really made a big mistake by not having us reload our bus passes.  Today, #67 up to Montmartre stopped and a voice said "this bus terminates here" -- we were no where near the end of the line at Pigalle where we wanted to go.  So, we had to get off and wait for another 67.  You can use tickets to transfer, but only from one line to another, not on the same line, so we had to use another bus ticket to complete our trip, and that was our last ticket (another reason why taking a taxi home was an easy decision).

Only two more days here in Paris.  We're starting to think about the process of packing and going home, but I think both of us could stay a little longer...maybe.

5 comments:

  1. I feel sad that you have to leave. Keep up the posts. Makes me feel like I am experiencing Paris, even if vicariously!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your photos are great. La Defense is on my list. Can't believe I missed it before. What are "fat quarters"?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fat quarters are pieces of fabric. A half yard of fabric is cut it in half, so it is approximately 18 x 22 inches. Quilters can get more out of a fat quarter than a straight cut quarter, which is 9 x 44.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fat quarters are pieces of fabric. A half yard of fabric is cut it in half, so it is approximately 18 x 22 inches. Quilters can get more out of a fat quarter than a straight cut quarter, which is 9 x 44.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Fat quarters are pieces of fabric. A half yard of fabric is cut it in half, so it is approximately 18 x 22 inches. Quilters can get more out of a fat quarter than a straight cut quarter, which is 9 x 44.

    ReplyDelete