Favorite museum in Paris? Granted, we haven't scratched the surface; but if you asked us based on this trip, hands down it is the Orsay Museum, or Musee d'Orsay. In an earlier post we mentioned that there are certain days where museum visits are FREE. We tried to go here on one of those days but were not prepared for the crowds. We elected to come back another day. And today was that day!
The first thing we loved is that it's housed in a former rail/train station. It was such a neat layout. Lots of natural light. One thing it is well known for are the massive clocks. You've probably seen them in a movie or picture before!
It primarily holds impressionist and post-impressionist pieces by well known artist: Monet, Van Gogh, Degas, Renoir, etc...
Time for a shout-out to Rick Steves' travel book. We've bought one of these on each of our international trips. It's perfect for tips and tricks, and he has many recommended "on-your-own" tours. One being, the Musee d'Orsay. This helped us know how and where to navigate, and gave us a little more insight on certain pieces. Here's tour guide @mkmaddox leading us on our journey! And @aushellbell is ready to GO!
A picture says a thousand words, so we just picked a few to share here. Enjoy!
We could've spent hours in the various galleries. With our tour book we really were able to hit most of the highlights. It's a little more intimate and comfortable than some of the larger museums. If you are trying to decide between museums, I don't think you can go wrong with a visit here!
We went back to our room to rest for a bit, then (by recommendation from our hotel) we went to dinner at the CUTEST little French restaurant, a la Petite Chaise. It was opened in 1680. Yes, that's not a typo - YEAR SIXTEEN HUNDRED EIGHTY. It claims to be the oldest restaurant in Paris.
It was a TINY little thing. On the ground floor there was a small bar, then a small room for dining. I believe there was a room upstairs, but we never ventured up that way. Their menu provided a special which included an appetizer, main dish, and dessert. Economically speaking, it was the way to go. We are sitting in the corner, so you can tell from the pictures how small it is!
One dish we knew we wanted to try on our trip to Paris was French Onion soup. We were there in the Fall, and it was perfect weather for a bowl of comforting soup. It's hard to get an idea of the amount of melted wonderful cheese on top. It was classically done and classically delicious. (Oh yeah, we also got a salad there in the background too ;-), haha!)
For our main courses we chose dishes from the land and sea. Melt in your mouth fish and hearty and comforting beef Bordelaise. Both were perfectly prepared. We typically share our dishes so we get to try a little bit of this and that. Doesn't that fish look it is going to flake right off the screen!?
To end this lovely dinner we chose an "iced nougat" with hazelnuts & berry sauce and a plum tart. Both were AMAZING. The nougat was so refreshing and the tart had the most perfect and flaky pastry. And there was ice cream on top of it! Win WIN!
Overall a very lovely meal. And for that matter, an absolutely lovely evening from start to finish. A stroll through a museum and a scrumptious French dinner is the way to go!
Next post we're headed to Notre Dame and the Opera. The Opera was one of our FAVORITE visits of the trip. You may even get a glimpse of the Phantom!
XO,
