2017 France: Chartres, Amboise, Beaune, Paris: Favorites and foodie heaven #1

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Day 14: D'Orsay xs 2, fancy dining, and Mr. Rodin.

I love the Orsay Museum. It's my favorite museums, and if you've followed this blog at all, you know we like museums. It's the perfect combination of manageable size, incredible collection--my favorite is the Impressionists, and light. I love spending an hour (or more) in the dark galleries then walking out in the light sculpture "garden" which refreshes me and boosts me to continue. I want to live in the Orsay. It's my happy place.

One of the pros of the apartment was its proximity to the Orsay. 1 block, no more. :) Heaven. Each night we passed the Ladies of the Orsay and I felt at peace. So today would be a treat. It was our day for D'Orsay, lunch at our first 3 Michelin star restaurant, L'Astrance, and whatever we felt like afterwards.

We pretty much opened the museum, I think we were the first into the Impressionist rooms since we headed there directly after collecting our audioguides. Glorious solitude with the masters. Incredible! It filled up pretty quickly but we certainly enjoyed "sharing" all the beautiful canvasses. I know the collection changes and I was disappointed to not see my favorite from 2015, L'Evasion d'Rocheport by Manet. But we noticed some Monets that hadn't registered in our brains on previous visits. It was all good!

Bon jour, Musee d'Orsay!

The ladies of D'Orsay have the best views!

Monet, London Parliament, 1904

Degas, Dancers in Blue, 1893

The view as we left the Impressionist galleries

I love the light!

Hercules the Archer, Bourdelle

Van Gogh, The Nap, 1889-1890

Van Gogh, the Church at Auvers-sur-Oine, 1890

Toulose Latrec

Toulose Latrec, Woman with gloves, 1890

We were there from 9am until 1145am. We had a 1245 reservation at L'Astrance in the 16th and didn't want to be late for our first 3 Michelin star lunch!

D'Orsay conveniently has an RER station and easy metro connections. We took the metro line 6 to Passy and were treated to an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower.

Nice view from the Metro!

We enjoy splurging ever so often on good food. We've been lucky to eat at 1 and 2 Michelin star restaurants on previous trips, usually at lunch, but have never gone to a 3 star. In researching this trip, I ran across a blog post (https://parisbymouth.com/favorite-michelin-three-star-paris/) in which the author visited and paid for her meals at Paris's 3 michelin star restaurants. I chose L'Astrance and enlisted the help of our Air B&B hostess to make the reservation. I decided on lunch because it was reportedly very affordable.

L'Astrance is a tiny restaurant on Rue Beethoven in the 16th, down an unprepossessing street. It's across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower. It was relatively easy to get to the general area on the Metro and nice Parisians pointed us in the right direction when we got turned around.

We were sat promptly on arrival and offered the below menus. I knew that they served what was fresh that day so I told them I didn't eat beef or pork and they worked with my dietary restrictions. I realized here that I should say "I don't eat red meat or pork" because that is more accurate and then I won't get served duck, which I don't eat! We had the wine pairing with our meal. It was, I think E120 per person for lunch. Without wine, it would have been E70. At a couple of points, I felt we were being ignored and somewhat overlooked. We also were not served one plate, a great looking soup, that everyone else around us received. The service was professional but a bit brusque. The sommeliers were fantastic and the wine pairings were outstanding. It was a delicious affordable meal in a lovely restaurant. We would certainly return!

Beautifully presented and delicious amuse bouche

Mussels with edible flowers

Tasty fish

And another tasty (different) fish

The duck with beans

Palate cleansing sorbet

Dessert was sooo good

Eggnog and cookies

We'd eat fruit every day if it was like this!

After lunch, we took a few pictures with the Eiffel Tower but decided against walking there, instead headed to the Metro, through a lovely neighborhood, for the quick trip to the Varenne stop. Husband wanted to see the Army Museum and I was hankering for a visit to the Rodin.

It really is an incredible view of the Eiffel Tower from line 6!

The Rodin Museum is in Hotel de Biron and it was under renovation for years. It re-opened last year and I wanted to see the house and the collection. It is covered by the Museum Pass.

The house was looking gorgeous but the weather was looking threatening so I took my time walking around inside, and indeed, it rained pretty hard while I walked around.

I didn't remember seeing Rodin's paintings before but they were very pretty in the impressionist style.

Old Boitsfot, Rodin, 1871-1877

Golden Twilight, 1871-1877

But his sculptures are the stars. They are immediately familiar and evocative.

Saint John the Baptist, 1880

Perseus and Medusa, 1889

View of the Viaduct in Arles, or the Blue Train
Van Gogh, 1888

The Walking Man, 1880's

The Kiss, 1889-1890

The Cathedral, 1907

The museum was lovely but the gardens are still undergoing work. I hope the next time I visit, it will all be done!

The Thinker, 1903

Back of Hotel Biron

Monument to James McNeil Whistler, 1908

The Gates of Hell, 1880-1890

The Three Shades, pre 1886

Hey there, ET!

The Burghers of Calais, 1889

After my hour and 45 minutes, I made my way to Napoleon's Tomb to meet husband. He was enjoying his solo tour of the Army Museum.

The day was beautiful and the dome was glowing. I love the little park adjacent to Napoleon's Tomb--the flowers are always so pretty with the Eiffel Tower peeking out.

Hiya, ET!

It was chilly so I made my way into the Tomb, about 45 minutes before it closed down. A nice benefit of the Museum Pass! A few people tried to get in without tickets and were turned away (they were not pleased!).

Ridiculously gorgeous doors

After walking around a bit, I settled on a bench and read until husband was done. He was quite enthused about the Army Museum, particularly a new section in the basement with interactive displays. We walked through the compound and exited.

It was a really pretty early evening. We walked toward Pont Alxenandre III and took lots of pictures along the way.

We crossed the bridge and walked along the Seine to the footbridge by the Orsay Museum. Paris is just so very pretty!

We were a little tired so headed up to the apartment to relax.

But we're not in Paris often (enough for me), and the Orsay was open late, and we had the Museum Pass, and it was a block away, so there we headed.

No lines for late entry

We didn't go back to the Impressionist Galleries, instead hit rooms we'd never been in before. And once again, were charmed and amazed by the beauty on display.