Tuesday 7 May 2019

St Germain-des-Prés

I was so excited to wake up in St Germain-des-Prés, my favourite area of Paris. It’s so central, very near the Seine, and so very Parisian, with its wee shops and restaurants and winding streets. The Hotel Artus is in the Rue de Buci, and we had coffee and croissants in the Café de Paris, one of the many cafés on the bustling street before taking the metro to Anvers and walking up the hill to Montmartre. It was a warm, sunny day and we strolled around the Place du Tertre and had coffee sitting outside a café while watching the world go by. It was delightful.
James expressed an interest in revisiting the Musée d’Orsay, the railway station-turned-Art museum. So we took the metro to the other end of the Jardin de Tuileries and walked along, admiring the spring flowers. We wandered around the museum happily, and I spent a bit of time looking at one of my favourite paintings ever, Renoir’s “Bal Au Moulin de la Galette”. I love its colour and movement and dappled light. Other highlights that caught my eye today included Monet’s Water Lily Pond, Green Harmony, Van Gogh’s Bedroom at Arles, and Manet’s The Fifer, and there were loads more that I loved.
Back in St Germain-Des-Prés we had dinner in an excellent wee Italian restaurant called L’Oliveto, right beside our hotel. We went for a romantic evening walk down by the Seine and over the Pont Neuf to aid our digestion. Paris looked beautiful.

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