Hanging Out in My 'Hood

Yesterday, I did nothing. It was Sunday and nothing in the hood was open--not the pharmacie, not the Monop' (like a 7/11), not the grocery store Carrefour. What was open was the paint store. There are some stores open on Sunday in various parts of Paris, but not in my immediate neighborhood. Plus, Nicole had to do a sound check at the new theater where they open tonight. It's only a few minutes walk from here. So later, we went out to dinner with a few of the theater folk. I had picked out an oyster bar about a 10 minute walk away. It has excellent reviews and is open until 2:30 every morning. After sitting down, we saw the the price of the oysters was "2,70 Euro/pc. I was sure that didn't mean a piece but the fluent one with us double-checked and it was the real price so we left. It was the warmest day we've had, 61 degrees, so we ate outside at one of the few restaurants that were open. The outside heaters were so hot, we had to take our coats off. We had Croque Madames.

There are two museums I plan to visit in Le Marais--one is the Pompidou and the other the Picasso Museum which just reopened last month. Reviewers tend not to like the layout of the Picasso but I'm going anyway. The problem with Paris museums is that they're all closed on a different day. The Picasso is closed today so I went to the Pompidou. I like the Pompidou because there is only one set of stairs to walk up; there are escalators running through tubes for the rest of the museum. Great views of the city as you ride them.

One side of the massive Pompidou

The Pompidou is less than a 15 minute walk from where I am. But it takes much longer when you turn the wrong way on the street and yes, I did that both going and coming back. In both cases, I realized my error fairly quickly, so it added only a few miles to my walk. The problem with my navigating skills is that I can never figure out how I ended up on the wrong street. Luckily, I am carrying two maps or I'd still be somewhere in Paris trying to find my way home.

The special exhibits now are Duchamps and Frank Gehry. Jeff Koons' exhibit is opening in two days but I am glad to miss it. No tour group was standing in front of moustached Mona Lisa. The highlight for me of this museum is going to the top to the sculpture gardens outside. The sculptures are interesting and you have the best views of Paris, both for viewing and picture-taking. There's about 5 gardens. When I got up there, I noticed a chain on the first door. Naturally, I checked all the gardens and sure enough, no entry.  The restaurant at the top is open air but it doesn't have good views of the city.

The Other Mona Lisa

I was so angry, I decided to try to communicate with one of the people verifying tickets. He told me the only view was from the restaurant but couldn't communicate why the garden doors were locked. 

The "scuplture" at the restaurant at the top of the museum.

When I went downstairs to leave, I tried again. This French dude was really rude. He "pffted" and said they are open only in the summer. I didn't point out that it is 60 degrees. At least the other guy said "sorry."

Now I'm off to watch the Trapdoor folks open in Paris...if I can find the theatre again.