We started our day with a stroll through the Jardin des Tuileries, a beautiful, long garden near the Louvre and the Musee de L'Orangerie. Upon reaching the end of the gardens, we visited the L'Orangerie Museum, where Monet's Waterlilies are showcased (along with lots of other artists).
After the museum, we spent much of the day just roaming around Paris above ground (we'd been on a lot of subways over the weekend), primarily in the St. Germain neighborhood and the Latin quarter. We also were able to walk across two bridges: the Pont Neuf and Pont des Arts (the Pont des Arts is known as the Love Bridge).
A trip to Paris wouldn't be complete without a visit to Notre-Dame, and we crossed that off our list on Monday.
A couple of stops along the way warrant a section of their own. The first was a little place we stumbled upon by ambling around, oblivious to where we were headed. Librairie Alain Brieux. It felt like we had stepped back in time fifty years. (Their website is only a week old, so there isn't too much there yet, but it is in process.) The shop. Oh my. It's dedicated to all things related to medical history and anatomy. The woman working there was very helpful and graciously allowed me to snap as many photos as I wanted. She also told me about a blog that I have to share, Morbid Anatomy (Steph, this one's for you and Nicole, although I'll bet she's quite aware of this blog already).
The other place we discovered was recommended by my friend Lynda from England (who came over to Paris to meet me!!). The shop is Shakespeare and Company, which has been around since 1951. It's on the Left Bank opposite of Notre Dame. There are even beds tucked in little alcoves where writers can sleep at night. The shop is open from 12-12 every day of the year and when we were there last night, they were setting up for a reading. Words don't quite describe the place, so here are a series of photos.
We ended our day by dining at one of the vegetarian restaurants we have on a list we compiled (and this one was also recommended by Helen of Chez Helen in Antibes): Le Grenier de Notre-Dame, which has been around since 1978. Cozy spot, inventive, delicious food.
3 comments:
Big swoon... Great art pics, you seem to pick just what I like, raw & primative...and that medical museum...did Rick reccomend that?!
LOL. Your quite good at capturing your adventures, I think you need to become a professional travel blogger.
ox
steph
Steph, it wasn't even a medical museum it was just a SHOP! And no, Rick did not recommend it, we just stumbled upon it in our walking about. However, I do believe we are going to a real live medical museum today, so stay tuned (and again, not in Rick's book!).
did you ever find out what the locks on the bridge were about?
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