The Carnival Museum, a Night at the Opera, the Albert Kahn Museum, and more Fun around Town

Fantasy world of Musee des Arts Forains

Musee des Arts Forains and Bercy Village

Musee des Arts Forains is a "carnival museum" exhibiting rides and games from carnivals and fairs dating from 1850 to 1950.  This is a private collection viewable only by reservation and only with a French-speaking guide. Anne had to telephone from the U.S and cajole a woman in her best French in order to make this reservation; but she has been wanting to visit ever since she saw the museum in the movie “Midnight in Paris.”  We were unable to follow a lot of the guide’s spiel, but the main appeal was the fabulous atmosphere and being able to try out the attractions of the past. 

Frank plays the "Paris Waiter Race" game

Walking into the dimly lit museum was like entering a fantasy world with carnival horses suspended from the ceiling, calliopes playing, and automated figures “singing” operatic arias from the ceilings.  Best of all, we were allowed to play.  We rode carousels and competed in a “Paris Waiter Race” where you roll a ball up a ramp (similar to Skeeball), and every time your ball goes into one of the high-value holes, your  “waiter” (made of metal) advances along a track.  Anne actually won one of the races -- she has always been a big skeeball fan!  Frank had a dud-of-a-waiter; he just couldn't get the momentum going.  (The game actually commemorates a race held annually in Paris with Parisian waiters racing each other down one of the boulevards, each one carrying a tray and a glass of wine – only in Paris! )

Anne pedals her velo on the
 bicycle-powered merry-go-round

We also rode a highly unusual merry-go-round that enabled us to cruise on turn-of-the-century bicycles. It wasn't all that easy to pedal our own bikes, but the real chore was trying to keep your feet on the fast-rotating pedals as the bikes picked up speed!! Supposedly, the record speed of the past was 56 km./hour (almost 35 miles/hour) accomplished by some strong young men (pompiers) – we never came close to that speed, but we were flying!

Frank on the carousel

Bercy Village (before the lunch crowds arrive)

The museum is located in Bercy Village, another hidden gem of Paris with a lovely park full of greenery and rows of cafes operating out of what used to be wine warehouses.  At one time, Bercy was the largest center for wines and spirits in the world!  We topped off our museum tour with a delicious lunch of grandes salads served at an outside table at one of the cafes.

Frank checks out the action on stage
at the Palais Garnier Opera House

A Night at the Opera

We always like to take in an opera whenever we have the opportunity.  This year, we hit the mother lode with Rossini’s “Italian Girl in Algiers” at the incomparably beautiful opera house, Palais Garnier.  Anne had to get up at 3:00 a.m. several months ago just to buy these tickets.  Opera at the Garnier is a rare event, and tickets were selling like they would for some rock concert!  We had nosebleed seats way up on the 4^th and highest level, but luckily we could take the elevator, and the seats were not bad at all.  We were in the very front of a small section of balcony suspended over the main floor – not good seats if you suffer from vertigo, but we were out in front and just loved them.  We had a good view of the stage, and we could admire the incredible Marc Chagall ceiling right before our eyes.

The magnifique Marc Chagall ceiling at the
Palais Garnier Opera House

The opera was great fun.  Rossini has always been a favorite of ours, and we enjoy his humorous treatment of opera. We know that “fun” may sound like an odd description for an opera, but this one especially was very light-hearted and filled with crazy French humor.  For example, the opera opened with a scene in a men’s bathhouse in Algeria (like a spa).  All the male singers wore grotesque fat suits making them look just like naked, super-sized, pot-bellied sultans.  When the curtain rose, the whole audience cracked up.

In the gardens of the Albert Kahn Museum

Albert Kahn Museum

Anne has made a hobby out of finding hidden gems in Paris, and the Albert Kahn Museum is another to add to her list.  The museum is located on the western edge of of the city near Bois de Boulogne (Paris's version of NYC's Central Park).  Albert made his fortune in finance and decided to promote world peace by taking photographs of people all over the world.  Eventually he enlisted a team of photographers to take the pics and amassed over 72,000 photos.

