For The Love of Travel

Our first stop, Rue Mouffetard, a pedestrianised street in the 5th arrondisement, which Parisians call ‘la mouffe’, is one of the oldest and picturesque streets of Paris. There has been a road here since the Romans were in town, 2000 years ago and it is home to a beautiful street market and entertainment on a Sunday – buskers, locals and visitors dancing to old French tunes…and singing to song sheets handed out by the partner of the accordion player. The market is vibrant and the street buzzing, the pastries, the cheeses, the lovely smell from restaurants…it was easy to spend a few hours there.

Next to the Church of Saint-Medard which dates back to the 9thC, and over the years has had various styles of architecture from classical Renaissance, even Gothic added to it. There are contemporary stained glass windows, a grand organ, unusual Doric columns and a painting by Italian painter Franciso Zurbaran.

The Musee Marmottan Monet was the last stop for the day. Claude’s youngest son, Michael, was the sole heir to the Monet house in Giverny and all its works when his father died in 1926. He bequeathed his collection to the Musee Marmottan. We are so glad he did, such a great exhibition. Other floors in the mansion had interesting paintings, porcelain, medieval statues and work from another Impressionist artist, Berthe Morisot (young girls in rural scenes, pastel tones) – latter not really my interest.

Nantes to Paris took us 5 hours of driving and despite the drizzly conditions, we made good time arriving mid afternoon. Found our AirB&B without any trouble and all the entry instructions worked like a charm….until we got to the 5th floor flat and lifted the mat for the key…..no key. Arrrgh!

Safe to say that what then transpired ….was ‘post meridiem horribilis’. I hadn’t contacted hosts with revised arrival time so they hadn’t placed key under mat. Were coming to do so in about 2 hrs. John, Terry and I agreed they’d stay with cases outside flat, while I agreed with AirB&B hosts to short circuit by going to pick up key across town ……BUT King Charles decided to visit that afternoon, and the centre of Paris was in lock down around the Louvre (where I needed to get past)…so traffic was CRAZY. ARGH…..Did 5 kms in one and a half hrs, parked illegally down tiny street …..only to realise I didn’t have any internet, so couldn’t read host messages. I found a restaurant with internet, read message, then went to flat and rang the flat code to pick up key, with no response at the other end. ARGH. Contacted John to explain….said I was coming back keyless (could he try contacting hosts). By the time I arrived back totally frazzled, host had visited, let John and Terry into flat and explained arrangements. Needed drink….got one…or two. Doesn’t gin do wonders for such a comedy of errors! Mental note: always confirm arrival time with hosts!!!!

The next day, our first stop for the day…the Gertrude Stein/Pablo Picasso exhibition, on the story of the pair’s amazing friendship, organised by the Musee to mark the 50th anniversary of Pablo’s death.

Gertrude was a writer and poet, who moved to Paris in 1903 shortly after the arrival of Picasso, then a young artist. Their membership of the city’s bohemian community as well as their artistic freedom, were informed by their status as foreigners and their ‘marginality’. Their friendship crystallised around their respective work, which laid the foundation for Cubism and literary avant-gardes of the 20thC. Gertrude was the first person to collect artwork by Pablo and wrote about her friendship with him in “The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas”. Pablo respected her writing, earning her the nickname, ‘the literary Cubist’.

A stroll in the Luxembourg gardens and called past ‘Bread and Roses’, tempting Terry and John with their pastries and tarts…..succumbed of course!

Followed by a lunch @ Georgette restaurant…yummy fish rillette with coriander as an entree and stone bass for the main.

Later that night, crossing Alexandre III bridge, captured this image from the car…….