Bad GPS, Good Lunch

The thing about Paris is that a lot things share names. Imagine being in Seattle and wanting to go to the Space Needle. You plug the name Space Needle into your GPS and it appears to come up five times so you choose one and go. Next thing you know you're at Space Needle dry cleaners. That probably wouldn't happen to you if you spoke English and read the fine print, but it might be different if you were French. You see where this is going, right? I was headed to the Petit Palais museum, following Google maps and ended up at the Petit Palais shoe repair store. Not the same. I was meeting Bruce for lunch that day so I gauged how long it would take me to get from Petit Palais to Le Petit Palais then how long it would take to get to the restaurant and discovered that I would be left with about 30 minutes at the museum. Well I knew that wasn't going to be enough time, so I walked toward the Seine to enjoy the sights. From the left bank I could see the Pont Alexandre III and the Grand Palais.

The Grand Palais was built for the Universal Exposition of 1900 and recently underwent a refurbishment in order to host the fencing and taekwondo competitions at the Olympics. It's closed at the moment, preparing for a photographic exhibition in November. I've never been inside and would really like to because the photos I've seen are quite amazing.

(Photo from The Financial Times)

I noted that a lot of the monuments seem to have been re-leafed because the gold is shinier than I've ever seen it on past trips. Once again, that's probably because of the Olympics. Here's an example from the Pont Alexandre III on the Quai d'Orsay. (Note the anatomically correct lion statue.)

A bit further down the road is the Assemblee Nationale, home of the lower house of the French Parliament.

On the left bank side of the Pont Solferino is a statue of Thomas Jefferson.

At last I reached the Tuileries Garden. Looking in one direction you can see Cleopatra's Needle aka the Obelisk of Luxor, at the Place de la Concorde.

Walking in the other direction you find the giant Ferris wheel by the Louvre. Why does every city feel it needs a Ferris wheel? Did the London Eye start this trend? Baffles me, but then again with my fear of heights I'd never go on one.

There's a lovely basin where you can rent wooden boats to sail.

And in an almost-too-French moment I passed an accordionist playing "La Vie en Rose".

Finally you come to the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (not to be confused with the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Elysees).

Walking past that you come to the Musee du Louvre.

It is massive and I would love to visit again but if I do it will be in the lowest of low seasons because even in the shoulder seasons it's massively crowded.

It was time to meet Bruce for lunch so I started down the narrow streets on the left bank, passing a couple of businesses that made me smile.

Pub La Vache Folle (The Mad Cow Pub)

The Big Band Poterie (which makes ceramics)

Lunch was at Ze Kitchen Gallerie, a Michelin-starred place on the left bank.

I started with lobster in a coconut milk creen curry emulsion. Lovely spices but the lobster got a bit lost.

Cod with scallops and vegetables with a delicately spiced yuzu cream sauce was next.

For dessert fruit dumplings with apple sorbet and tamarind paste on a crumble base

The chef was lovely and came to the table to make sure we enjoyed our experience.

The kitchen was very small, but packed with chefs. I think there were 16, plus an expediter outside.

After lunch I decided to walk back to the Petit Palais - the museum, not the repair shop. Along the way I passed the Musee d'Orsay.

The museum is in what used to be a train station. Above the arches you can still see the names of cities the trains served.

I love the lion above the window,

I reached the Petit Palais, enjoying the lovely sunny day. Outside there is a wonderful statue of Winston Churchill.

Because it was mid-afternoon the line to get into the museum was very long and the special exhibition line was even longer. I decided to wait and try again the next day.

On my way to the metro I passed the church of La Madeleine which looks so much like a Greek temple.

Lovely meal, lovely walk, bad GPS.