Crossing the Seine on the bus going to the Picasso Museum
June 5, 2024 — Day 20 (Wednesday)
Up at six again. Sigh . . . After breakfast I checked my email to see if we had a confirmation for our anniversary dinner tomorrow. No confirmation. I’ll check again later and if nothing, I’ll call. I know it is late but Ed didn’t like the menu and I knew it would change June first. It did and was fine but also late to make reservations.
We took the #29 bus to the Picasso Museum and it’s kind of a scenic tour of Paris. That was fun and we arrived just as they opened. We checked umbrellas and Ed’s raincoat and climbed up to the exhibits. They have completely redone the museum keeping only the beautiful central staircase. They have set it up so you easily go through and see the entire collection and have added extra galleries in the attic although the basement no longer seems to have galleries. It is all white, stark and modern, in keeping with the collection. There are paintings from Picasso’s personal collection and paintings of Francois Gilot who bore him two children. The explanations are all in French and English and there are two elevators if you can’t handle stairs. The staff seems very helpful. There was a favorite room. On the second floor back in a cubby hole is one statue of a bather but the room is designed as an audio exhibit and there is a tape loop playing music from 1894 to 1947 that may have influenced Picasso. We sat through the entire loop and loved it. A group of chattering students came in and one of the boys immediately quieted them. Bless his polite heart.
Notre Dame de Paris and the new steeple from the bus Grand entrance hall to the Hôtel Salé and the Picasso Museum in Paris Upper part of the entrance at the Hôtel Salé holding the Picasso Museum in Paris Self Portrait by Pablo Picasso in the Picasso Museum in Paris Exhibit in the Picasso Museum in Paris Room in the Picasso Museum in Paris with the famous portrait of his son Paul in a harlequin costume and The lovely garden at the Picasso Museum in Paris Ed enjoying the collection in the Picasso Museum in Paris La Cuisine Provençale by Françoise Gilot Claude et Paloma jouant à la balle by Françoise Gilot
on the far right one of his wives, Olga Khokhlova, a ballerina
We had a 12:45 reservation at Le Grand Colbert so left the Picasso around eleven to find our bus stop. That was easy and our bus soon arrived so we had another sightseeing tour but not nearly as tourist friendly. We arrived at our stop earlier than we thought we would so walked toward the restaurant very slowly. I spotted the Galerie Vivienne so we decided to explore that. Lots of beautiful and expensive clothes for sale. We walked back out and back to the restaurant and although a bit early decided to try our luck.
Galerie Vivienne
Galerie Vivienne - a clothing store
Galerie Vivienne - clothing store
Galerie Vivienne
They welcomed us and took us to our table and Frederic, our favorite waiter, was there and helped us get settled. We both chose the daily special and got the veal this time. You get potato chips and olives to snack on until your order arrives. The meal was very good; the wine good and Ed got the baba au rhum again and this time got the rum bottle with it like we did the first time. My Moelleux au chocolat had been cooked too long because the center was not melted; it was quite solid. That being said, it was pure chocolate deliciousness.
Le Grand Colbert Brasserie
Le Grand Colbert Brasserie
After eating, we bid them all farewell and said we’d be back next Wednesday. Then we walked through the Palais Royal Gardens and the Louvre courtyard to the Tuileries and found a couple chairs by the pond where we watched children sailing the little boats. After that, we walked over to the concession area and found two more chairs and sat and watched people, pigeons, ducks and a strange little brown bird that liked to steal bread crumbs from ducks. He was a brave little feathered fellow. The gendarmes on horseback rode through twice and I got photos.
Jardin du Palais Royal
Jardin du Palais Royal - the Buren Columns - with tourists
Le Kiosque des noctambules in Place Colette , , , a very fun Metro entrance along with entertainment
Pyramid du Louvre and visitors
Tuileries Gardens - playing with boats in the pond
Tuileries Gardens - You see everything here
It started getting late so we decided to walk over to Eric Kayser and got our baguette du jour. Then we walked up to the #84 bus stop on Saint Germain and waited for the bus watching traffic mayhem around us. The bus arrived and we hopped on and found two seats together. Google said to get off at Luxembourg but we decided to get off at Saint Sulpice. Our apartment is halfway between them so we think we got home sooner that way. Of course we’ll never know.
It has been a wonderful, cool, peaceful day. However when I checked our dinner reservation for tomorrow, there was no confirmation. Then I tried to call and it simply would not work. I know the number is correct so am not sure what the problem is. I finally gave up, emailed them again explaining I couldn’t telephone and asked them to confirm if we could have a reservation. We wait and try to think of a Plan B. Possibly Marty’s . . .
This featured blog entry was written by Beausoleil from the blog Paris Was Preparing for the Olympics.
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