Our cascading failure state continued into Tuesday.
Yet again we erred by failing to confirm that the museums in which we were interested were indeed open; arriving at Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine we were (gently, and in slow, clear, French) lectured about national museums being closed on Tuesdays while city museums are closed on Mondays (both facts of which we’re well aware, but which we’ve mysteriously ignored, owing to the two week interregnum which is rapidly coming to an end. Sigh.) It’s cool, I didn’t really want to see the exhibit on the urban architectural movement as seen in France between 1960 and 1985 (it’s not as if it was the only reason we had hiked over there).
I should note that the guard helpfully suggested that the museum of modern art (located in the vicinity) was open, and that we might like to see it.
Thwarted, we turned to item number two on the list for the day, the Paper Tigers exhibit (at Musée national des arts asiatiques-Guimet). Having just typed it out, it’s evident where this tangent leads, but at the time, we didn’t know the full name of the museum.
Thwarted once more, we made the decision to hop a bus to Orsay, despite knowing that it was probably going to be a mess. Tangent: this means that we walked by the infamous underpass that brought Princess Di and Dodi Fayed’s Mercedes to an abrupt halt nearly 20 years ago (I forgot to take a picture). The entrance to Orsay, as viewed from the Léopold pedestrian bridge, was overrun by tourists (so much for that marked decrease in bookings), so we decided to cut our losses, buy some macarrons, and go the hell home.
At this point, I’m disinclined to elaborate on the foie gras restaurant that we (finally) tried; the lessons learned consisted of a) we really should just go back to Café Constant when we’re in the mood for a nice meal and b) the Purrito can cook one hell of a magret canard.
On the positive side, the colonne at Place Vendome that has been undergoing restoration is now uncovered; I had feared that we wouldn’t see it before we left.
I thus have a picture or two of it, which I suppose is nice.
Fezzik In Paris 