Victor Hugo's bedroom (also where he died): 
After I was done there, I forgot to go to Hotel de Sully because I asked the lady at the Hugo museum to point me in the right direction for Hotel Carnavalet and she rushed me off saying they were closing soon. Since certain things close for lunch for two hours or so, I thought that was what she meant. So I rushed over to Hotel Carnavalet, which is a museum about the history of the city of Paris. I was pleased that admission was free and then I understood why soon after. It seemed that more than half the museum was closed off for renovations, including the section about the French Revolution. Sigh. Guess I'll put that back on my list for next time... But the high points that I did get to see were the building itself and the old signs that used to hang outside of shops.
The sign from the old Chat Noir cabaret in Montmartre:
Since I was basically in the general area, I walked down to Berthillon for two old favorite flavors: mocha and salted butter caramel. I'm done trying sorbets for this trip. Then crossed over the river and walked through the Latin Quarter. Back close to Cluny where I was the other day. I walked down Boul'Mich (Boulevard Saint-Michel) to Boulevard Saint-Germain to find the Little Prince Boutique, which is what I think heaven for French teachers is like.
Can this fit in my suitcase??
I bought a few things and headed off to catch the subway but found a big grocery store instead. Stopping at a big one (not one of the little neighborhood limited ones) was on my to-do list so I got to check that off. Then ate lunch and hopped on the subway to get to my last museum for the day. I had never heard of it until a few months ago but thanks to Samantha Brown, travel guru, I got to visit Marmotten Monet Museum to see collections by Monet, of course, as well as Berthe Morisot among others. There must have been a field trip from a nursing home there because there were a whole bunch of elderly men and women with walkers, canes, wheelchairs and their helpers. It was cute because one of the helpers asked a lady to read the title of the painting for the others and the lady said she couldn't do it because she was half blind. So the helper read it (something about the Duchess of Feltre) and the lady thought she said Seltre. The helper kept correcting her, even spelling it for her but the lady kept going "yeah, okay, Seltre." The helpers (and I) had a little bit of a giggle because really, who cares whether the woman in the painting was the duchess of Feltre or Seltre. Except for maybe the duchess herself, of course. :)
By this point in the day, my legs and feet were trying to call it quits. So I sat on a bench in the nearby park to rest. I happened to park it near where a man was giving children donkey and pony rides. I felt bad for the animals because they were all chained together by the bits in their mouth. They looked sad... Or bored. I hope they get to run around a big field on their days off. Poor things.
So since my legs, ankles and feet deserved some well-deserved time off and I was done with my to-do and to-see list for today, I came back to the apartment to unload my bags and cool off for a while. I ended up taking a little nap and reorganizing my suitcase to try to lighten the load and organize myself. My philosophy of weighing down my carry-ons to make sure my suitcase isn't over the weight limit may come back to bite me when I'm lugging them around the airports on Monday.
So later, I went back out to grab dinner and now, I'm perfectly happy to stay in for the night. I've got a book I've been trying to finish.
No comments:
Post a Comment