France - Day 6

Today was a day that kind of turned upside down in some ways but ended well, thank goodness. 

We woke up early to make a 9:30am Seine and canal cruise with Paris Canal Cruises. We got there only to be informed that the cruise was cancelled due to a boat breakdown. Disappointing but we moved onto the next thing on the itinerary - Musee d'Orsay. Lovely museum, not sure what I admired the most - the amazing paintings of Renoir, Degas, etc., OR the building itself. This museum is my fave. We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside. But I did take a picture outside the Musee d'Orsay.

Then we walked back to our apartment to get changed into something warmer. Today was cooler than previous days and we were underdressed.
It was lunchtime, and we were starved after all the walking; so we headed to nearby rue St. Dominique and had lunch at Cafe Constant.

Hubby had the veal plate.

Younger daughter had the roast chicken.

Older daughter and I had the duck with apple.

I liked the duck but must admit my daughter's chicken was soooo good and I wished I had ordered that instead. Cafe Constant is excellent and definitely worth a visit. It is crowded so highly recommend reservations. We were lucky to get in, but we got there at the end of the lunch hour.

We then walked to the Louvre, taking our time along the way. On rue de Rivoli, we stopped into the WH Smith bookstore, a couple of tacky souvenir shops, and a street vendor selling her art. I bought one of her paintings - couldn't resist it as it was so beautifully well done, and the colours were so sharp. Here's what I bought:

At the Louvre, we breezed thru the line-up with our museum pass. We spent about 4 hours in the Louvre. We could've stayed longer but our feet were tired and the crowds were overwhelming at most times. The crowd to view the Mona Lisa was insanely massive. 

After leaving the Louvre, we trekked over to the retail area of the Champs Elysées. Our teen daughter wanted one more visit to H&M. 

Then we headed to rue St Dominique to try out a crepe place we passed by on our way to Cafe Constant at lunchtime; it's called Crepe & Tea. The savory crepes were just OK (we had the ham & cheese crepes and Provencale crepes), but the dessert crepes (we had a apple crepe, banana/chocolate crepe, strawberry jam crepe, and butter/sugar crepe) were quite good. No pictures this time. We much preferred Chez Imogene over this place. But this place was closer to our apartment.

Overall, a good day despite some minor glitches.