Au revoir, Paris…bonjour New York!

Maman et bebe tres charmants.

I have much more to post about Paris: the museums, the food, the style, and my general impressions, but things have moved so fast that I neeed to organize my thoughts and present them in some coherent manner. Plus it’s very frustrating to not be able to make the proper French characters, thanks to a limited laptop keyboard.

We left Paris very early yesterday morning; the sun wasn’t yet up and the city was just beginning to stir. (Traffic on the highway going into town however, even at that early hour was as bad as the 405, glad we were going the other direction!) Flight was long, but mostly smooth, and I watched a few movies. (Another aside, if you haven’t yet seen Young At Heart, you must add to your Netflix queue now!)

We arrived in Manhattan into the snarl of Friday afternoon mid-town traffic. It took almost as long to get from the tunnel to our hotel as the previous leg from the airport to the tunnel. Bien sur, our room wasn’t ready yet, so off for a stroll in Central Park (and to find a hot dog for mon mari) we went. I don’t think we could have asked for nicer weather!

Back in the Middle Ages and Renaissance in Europe, there was a concept called the Great Chain of Being, which was the basis for the class system. One was not supposed to aspire to rise above one’s God-given place in life, nor dress or live above one’s station, or risk being hit with a Sumptuary Tax. Well, thanks to hubby’s company’s travel department, we are staying in a room that is well above our station (and normally would been quite above our budget). So this is how the other half lives…

After marvelling at our lodgings (everything is controlled from a panel on the bedside, even the night light, radio, temperature, humidity) we unpacked and headed off to meet Bonnie Ann for drinks at the Algonquin. Her friend MaryAnn soon joined us, and we had a wonderful time hearing about Bonnie Ann’s latest trip to England and her days with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Olivier who writes Stuff Parisians Like blog was in town and possibly showing up later, but at any rate we were quite sorry that our dinner reservations were so early and that we had to leave their lovely and vivacious company so soon.

Dinner at Insieme was just the thing after lots of rich French food; I had a couple of appetizers from the contemporary side of the menu, but everything looked fabulous. By the time we’d finished dinner, we’d been up for about 21 hours, so in the city that never sleeps, we had collapsed into bed by 10 pm.

Today we’re off to the Frick Collection and possibly the Whitney, and then tomorrow we’ll hit
the MOMA to see the Van Gogh exhibit.
~

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4 Comments

  1. While all the travel sounds exhausting, breaking up the time zone difference like this seems very wise to me — being welcomed into sumptuous lodgings would help as well. And being in a city like New York will surely soften the pain of having to leave Paris. Sounds as if you still have some wonderful city adventures before you’re back home — enjoy!

  2. We’re having wonderful fall weather here on the East Coast, and you’ll probably see some color in the trees.

    If you have time, try to see the Neue Galerie – a small jewel of a museum tucked into Museum Mile at 5th Ave. and 86th. I love the works of Klimt, Kirchner, and all the German Expressionists and always try to get to this museum when I’m in New York.

  3. Oh it sounds like such a lovely way to acclimate oneself for the return. I cannot imagine staying in New York and not stopping by the Frick, although yes, the Neue Galerie is also marvelous. I am jealous that you shall see the Van Gogh. I would love to go and yet fear that it will not be possible: so near and yet so far.