A quiet weekend... We decided to go to the Musee du quai Branly partially to see the newest Paris Museum ( of indigenous art) and mostly for the air conditioning! As you can see above, the museum is not far from the Eiffel Tower. It was a very nice museum, reminding me a bit of the Native American Museum in Washington. It covered quite a broad range of art from all continents. Another nice thing was - no crowd! You could wander without bumping or blocking. It also had a special exhibition of Tarzan stuff, which was fun. The temperature outside was 90, but it was chilly in the museum. In the end, we needed to leave or freeze! We enjoyed a really pleasant meal in the museum cafeteria, which is outside, shaded by the museum which is above it. It is also secluded from streets by lush plantings that surround the museum. It was a perfect place for a relaxing meal. And... no smoking (even outside)!
We returned to the Marais and bought some groceries to get us through the next few days. We notice that is it very quiet over in the 7th arrondisement by the Branly and American Church. Some people have told us that ALL of Paris shuts down and goes on holiday in August. NOT TRUE. While it seems true that many Parisians leave, and some areas are very quiet, the Marais carries on. Our area is not as busy as it was in July, but it is not a problem finding restaurants, groceries, boulangeries, etc. The department stores may be cut back a bit, but it is still busy. And my work is on - although about half the department is gone (so I can get quite a bit done). Our Chinese neighboors all seem to be here. I went out today after church down to the Paris beach, then on to Place Dauphine to sit and read. I heard almost as many Italian, Spanish and English speakers as French. In particular, there seem to be lots of Spanish and Italians here. Maybe they come to Paris for cooler weather since all the French are gone. Well, the bottom line is that it's quieter in the Marais, but not quiet! Other parts of Paris seems very quiet though.
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