Roaming Paris with Sande, Jenny and Kate

While Kate was here our neighbors, Jenny and Sande (who are also second moms to Kate) came for a fun visit. Kelly was a bit outnumbered with all the women but I think he secretly loved it. One evening Kate and Jenny put together a yummy croissant and egg breakfast dish that we baked and ate the next morning. The secret was the "everything" bagel seasoning Jenny brought. What a yummy breakfast!

Croissant and Egg Casserole

Jenny had never been to the Orangerie and it is one of our favorite places. Monet painted two rooms of water lilies to be hung in two oval rooms in this building. Downstairs the permanent art collection was closed for renovation so we were a bit disappointed about that.

Sande and Jenny with the water lilies

Jenny and Kate

Kate by her favorite panel of water lilies

Later after the Orangerie we walked through the Tuileries Gardens to Angelina for lunch. This is when Sande ordered the Vol au Vent that I envied. I tried the club sandwich, which was really good, too. And of course we needed that hot chocolate to warm up.

Lots of very dark hot chocolate

We walked down along rue de Rivoli towards the Louvre. We came upon the church just east of the Louvre, Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois. I recognized the name from news coverage about Nôtre Dame at Christmas time. Since September, services that were celebrated at Nôtre Dame are now celebrated at this church. It had a beautiful tower.

Tower of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois

We were surprised it wasn't bigger inside. This is where Nôtre Dame's Christmas mass was just celebrated. We wondered where they put everyone. Easter Mass was at Saint-Sulpice, which seems much larger. But this is now the permanent home for Nôtre Dame services.

Kate in Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois

The church was originally founded in 542 according to this plaque. The current building dates from the 15th century and parts from the 13th. I love how old things are in Paris.
We walked from here to look at Nôtre Dame up close to see the effects of the fire.

Jenny and Sande

Nôtre Dame

Kate and Jenny

The Parvis de Nôtre Dame, the square in front of the cathedral is closed off. We wondered how the tourist shops and cafés near the cathedral were surviving. Along the north side of the cathedral they have installed large posters explaining how they are stabilizing the cathedral and the challenges that the experts face in figuring out how to restore it. There were many people looking at the posters and maybe this has helped the businesses along there.

Wooden Trusses

They have added wooden trusses under the flying buttresses to reinforce them and keep them from collapsing. The roof and spire were covered in metal scaffolding when the fire broke out, which was probably caused by a worker's cigarette (smoking had been banned from the worksite). One problem is figuring out how to remove the twisted, melted scaffolding without causing more damage or risking collapse.

View of Metal Scaffolding

There is much work still to be done. We don't see how this could be restored in five years as President Macron hoped.
We walked from Nôtre Dame over the bridge to Île Saint Louis. It was a pretty view from the bridge over towards Hôtel de Ville on the right bank.

View of Hôtel de Ville

Performers were skating on the bridge around Solo cups. Some had roller blades, others old fashioned skates. We enjoyed watching them and all their tricks.

Skating between the cups

Watching the Show

As we crossed the bridge we saw a cute old deux chevaux parked across from the St. Regis Café.

Kate and the Citröen 2CV

We decided we needed a little break from all the walking and Jenny and Sande needed something warm to drink. They were always so cold. They barely survived with their warm coats, scarves and lots of hand warmers and patches. So we decided to stop at the St. Regis, one of our favorites. Below is a picture from when we were here in April 2018 and the weather was warmer.

St. Regis

Sande ordered warm milk with honey and Jenny went for herbal tea. I on the other hand was plenty warm so I ordered an Orangina in the classic bottle and we shared some frites.

Orangina

Frites

We went back with Kate another day and ordered their brunch.

Gauffres with Chantilly and Currents

The waitress was surprised when Kate asked for maple syrup in addition to the whipped cream the waffles were served with. That must have seemed way too sweet for the French!

I think that is mainly what we do in Paris-we walk a lot and then we refuel! We walked over the bridge to the left bank towards our old apartment on boulevard Saint Germain and stopped to view Nôtre Dame and admire the beautiful sunset. It was good to be back in our old neighborhood.

Nôtre Dame

Sunset over the Left Bank

We stopped at our old bakery, Boulangerie de la Tour for some of our favorite palmiers and a little galette du rois. We loved that neighborhood bakery. I miss their tradition baguettes with the pointy ends. They had such good flavor.

Galettes

Boulangerie de la Tour

We walked up the hill to Saint-Etienne-du-Mont and the Panthéon and then down the other side to the Luxembourg Gardens to find a bus home to rest our aching feet. It was another perfect Paris day.

Saint-Etienne-du-Mont

Panthéon

Angelina and Sciences Po

After visiting Montmartre, we had a very late lunch at Angelina on rue de Rivoli.

Kate on rue de Rivoli

It is one of Kate's favorite spots so we have been more than once during her visit. There's always a wait to get in.

