Leaving Paris

Today we headed north to start the journey back, the way we had come, to the Channel. We both enjoyed the sights of Paris, from the river, on our own boat. You somehow feel privileged to be allowed to cruise through such a major city. By 2:00 pm we were moored up in Rueil Malmaison which left us time to visit La Maison Fournaise. It is a familiar place to all art lovers in the world. From its balcony, overhanging the river, Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted The Luncheon of the Boating Party in 1881, now part of the Phillips Collection in Washington.

The building now contains both a Restaurant and a museum dedicated to the ‘guinguettes’ (open-air cafes and dance-halls) which spread out on the river Seine banks in the 1860s. Maison Fournaise was popular with many artists including: Renoir, Degas and many others, used to meet to paint and relax.

Notre Dame Cathedral & Musée d’Orsay

The day started, as usual, by my early morning trip to the boulangerie for, “Bonjour, deux crouisant et une bagette, sil vue plait”. It is amazing how much school boy French you can remember if you are hungry. However, today I found a real treat: today’s copy of The Times newspaper.

After breakfast we set off walking again. Notre Dame Cathedral was only about 30 minutes walk away and the route took us down Boulevard Henri IV and across the Seine to Īle St Louis and then on to the Īle de la Cité. The whole route was exceptionally interesting, because it took us through the oldest part of Paris, and we therefore took longer than expected. However, we braved the crowds and entered the 12th century Cathedral with the Rose window containing the oldest stained glass in Paris.

Next we took the RER (like a double-decker Metro), for one stop, to the Musée d’Orsay. This was once a railway station, saved from demolition in the 1970s and converted into an art gallery covering the period 1848 to 1914. Here you can savour the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, including Monet, Renoir, Sisley and Manet. Not, in my humble opinion, their best works but I thought the building itself was wonderful.