A Weekend to Recognize How Good I've Got It, Part 2

On Saturday morning, we followed what has become our Saturday morning routine: Sleep in a bit, drink lots of coffee while lying in bed reading Le Monde, then put on our sneakers and gym shorts and take a run. Suzie found an excellent route, which takes us past two sets of long stairs, which we go up and down four times each, then into Parc Montsouris, then into the Cite Universitaire Paris, a gorgeous, open space with lots of running paths, then back to our apartment for our weekly cleaning. That afternoon we just hung out at the apartment, waiting for the evening, when we met Suzie's friend Stacie and her sister and husband for dinner at a restaurant near the Invalides called Pasco, which specializes in cuisine from the south of France. The food was excellent, but the service was sub-par (there didn't seem to be enough staff), and the meal took over three hours.

Stacie (who is a childhood friend of Suzie's from high school, but who now lives in Luxembourg; it was she whom we were visiting the day of the infamous mad cow incident during our first trip to Paris) spent the night at our apartment, and the next morning, after a breakfast of croissants and pain au raisin and fresh baguettes and jam and coffee, the three of us walked from our apartment all the way to the Marais. The morning was cloudy and chilly, still and very autumnal. Here's a candid shot of Suzie and Stacie, and a close up of the magnificent fountain near Port Royal at the southern tip of the Jardin du Luxembourg:





Leaving the Jardin du Luxembourg, we walked north through the touristy part of Paris; here is the very scenic Saint Chappelle and the Palais du Justice on the Ile de la Cité:



Suzie and Stacey wanted to visit the Musee Carnavalet, the huge museum housing artifacts from the history of Paris, but I had seen it twice, so instead I went to the Modern Art Museum at the Pompideu Center. Of all the museums in Paris, I think this one may be my favorite, perhaps in part because it is so different from most of the others. Housed in a modern building, it manages to be nevertheless somehow very comfortable:



Then, too, I think that perhaps I just enjoy modern art a little more than traditional art. Certainly that's true with respect to the traditional art that is so heavily focused on religious themes; I can only take so many paintings of the Virgin Mary or Jesus on the cross getting stabbed. And this time at the Pompideu Center, I found the section of works from the early 20th century, which were less abstract than more modern works, and yet more interesting and experimental than impressionists. The museum displays its works in very clean, nice spaces, and at least on Sunday, the museum was uncrowded. A few selections that caught my eye:









After a couple of hours at the museum, I met Suzie and Stacie at a tapas restaurant in the Marais, where we had an excellent and relatively inexpensive lunch. On the way there, I passed the Tour St. Jacques, constructed in the early 14th century and the only remaining remnant of the church at the same location.



The boys have 10 days off from school starting today, so we are off on a vacation to Porto, a port city in Portugal, where we've rented an apartment right on the beach. Let's see, the title of this post was....