Paris Day One

 As previously mentioned I was staying with a friend, who very handily lives in Montmartre. She didn't have quite as much free time as she had hoped which meant I did a lot of stuff on my own, and although I was a bit daunted by the prospect of coping with such a large and unfamiliar city, mostly on foot, it was quite an exciting thought as well. And overall I managed quite well -  much aided by the fact that my phone could give me directions; a boon, since  my map reading skills are, shall we say, limited. 

I'd ordered a new Paris Guide Book ages before I went, had read it cover to cover, and pinpointed four things that I wanted to see or do. I wasn't there for very long and I didn't want to go dashing about ticking things off and not actually savouring the experience of each one, so I tried to set achievable goals. Accordingly, on my first morning I set off for Ile de la Cite. It was a longish but pleasant walk; I stopped on the way for coffee

I asked if they had 'quelque chose avec des framboises', and lo! they did. It was as delicious as it looks. 

I passed but didn't go in to Saint Eustache

and then took some 'obvious' shots as I crossed the bridge to Ile de la Cite

First on my visiting list was Sainte Chappelle. When I was last in Paris,  hardly anyone had heard of it. It was 1974, I was on an immersive pre A-level french speaking course in Versailles and we had an afternoon off so most of us went into Paris. A teacher had told us about the glories of Sainte Chappelle and three of us went to see it. I remember it as a place of great beauty, silence and calm, with the three of us and hardly anyone else there. I'd hoped it was the same. It wasn't. I don't know if it has just become more widely known, or whether it's taking the flow of tourists who would normally go to Notre Dame but it was packed. packed and noisy, and annoyingly the first thing you see as you enter is the shop. I've nothing against churches having shops, but I do think placing them at the front entrance is a bit much. 

It wasn't the oasis of clam and contemplation I had hoped for but it is still beautiful in that slightly OTT Gothic way. 

It was the ceiling that I had retained the strongest memories of and it's still glorious. And depsite my grumbles about the noise and the crowds I spent quite some time here. 

Lunch was next after which my friend and I had made tentative plans to meet at the second place on my list,  the Musee Cluny. She was delayed (it became a bit of a refrain for the week) but I was happy to do it on my own. I went mainly for the Lady and Unicorn tapestries which I've wanted to see for years, but there was lots of other stuff I was more than happy to look at - including some stupendous, if less well known tapestries.  It was a lovely afternoon, in a beautiful building - and they have a very nice cafe too. 

The day was rounded off by meeting up with my friend and her supervisor - we went and had ice cream, peach and verbena in my case - delicious - then a return visit to the restaurant from the previous evening where we ordered and this time actually got, some frites. And my friend was right, they were delicious. 

It was a fabulous day!