Paris at a Different Pace

After many visits to Paris over the last thirty-five years, we decided to visit at a different pace and from a different perspective. We chose AirBnB in the 16-ème arrondissement. We spent five days walking – from the 16-ème to the 1-ere and half way back, across the Promenade Plantée, around the Bois de Boulogne and following Pissaro and the Aqueduc de Louveciennes. We also found time for a ride on the Bateaux-Mouches along the Seine at sunset.

Instead of the big galleries we visited the Rodin exhibition at the Grande Palais. We also found our neighbour in the 16-ème, the Musée Marmottan Monet, which is the best permanent impressionist museum in Paris. It houses a permanent exhibition of the best works of Berthe Morisot, the often-ignored woman at the centre of the Impressionist Movement. The current temporary exhibition featured Pissaro including several works from his Louveciennes sojourn in 1871 which sparked the visit to what is now an outer suburb of Paris.

We finished on a high note (not necessarily an accurate one) by joining in the Festival of Music on 21 June, singing along with popular French songs while celebrating the longest day of the year.

On the way, we went back to basics, finding good French traditional food in the markets and one very fine restaurant, and moved at the pace of the locals, slowed by the 35 degree heat of early summer.