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Musee Picasso &
Cimetiere du Piere Lachaisees
We headed out
around 1100 this morning. We had to take several subway trains
and change stations and lines several times to get to the Musee
Picasso. We planned at stopping at Musee Carnivalet in the Maris
area of Paris but it was closed for a private party.
The Maris
has a large Orthodox Jewish area. Jews first settled here in the
1300s. I am amazed had consistently people of various religions
and ethnic groups settle into one particular area. We went
through several distinct areas throughout our Paris trip, our
London trip and virtually major city anywhere in the world.
The entry
fee for the Musee Picasso was €6.70 a piece. This was a nicely
laid out museum. In addition to Picasso, they had a few
paintings by other artists including Manet, Cezzane, Lister and
others.
The collection of
Picasso paintings and sculptures is amazing. I believe it is the
largest single collection in the world. They had some of his
earliest works right through the end of his life. Despite a good
flow through the museum, we still ended up going against traffic
a couple of times. We went our own way until we had covered the
whole museum.
We had
lunch at a restaurant called Elephant du Nil. I had the Elephant
Burger, half a quiche, and a .5 liter Kronenburg 1664. The one
time I was expecting a sandwich, those ever crafty French served
me a large burger smothered in cheese with a side of sautéed
potatoes and a small salad and bread. Dick had Chicken Provence,
rice, small salad, bread, half a quiche and .25 liter of beer.
The total was €36.50). Dick's had chicken several times this
trip and has not had a single chicken breast the entire time.
At the
Elephant du Nil, they had posters and such for various products
that used elephants as part of the logo or advertising. One them
was for cigarette rolling papers. It reminded me that I have
seen more people hand rolling their own tobacco in the past week
in Paris than I have seen in the last 20 years in the States.
You also see many hand rolled butts on the streets. Apparently,
it is very common.
After lunch, we
headed to Cimetiere du Piere Lachaise. It is one of the most
well known cemeteries in Paris. The land was purchased by
Napoleon in 1803 to create a new cemetery. Among those buried
there are Jim Morrison and Chopin. The cemetery covers several
square kilometers. If your expecting to see much at Jim
Morrison's grave you'd be disappointed. There is a small
marker/headstone and that is is it.
It took us
a while to find Chopin's grave site. We had paid €2.00 for a map
of the graves. It helped somewhat, but it was still hard to find
what you were looking for. Everything here seems to be laid out
in an unorganized manner. Other than the very wide main
boulevards, the other streets are short, meet at strange angles,
and are generally confusing. Apparently this has carried over to
their museums and cemeteries.
There were
several nice green areas with benches to sit and chill while
walking the expansive grounds. I'd probably not make a separate
trip to visit this, but if you are in the area, it may be
worthwhile.
We headed out for
around 1930. We ate dinner at La Cour Aux Crepes (27 Rue
Galande; just south of Notre Dame). We got the Formuale
Dejenres(?) which was €10.00 a piece. We had a 3 item (our
choice) dinner crepe (we had potato, sausage cheese), a sweet
crepe (we had chocolat) and a hot drink. I had cafe and Dick had
hot chocolate. The meal was very good.
After dinner, we
walked around the area and checked out a few streets we had not
been down yet. We saw a flyer/poster for Carmina Burundi. This
is one of the pieces that Dick had mentioned we good for the
music when I create my photojams. The concert is tomorrow night
at 2000 and should last about an hour. It is in one of the
churches we had tried to visit earlier in the week but it was
closed at the time.
We stopped for a
beer (Guiness) at Le Cafe Du Metro (60 Boulevard Saint-Germain).
We talked to a couple who was visiting from Los Angeles. The
wife works for Louis Vuitton. She was in Paris for training. She
had been in town for a week and the husband had been in town for
a couple of days. We exchanged notes about out our trips. It was
a nice evening outside and we enjoyed the company. I'd sure hate
to have to deal with the extra 5 or 6 hour flight back to the
West Coast plus an additional lay over. The guy had a very nice,
large laminated map of Paris. It was about twice the size of the
one we have been using with larger type. It looks like it would
hold up very well to the wear and tear of the constant
unfolding/folding/refolding you go through while getting around.
I think he said he got it at Barnes & Noble.
We got our
tab for the 2 .5 liter glasses of beer. The tab was €16.00)! I
got a 1 liter beer at one place and it was €7.00). Dick
explained that buying a beer at the bar is the cheapest, while
an interior table is more expensive and sitting outside it the
most expensive of all. I had not realized that before. It is
something you may want to keep in mind.
The French may
have an attitude about America, but they sure seem to love our
movies and music. You can pick up just about anything at the
video store. On the music, the average adult French seem to
favor Swing and Jazz with the youth loving hip-hop. We heard
American music throughout our trip. You see advertisements for
American movies everywhere. The big thing was Kill Bill 2. It is
showing at Cannes right now so there is a big push for the
movie.
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