A Museum Day

The weather forecast today was for light rain, so we decided to go to a museum.  Musée Zadkine is a museum devoted to a Russian sculptor who lived and worked in Paris.  Getting there was a little cumbersome because part of the Métro line we wanted to use was closed.  We took a Plan B route, but so did a crowd of others and at the point where we needed to change lines it was so crowded we decided to walk instead.  We stopped for lunch near Place St. Michel in a very un-French restaurant.  In fact it reminded me of an American restaurant in that the tables had a comfortable amount of space between them.  There were no red meats and the emphasis was on fresh fruits and vegetables.  We each got salads, mine with feta cheese and Bill's with shrimp tempura as well as steamed shrimp.

After such a virtuous lunch, we felt entitled to dessert.  The dessert was very French:  fondant chocolat with creme anglaise and whipped cream.  The creme anglaise came in a small plastic syringe so you could inject it into your cake.  (Perhaps we should have asked for a needle so we could inject it directly into our arteries.)










On our way to find the museum, we stumbled upon a Metre Etalon, a plaque in the wall with two metal tabs showing the exact distance of a meter.  Sixteen of these were installed throughout Paris in 1796 and 1797 in highly frequented locations.  The one we discovered, next to Luxembourg Gardens, is one of only two remaining, and is the only one in its original location.

We also passed by a doll shop with a charming market vendor tableau.



The permanent exhibit at Musée Zadkine consists of a large number of Zadkine's sculptures.  Today was the first day of a temporary exhibit of color photographs taken in the Russian countryside from 1904 to 1917 - very interesting.