Saturday in Paris

Got a late start today. Felt great. Musée d'Orsay, and its great great collection of Impressionists paintings is on today's list. Stopped on the way to the Metro for lunch at the Hope Cafe (not the one in Hope, Arkansas... the one in the Montmartre arrondissement of Paris). 

The Hope Cafe. I had a hamburger. Very very good. Maybe just a half-notch below Santa Fe's famous Bobcat Bite. I hope they open another location in Uxbridge (where our London apartment is). 

Some of those massive-looking apartment building aren't quite as large as they look from the sidewalk.

Lots of cool looking buildings everywhere.

It was mid-afternoon by the time we got to Musée d'Orsay and the admission line was long. Fortunately it moved fairly quickly.

The Musée d'Orsay was originally a train station.

A giant clock looks out on the Paris landscape.

Back to the Metro to work our back to Montmartre where we hope to grab a snack and relax before returning to our 7th floor walk-up apartment.

We decided to stop at Le Consulate, right in the heart of Montmartre. It's down this street where the street curves.

Le Consulate in the daylight.

Robin at Le Consulate.

Relaxing at Le Consulate.

Robin again, a view looking toward the front door. When Robin ordered paté, she asked the young waiter if bread came with it. He said "Mademoiselle, if I serve paté in France without bread, I will be killed." After a snack and a long break, we walked back to the apartment.

I hope to have time tomorrow morning to post some remaining photos that I missed, before we leave for the train station at noon. 

Au revoir.

Catching Up On Photos

After Friday's visit to the Cézanne exhibit, we walked to the Louvre Museum. Not to go to the Louvre, but to find the Apple Store that's supposed to be nearby. 

As long as we're at the Louvre, we might as well go in the gift shop since I'm looking for another sketchpad. This place is amazing even if you don't buy a ticket to go in. Just enter thru the glass pyramid and wander around the public areas. Or hang out in the vast courtyard outside... if it's not 17° like it was Friday afternoon.

Back at the apartment, with a wee fee connection, Google told us the Apple Store was on the north side of the Louvre. We went there, searched to the right, then to the left. Nothing. We finally asked a sidewalk vendor and it seems there's an upscale mall under the Louvre, and that's where the Apple shrine, I mean store, is.

This inverted pyramid is a skylight that mirrors the shape of the main entrance glass pyramid. Lots of people have their photo taken here. pretending they're holding up the inverted pyramid.

Is this spot special or what?

The iconic pyramid entrance and a tiny fraction of the Louvre courtyard.

When you walk through one of the passages that connect the courtyard with the streets on north and south sides of the complex, giant glass windows let you see some of the exhibit space inside.

The mall beneath the Louvre. 

Stopped in the mall's Starbucks for a latte, a rest break and to use their wee fee connection.

Inside the main entrance pyramid.

As we walked across town we saw another smiley cat painting on the side of a building. Turns out he's Mr. Cat and he's famous. He shows up here, New York, Amsterdam. The creator was anonymous for a long time, but finally was outed. The whole store is at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._Chat

There are 60 Mr Cats in Paris, mostly on chimneys. 

Dinner At Chez Francis

Two Americans at an undisclosed location.

The view above is outside of Chez Fancis where dinner was included as part of our Crazy Horse show tickets. The dinner was pretty darn awesome. 

The food was as good as the ambience.

Chez Francis. The Metro entrance is just a few steps away. Crazy Horse is a couple of doors down the sidewalk.

The view from Chez Francis.

Smoked salmon starter. A full meal already. Hope the main dish is small.

After dinner we went to the Crazy Horse show. It was fun, the dancers were beautiful, but the stage and venue is much smaller than the Moulin Rouge show we saw some years ago. The show went for a cutting edge techno feel in choreography, lighting, and music. 

We enjoyed the show, and I'm not one to complain when almost-naked women are running around onstage, but the Moulin Rouge show and venue is more the classic Parisian cabaret experience you might be looking for.