They were delicious! Yum. I’m going to try this at home.
Carousel, walking back to apartment.
Centre Pompidou
Nestled in the centre of Paris since 1977, the Centre Pompidou building, a glass and metal structure bathed in light, resembles a heart fed by monumental arteries in bright primary colors.Right in our apartment’s neighborhood. Centre Pompidou envisioned by its two architects, Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, as a genuinely living organism, was built in one of the capital’s oldest districts and the beating heart of Paris since Medieval times, the Beaubourg plateau.
So, I never saw the Bacon or Rothko here, but we were lucky enough to see, Picasso. Endlessly drawing. This exhibition was organized to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso. It highlights the most prolific part of his creative output. From pure lines to intricate compositions, from the delicate nuances of pastel to the deep blacks of ink, he explored every possibility of drawing. I don’t think I have seen as many works by one artist, in one place, ever. His genius is revealed through nearly 1,000 drawings and prints, exploring the many facets of the artist’s imagination.
Portrait de Francoise, 1946Portrait de Paloma, 1952
The Basilica of Sacré Coeur de Montmartre and Tour Eiffel at night from the fifth floor of the Pompidou as we were leaving.
A very interesting day. And a break for you—not too many pictures today.
Another neighborhood bookstore. Walked passed this one when I went out for my morning café au lait.
On today’s agenda was the Palace of Versailles. Taking the metro. It started out easy . . .
Erika in the metro. We are catching the 1 train, switching at Le Defense Grande Arch to the L. The L will then take us to Versailles. The metro is very clean.
So, we get on the 1 train, no problem. Alex had given Erika a iledeFrance mobilities—navigo easy pass. I purchased a one-day pass in the station. We get to our stop, La Defense Grande Arch. So far, so good. We exit the 1 train platform.
Now our troubles start . . . ; ). It turns out Erika’s pass is only good in Paris (which we didn’t know) and I guess we had left the city limits (which we didn’t realize) and the L train is a different line (which we did kinda realize). I enter the L train platform expecting Erika to be right behind me and voila, Erika’s pass is denied entry onto the L platform. Sounds easy. Erika thinking her pass has run out of funds goes to the ticket machine and proceeds to reload her card. Again, sounds easy. She is denied entry a second time. Erika starts the process of reloading the card again. I’m on the other side of the turnstile. Watching, waiting. After being denied entry the third time, Erika does what any self respecting east coast, transit savvy American would do, she goes through the turnstile with the man in front of her. I’m still watching. Immediately upon entering, an undercover metro policeman comes up to us . . . I think you can figure most out from here. Talking to. Fine. Purchase correct ticket. I try to take a picture of this and get a proper scolding. I was laughing so hard, I think he was thinking of fining me.
We finally make it to Versailles. Exit the turnstile no problem.
Erika’s mug shot. ; ) And the cost for her to get here is now up to ~$100.
We have a leisurely 15 minute walk to the palace. It’s lovely! Weather nice. Town charming. Tons of markets, butchers and bakers along the way.
He was very funny. Pretending to take a picture of us as we took a picture of his shop. Repeating this for everyone.
Final mile to the palace. All stills seems good.
We made it!
Phase II of our interesting day.
We get in line—a long one. After about 15 minutes, I ask the man behind me, “how has the line been moving?” He lets me know that his timed ticket was for 12:30PM and since it is now almost 1PM, he says, “not very good.” I then ask a few other people if they all have tickets and it turns out that they do. We are in the wrong line.
I ask the Palace of Versailles security woman (plenty of security) what line should we be in. She directs us to another line.
We stand in our second line for about ten minutes and start to realize once again that this is the wrong line—another timed ticket line.
We finally get in the correct line. We are in line for about 15 – 20 minutes, now five or ten deep from purchasing our tickets. We notice lots more security and now police and even the green beret authorities are now present. They are kinda rushing around at this point talking in walkie-talkies, pacing back and forth—to and fro. Erika and I say to each other, I wonder if something is going on?
We are practically next in line to purchase our tickets and they start evacuating the palace, gardens and entire property. There must be two or three thousand people heading towards the entrance now being used as an exit.
This picture doesn’t do the evacuation justice. The front property of the palace is massive. The authorities handled it well. (I can’t load Erika’s video here because I don’t pay for that service.)
Don’t worry though, we are now safe and sound back in our apartment. Gonna call it a day. Phew, what a day it was. And we learned on the metro ride back that there had been a bomb scare. Apparently the second in three days. Luckily it was not and no one was hurt. Kudos again to the authorities
Tomorrow we are hoping for less interesting. George Pompidou Center in the morning and croissant/pain au chocolat baking class in the afternoon. Both within walking distance of the apartment.
Signing out for today. Miss you all, but having a great time. Next week to Mike’s!!
Dream to Travel from NCM 