Saturday is our last full day in Paris. Sundays tend to be very low-key here, as many restaurants and virtually all retail stores close. So our goal was to get one last experience of Paris in its full flower of life and activity.
One of the few things we had not done yet was to walk through the Tuileries, the park that extends from the Louvre to the Place de la Concorde. The Tuileries has always been one of my favorite places in Paris, a beautiful garden lined with walking paths, huge ponds, lines of trees (leafy in the summer but not now), statuary by the dozens and no fewer than four different cafes. Even though we are in the depth of winter, today was beautiful, and people flocked to the Tuileries: joggers, families, a dad playing tennis with his very young son, old couples shuffling slowly along, tourists gazing at their maps and taking selfies (can the selfie stick be banned in all world capitals?).
At the Place de la Concorde end of the Tuileries, the Paris Ferris wheel has become a fixture. We decided to invest 12 euros a piece for the ten-minute ride. It’s worth it.
After the ride, on such a beautiful last full day in Paris, we crossed the Pont de la Concorde to the Left Bank and the National Assembly with the intent to walk all the way back along the river to our neighborhood. But when we reached the Musée D’Orsay, to our surprise there was no line. On Saturday. On a beautiful Saturday.
We couldn’t pass up this opportunity. We walked right in, bought tickets, checked our coats, and there we were, inside the signature museum of Impressionist art in the world.
More than two hours later, satiated on Van Gogh, Gauguin, Monet, Pissaro (did you know he was born in St. Thomas, now USVI?), Manet, Cezanne, Rodin, Seurat, Degas, Delacroix (no, not born in St. Bernard Parish), Toulouse-Lautrec, etc., etc., we staggered out, starving. It was well past 3 p.m., and all we had eaten was our customary croissant from the patisserie at the bottom of our hill when we started today’s journey earlier in the morning.
So we took the RER C to expedite our passage back to our neighborhood and popped into a St. Germain streetside establishment for a hot pannini and a cold beer. Reasonably resuscitated, we walked the rest of the way back to the apartment, drinking in the atmosphere and discussing where to eat dinner tonight and lunch on Sunday. Important issues on your last days and night in Paris.