In the morning we went to the Café le Flore en l’Isle, on the Ile Saint Louis for breakfast (it’s an Emily in Paris location that I wanted to visit!) * and as we left we noticed security men blocking the end of the next street. Gunshots rang out and we saw a man slumping to the ground in the distance - it turned out to be a filming location for a film called “The Killer” starring Michael Fassbender (I asked one of the security guys.) We must make a point of watching it when it is released at the end of the year.
We then headed to the Pompidou Centre. We have not been there for about 40 years and felt that it was time to pay it another visit, especially because I think that it’s going to close fairly soon (next year?) for a long refurbishment. I loved it. I think that I have begun to understand Modern Art more as I get older, and I have seen more of it over the years, so the evolution and methods make more sense to me. Highlights for me included Dufy, Mondrian and Chagall. And it’s a spacious, airy museum, with its escalators and corridors on the outside of the building looking over Paris.
After a pleasant lunch in the Cirque Café in the square outside, we went for a walk which took us past St Eustache in Les Halles, a big old church with lots of artwork including a nice Rubens painting, “The disciples of Emmaus.”
We eventually ended up at Galeries Lafayette where we did a small amount of shopping and visited the roof terrace for its views, followed by cakes and coffee under the gorgeous stained glass dome.
We went for dinner to Le Grand Véfour, which I first heard about when I watched the tv series Emily in Paris * when Emily tries to reserve a table there for her clients but gets the date wrong. Luckily I had got our reservation date correct and we had a fantastic meal in the beautiful old restaurant, which is steeped in Parisian history and was much frequented by writers and philosophers over several centuries. Our waiter told us that we were sitting at Jean Cocteau’s favourite table, which made me very excited! I had artichokes à la barigoule, which is a springtime recipe of artichokes braised in white wine with olive oil. The service was absolutely excellent and it was a very special way to celebrate our 38th Wedding Anniversary. As we strolled back to our hotel we saw a stunning sunset and took photos of it through the glass of the Louvre Pyramids.
After a pleasant lunch in the Cirque Café in the square outside, we went for a walk which took us past St Eustache in Les Halles, a big old church with lots of artwork including a nice Rubens painting, “The disciples of Emmaus.”
We eventually ended up at Galeries Lafayette where we did a small amount of shopping and visited the roof terrace for its views, followed by cakes and coffee under the gorgeous stained glass dome.
We went for dinner to Le Grand Véfour, which I first heard about when I watched the tv series Emily in Paris * when Emily tries to reserve a table there for her clients but gets the date wrong. Luckily I had got our reservation date correct and we had a fantastic meal in the beautiful old restaurant, which is steeped in Parisian history and was much frequented by writers and philosophers over several centuries. Our waiter told us that we were sitting at Jean Cocteau’s favourite table, which made me very excited! I had artichokes à la barigoule, which is a springtime recipe of artichokes braised in white wine with olive oil. The service was absolutely excellent and it was a very special way to celebrate our 38th Wedding Anniversary. As we strolled back to our hotel we saw a stunning sunset and took photos of it through the glass of the Louvre Pyramids.
* Cat and I enjoyed watching Emily in Paris during lockdown in 2020 / 21. It’s such a feel good programme; nothing too serious, beautiful clothes, lovely Lily Collins and of course the real star - Paris! During this holiday it seemed appropriate to visit a few of the locations from the tv series just for fun.
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