Petit Palais and Palais de Tokyo

We woke to thunder and rain this morning; a definite cooling effect for hot summer days we’ve been having.  Last night the neighbors partied until 2 am.  Paris lives outside on hot summer nights!

We did a load of laundry at the laundry mat down the block between the raindrops.  Met a couple there from Texas who we discovered live across the courtyard from us…they also had trouble sleeping from the party happening between our buildings!  Going to the laundry in Europe can be fun and interesting if you’re will to talk to strangers.

After lunch in the apartment we headed out the door with umbrellas in the backpack and walked to our nearest bus stop, about 3 blocks.  Took the bus across town to Gare Montparnasse….that’s where a very tall building allows people to go up for the view from the top.  It’s as good as the Eiffel Tower views.  There we caught a different bus that took us to the Louvre. 

 From there we walked through the Tulleries Garden toward the Champs de Elysees.  Beautiful and nice to enjoy watching people enjoy the sunshine!  Notice in the slideshow the security forces that are constantly walking in public places. 

Finally arrived at the Petit Palace where we enjoyed an hour for free of art in a beautiful building.  Then we walked to the Palais de Tokyo and again found a free museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.  This is the one that Maeliss recommended….but still glad we went to see the one on Architecture and Monuments yesterday. 

This one was very different for us but we enjoyed the change of style and Jim found several works by artists that he was very familiar with.  I particularly enjoyed the furniture that was displayed.

Walking again we crossed the Seine River at Pont d’Alma; viewing once again the Flame where the people have erected a memorial for Princess Diana.  Then on to the Eiffel Tower and the dock for our Batobus for our trip home.

Caught the bus after getting off the boat and just as we hopped off for our three block walk back to the apartment; the rain drops began to lightly fall. 

Home for a dinner and then some local shopping.  We’d planned a concert tonight at 8 pm but we were wrong; tonight it began at 6 pm so we missed it.  Tomorrow we will try to make the 8 pm concert.

It’s quiet outside.  They started to gather below the window earlier and Jim very carefully watered the plants in the window and “accidentally” spilled some that dripped on the girls below.  They laughed and moved the chairs to the end of the courtyard so it should be a quiet night!

Hope you enjoy the slide show: