Eight nights in Paris, coming up! +Paging Darcy

[skywalkerbeth]

Good evening!

EDIT: I just realized my last post was in April, eek!

Another trip to Paris is looming. A new friend from Fodors (Judy) and her friends and family make regular pilgrimages to Paris and I am delighted to have been invited to join them this time around. I met Judy and her husband last September when our trips to Annecy, Lyon and Paris coincided and I met her daughters the day they arrived in Paris. They have a lot of fun together and I'm really looking forward to meeting up with them and meeting their other friends too.

Judy and her friends will be there for a few weeks, with other of their family members joining at different times. I'm tagging along for eight nights. Here we go!


Currently planned activities:
I will be staying in a flat in St. Germain, allegedly on the same street as Catherine Deneuve. Rue Madame?

Arrival evening - happy hour at O Chateau, a wine bar in the 1st. I met up with Darcy there last September and really enjoyed it. The flights of wine they serve are top-notch and it's a beautiful space. They also have wine tastings and classes.

If arrival day shows pleasant weather, I'm going to attempt to fight jet lag and visit Vaux le Vicomte which really dolls up for the holidays. If not, I may try for the next day (Sunday). Judy and her husband want to go but as he arrives one week later they plan to visit the following weekend and I'm on a plane that Sunday.

We have tickets for the ballet at Opera Garnier that Monday night. The ballet is "William Forsythe/Trisha Brown", choreographers. We plan a late lunch at Willi's wine bar to avoid worrying about pre-theater dining. I don't know anything about this ballet but I'm really looking forward to the people watching and watching a performance under the Marc Chagall ceiling! Also, coupes of champagne.

We were hoping to get into Frenchies one day but predictably are having troubles getting a live voice on the phone. We might wander past the wine bar around opening time to see if we can get in. It's worth a shot, at least.

Wednesday: dinner at Septime. We also have tour guide extraordinaire, Michael, set to meet up with us the whole day. I believe we will visit Musee d'Orsay and especially the new exhibit on Impressionism and Fashion. I think we were also going to attempt to visit the new Louvre wing on Islam that day as well.

Thursday: all day in Reims, with lunch at Les Crayeres. Train tickets already secured.

Friday: dinner at Verjus.

Saturday: lunch at les Papilles.

Things that are not reserved but that we hope to do:

Xmas markets.
Xmas windows and displays, especially the grand old department stores.
Lots of shopping, window and otherwise.
Much eating of croissants and macarons and other delectables. Foodie apps at the ready.
I've got notes from all over - I follow a number of Paris bloggers
Jacques Genin and other hot chocolate purveyors
The Van Cleef and Arpels exhibit at Les Arts Décoratifs.
An exhibit at Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson
There is an excellent exhibit at the Hotel de Ville right now on Paris and Hollywood.
Maybe a drink at the top of the Tour Montparnasse. I've never been near it.
Last but not least, lots and lots of photos.

I am probably forgetting some things. As I think of others I'll come back.

Any thoughts welcome for a Xmas visit to Paris. Exhibits, new restaurants, you name it, happy to hear about it. Thank you!

And now for the Paging Darcy part: Darcy, when we met, you showed me such a good idea for how you prepare for a trip to Paris. If I remember correctly, you get a Plan de Paris and make dots on all the places you have notated you want to visit as well as highlighting walking streets.

Did I get that right, or was there something I'm missing? I also can't remember which Plan you bought. It was a very specific one. I also seem to remember it wasn't tiny pocket sized although it wasn't huge either.

You have such a good eye for finding cool things, so if you have things "not to miss" I'd love to hear about it.

[Jody]

Lucky You. We saw the show at the D'Orsay It was excellent. Long lines but with my cane we walked to the door and right in!! also saw the Edw. Hopper show at the Grand Palais,,even longer lines !The were estimating a 5 hour wait but again we went to the head of line and didn't wait 5 minutes!!
Another new pace we went was the Mona Bismarck Center. There was a Mary CAssatt exhibit. She (mona) was a fascinating woman and she left her hiuse and much money to a foundation to Show Americam art and a center for Ex pats. There is a Dali portrait of her She was known as the best dressed woman in the WORLD!! Thhe people were so kind we got there an hour early and the director invited us tomwait in the lobby and told us the story of the center

[PariS]

Sounds like a wonderful trip, Beth! About Darcy's planning strategy--I'm pretty sure it was from her that I picked up the clever idea of using Post-it arrows in her le Petit Parisien. She wrote the name and address on the post it and positioned it pointing to it's location on the map--then if she ended up not liking the place that much she could remove it without having it permanently marked on her map.

[skywalkerbeth]

Ah, maybe that was it, thank you Annette!

Jody, thank you for the tip, Mary Cassatt and Mona Bismarck are on the list!

[mez]

You've planned a great trip. Hopefully you get to tick most things off your list.

The VC&A exhibit was on in NYC last year. It was a major "wow" for me, so I highly recommend it.