Published Jul 4, 2010
If you’re planning a Paris trip, it’s worth noting that this whole free first Sunday of the Month at the Louvre thing is not such a good idea. We showed up just after 9am — opening time — and the line was long. Like, took 20 minutes to walk to the end of it long. This was a fast-moving line, but the staff said it would be 2 hours to get there, vs. the usual 20 minutes. So, after the obligatory photo of us by the palace, we moved along.
The good news is that the first Sunday of the month is free pretty much everywhere. We met the parents at the Museum of the Monnaie — that’s the Mint — to see an exhibit on French photog Willy Ronis. Of course that was my scene. This is me outside the Monnaie, inspired by Willy:
A museum day is a good thing, so next was the Cluny, the museum of very old things in a very old place.
These old things were pretty awesome. Lots of tapestries, which unfortunately I haven’t figured out how to shoot. Also lots of sculpture, which I’m better at.
At night: short walk to Rue de Bac, in the Latin quarter, then happy hour (the Parisians do it right, starting at 2pm and going to 9:30).
Then a bistro dinner. We just walked along until we found a busy, hopping, bright place with delicious plates of food outside. The one we picked had a loud, boisterous clientele eating big pots of mussels, french fries on the side; and high piles of beef tartare, topped with egg and filled with onion. If you know us, it was the mussels for her and the raw meat for me.
And now, exhausted, bed. Early tomorrow: Louvre, again.