Always a line at Angenlina's

We had lunch there earlier in the week with Sande and Jenny. Sande's Vol au Vent looked so good I knew I needed to try it. I was not disappointed. And their famous hot chocolate always warms us up.

Vol au Vent

Kate ordered their breakfast combo with various croissants, a mini baguette, fresh squeezed orange juice and of course the decadent hot chocolate.

We had never tried the Mont Blanc pastry that they are famous for. We were stuffed so we bought one to go and ate it later that night. So good but so rich. We don't know how anyone could eat a whole one alone. The outside is soft chestnut cream vermicelli and inside is whipped cream with a meringue base.

Mont Blanc

When we finished, Kelly was ready to leave the office and we were just across the Seine from him. So we walked over to pick him up and see where he worked.

Entrance to Sciences Po Building

Kelly at the door to his office

In the Courtyard at Sciences Po

We walked home together along the Seine and past Les Invalides.

Kelly and Kate

Then that evening we walked up near the Eiffel Tower. It was a beautiful winter day in Paris. We are so lucky to be here.

A Day in Montmartre

It was sunny 10 days ago and Sande and Jenny had just left. Kate decided it was the perfect day to go to Montmarte to see Sacré Cœur and the artists. We also wanted to go to the Musée Montmartre.  Neither of us had been there before.

The transit strike was still causing problems. Even when the métro is running consistently and all stations are open it is hard to get to Montmartre from our apartment. So Kate found a bus we could take that would drop us off on the back side of Montmartre.

All was going according to plan until about 2 stops before we were to get off.  Suddenly the bus sped up and wasn't stopping. An elderly man with a cane in the back by the exit door starting yelling at the driver that he wanted to get off. But the driver was a man on a mission and was not going to stop for anyone or anything. We ended up at the end of the line by the town hall for the 18th arrondissement. We had no choice but to start walking.

First we passed a very old building which we later discovered was what remained of an old porcelain factory. There used to be many factories and windmills on Montmartre.

It didn't take long before we saw that the road ended and there were a lot of stairs in front of us. We started climbing.

Looking down from the first set of Stairs

What I didn't realize and what Kate was careful not to point out was that there were more stairs to come.

Pausing before the next staircase

Conquering more stairs

The stairs just kept going on and on!

Kate, who lives on the 5th floor of a walk up in New York, is a pro at stairs. She was kind enough to carry my Zabars bag for me. The view once we made it to the top was amazing.

Ready for more stairs

The Long Climb

The museum is in the oldest building in Montmartre, built in the 1600s. There are several buildings that make up the museum with the Renoir gardens in the middle and other gardens behind. During its heyday, 12 rue Cortot served as a residence and meeting place for many artists including Auguste Renoir and Suzanne Valadon (the mother of Maurice Utrillo), who both had studios there. Renoir painted Bal du Moulin de la Galette in the gardens.

View of the Museum from the Gardens

We found a cherry tree blossoming in the gardens--in the middle of January!

Blossoming Cherry

Oldest Building in Montmartre
12 rue Cortot

Entry to more gardens

View of Sacré Cœur Tower from Gardens

Through the archway in the picture above  is a swing. Renoir painted La Balançoire (The Swing) here. This would be a lovely place to visit in warmer months and eat at the café in the garden.

Kate on the Swing

La Balançoire

Behind 12 rue Cortot was another garden with a view of a vineyard below. This really is a beautiful area of Paris, even in January.

Vineyard 

The museum includes paintings, posters and drawings by Toulouse-Lautrec, Modigliani, Valadon and Utrillo, among others, and tells the history of Montmartre and the cabarets and life on Montmartre.

It also includes a restoration of Suzanne Valadon's apartment and studio.

Valadon's Apartment

Portrait of Maurice Utrillo
by his mother Suzanne Valadon

Maurice Utrillo's Bedroom

Valadon's studio was very cool with a view out over the Renoir Gardens.

Valadon's Studio

Studio Windows Looking out
on the Garden

Kate in the Studio

We walked over towards Place du Tertre to see the artists and have some gelato at our favorite place, but unfortunately it is closed in January. I guess too few tourists want gelato in the dead of winter. At least we can get our fix at the Amorino on the rue Cler.

Place du Tertre

Ready for a Game of Chess

This is a nice time of year to be up by Sacré Cœur when it is not packed with tourists.
We walked around to the front of Sacré Cœur, passing a man on the accordion playing La Vie en Rose, our favorite.

Sacré Cœur

We had a beautiful view of Paris from the church and then walked down to the métro. I didn't feel quite so bad about having to climb all those stairs up to the museum when I saw the funicular was closed because of the strike. Although there are definitely more stairs behind Sacré Cœur than in front.

View from Sacré Cœur

View of Sacré Cœur from the street below

It was a perfect day in Montmartre with Kate.