NEW YEARS EVE - NEW YEARS DAY

Saturday -  We had been to the Grande Palais several times however the line to visit the Stein Collection exhibition has been very long so we went early today and I was able to get in straight away.  This was a great Exhibition of works collected over a number of years by the Stein Family who really gave Matisse, Picasso and Cezzane their great starts.  Gertrude Stein was well known in Paris for her support she gave to writers and artists.  Ian went walking and finished up at the Pompidou Centre and around near Hotel de Ville.  He was waiting when I came out.   It had started to shower and we decided to walk back to the apartment for lunch.  We were not far along the way when the rain really came down along with the wind, it was very cold and miserable.  After lunch Ian went off again to Musee Monet.  I decided to give this a miss and read for a while before going for a walk around the neighbourhood and having a coffee.  It was very busy around the shopping area and interesting just sitting in the Cafe people watching.  There seemed to be an air of expectancy about.

We had decided we would try a Restaurant 'Les Cocotte' which is nearby for dinner.  They don't take bookings so we left about 8.45pm to walk around and when we got there the queue was out the door and they were handing out champagne to those waiting for a table.  We gave this a miss and walked away from the crowded streets and finished up back at a restaurant we have been to last time we were here and had a wonderful dinner.  The place was absolutely packed and by the time we finished our three courses we had been moved around the tables three times making room for parties of people that were coming in.  It was fun really and we got to speak English to an American girl who had a MA from Queensland Uni (online) and her friend was French but managed an American Football team.  Interesting.

It was just after 11.30 when we left the restaurant and we walked quickly down to the Eiffel Tower arriving in time to cheer in the New Year along with thousands of others.  No fireworks though.  Thankfully we had decided we would not go to Champs Elysee which is where most of the action happens.  Tonight we saw where 360,000 people saw the New Year in there. 



Celebrating the arrival of 2012. 

 Sunday.   It was a very late night for us oldies and we slept till day light - 8.30.  I was happy to stay in bed for a while.  Ian went off and brought the croissants for breakfast or brunch - we certainly didn't need more after last nights dinner.   We sat around reading till around 2.00 and walked along the river
and then up to Rue Madelaine and found the Musee Pinacotheque of Paris where there was a Giacometti and the Etruscans Exhibition on.  This was extremely interesting.  We had seen Giacometti's Sculptures in Sydney some time ago however this exhibition included many art works back as far as the 9th Century BC and explained Giacometti's search and final works. 

We then walked along Rue Rivoli which was crowded with people.   There are many souvenir shops along here with cheap scarfs, hats, t-shirts etc.  Each time we crossed a street we were in the fine misty rain and so when we came to a metro station we caught a metro back.   We found some quiche in a Patisserie nearby and came back to our nice warm little apartment. 



A Grey Overcast day but the gold still shines.