Let's Take a Trip to Paris

Let's Plan a Trip to Paris

Lesson #3:

Day 5: Art Blitz I

Morning
Start at Rodin Museum (Metro: Varenne) – don't skip the sculpture garden, especially if the weather's inviting. Explore everywhere – the mansion’s many rooms and the garden’s far end.

Have a delightful picnic lunch discreetly in the garden, eat at the garden cafe or walk a couple blocks to picnic at Esplanade des Invalides.

Afternoon
From Rodin, go right on Rue Varenne and then left on Rue de Bellechasse, which ends four long blocks later at Rue de Lille and the Musée d'Orsay. Impressionists and post-impressionists – think Latrec, Van Gogh, Renoir, Degas – dominate the Orsay, a gorgeously renovated train station. As much as I love the art, I enjoy the building even more.

Evening
For dinner, do a museum splurge in the Orsay’s aptly named, Restaurant du Musée d'Orsay on the first floor or the alluring top-floor brasserie, Café Campana. Take the Metro home at Solférino station. Better yet: Go for an evening stroll on the Seine River promenade or take the Solferino pedestrian bridge to Tuileries Garden.

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Day 6: Overwhelming Opulence

All Day
Pack a picnic lunch and catch the 8am RER C train (leaving every 15 minutes) from Invalides or Champs des Mars to the Versailles Palace for all-day fun. It’s a 10-minute walk from the train station to the palace. After touring the palace, explore the expansive grounds – best done by renting bikes and rowboats. Find a quiet, shady picnic spot for lunch.

Stick around for fireworks and dinner at the palace’s Michelin-rated and expensive, La Veranda, or walk back to Versailles town to the exquisite, Les 3 Marches (22 Rue de Satory). Take the RER C train back to Paris.