July 27 - Paris

Pompidou

Pompidou

Cool and partly cloudy, great for touring, no rain.

Matisse

Matisse

Visiting the Pompidou Centre was our number 1 task for the day. It is quite a distance from our hotel so we take the Metro. We decide to get a museum pass, so pick up a couple of those first. The museum pass is a 2 day (there are more day ones avail) pass that allows unlimited entry to many museums and monuments. It also allows you to skip the queue. Today being Monday has most of the museums closed, but we only really have today and tomorrow to hit museums, so we decide we can make it worth our while even if we start today when most places are closed. Plus, the Pompidou is pretty much #1 on my hit list for Paris, so today is a good day for that.

The Pompidou is a museum in Paris dedicated to modern art – art from 1920 until now. The building itself is something to see. It’s described as a building ‘inside-out’. The escalator and heating and cooling mechanics are all on the outside of it. There is no queue to skip, which means inside isn’t too crowded. Our visit takes about 2 hours.

Taking the Metro always gives me a sense of accomplishment and of ‘hanging with the locals’. A Metro ticket was €1.80 – about $3.00.

After the museum we wander around the Marais area a bit and have lunch. A chicken, tomato, avocado, mango and papaya salad. I’m reminded that I DO NOT like papaya. Chris has roast chicken with rice. Of course this is washed down with a bottle of wine and an espresso. We notice after sitting for a while that we are in what seems like ‘little-Africa’. We’ve noticed that the areas of Paris we’ve travelled doesn’t have many visible minorities until now.

We make an effort to get to another museum at the end of the day, but this one doesn’t let the museum pass holders jump the queue and the line is LONG – we skip it and go for a pint. I find a new Irish cider I haven’t tried before that is quite tasty.

Dinner today of meat, cheese, bread and wine is provided courtesy of a visit to the grocery store conveniently

located in the basement of the shopping mall across from our hotel. While it seems pricy at first – I think I’d pay more for the same at home and we certainly wouldn’t get wine from a piggly-wiggly.