An example of one of Albert Kahn's autochrome photos

He also experimented with the latest technology relying heavily on the Luminiere brothers (who invented cinema). He used something called "autochrome" which produced color photographs with a luminous quality almost like an image on a color TV screen.  Only a small number of his photos are on display, but we noticed many were taken in places we had visited.

Ancient Japanese Garden at the
Albert Kahn Museum

Outside, on the grounds of his museum, Kahn created a 10-acre plot of many different gardens each in a different style such as a French Garden, an ancient Japanese Garden, and a Blue Forest made up of blue spruce trees.  All the gardens were a delight with many flowering blooms, such as hyacinths and azaleas.  We went photo crazy!

Choco anyone?

Fun around Town

Paris is such a walkable city, just roaming is a joy.  Of course, we do have some goals in our wanderings.  One was to pick up some of the world’s greatest dark chocolate at our favorite choco shops such as Patrick Roger and Jean Paul Hevin.  We don’t know how they do it, but the French create the most delicious creamy chocolate at a healthy 65-75% of cocao (with no bitterness!)

Anne at her favorite chocolatier, Jean Paul Hevin

Most of our experiences here are idyllic, but all is not perfect, and we did have a bad experience at a restaurant called “Aux Delices de Manon” on rue Saint Honore (near the chocolate shops).  The place looked cute, and prices were reasonable, BUT these people were real scam artists.  Anne ordered a Croque Madame (melted cheese & ham on toast) which came with salad, but when the friendly waiter asked if she would like a salad with tomato and some mozzarella, she foolishly agreed.  Turned out that the substitute salad cost more than the sandwich!  And when we asked for tap water, the waiter said they had none (first time that ever happened) and brought us one small bottle of Perrier that cost 5.50 euros.  The whole experience was a total rip-off, and Anne was furious that she fell for it.  Back at the apartment, she wrote a scathing review on Trip Advisor and discovered that many other tourists had been scammed as well.  One poor foursome ended up paying 127 euros ($175) for a small breakfast!  Many times, Anne feels like she goes overboard with her trip research, but this is a good example for checking a place out; a little research would have warned us off, as many complaints have been registered on the internet already.  It’s also a good reminder not to be too trusting, even on a fancy schmancy Paris street like rue St. Honore.

At the Paris institution called Chartier

The Chartier Boullion Restaurant provided a much better lunch experience for considerably less money.  Chartier is a Paris institution, a traditional place that has been serving locals (and now tourists) since the late 1800’s.  The place can be crazy at mealtimes, but when we arrived about 4:00 p.m., it was almost empty.  The waiter wrote our order right on the paper tablecloth, and our meals of roast chicken and veal chop were simple but excellent.  We especially liked the recommended appetizer of hardboiled egg served with mustard mayo sauce – sounds boring but it was delish!  Good food at a reasonable price in a charming old venue – parfait!

Gallette at the Breizh Cafe

Another favorite was the Breizh Cafe, a popular place serving gallettes (buckwheat pancakes covered with a sunny-side up egg, gruyere cheese and other goodies).  Inexpensive (for Paris), very friendly, and a nice change of pace.  We washed down our gallettes with some famous Breizh Apple Cidre (5% alcohol) (Brut) that was unlike any cider we have ever tasted.  Not bad!

Frank gets into his cidre!

Frank checks out at electric car getting charged up
in the middle of Paris

Other Sights of Paris:

The electric car.....  in Paris, the electric car has apparently arrived and, as you can see, is definitely in use!  They even have roadside standardized (?) stations for charging up the batteries.  Unbelievable!!  We have nothing like this in America that Frank knows of.  Maybe they have some prototype stuff out on the west coast, in California or Washington State.  Frank knows that Tesla, BMW, GM, and some others are experimenting with the electric car, but so far, there are no units in use like this on our highways. Our electric car refueling stations will probably not be ready for production until around 2020 in America.  I was amazed to see a Renault truck "fueling up" with electrons at a roadside electric station here in downtown Paris.

Some of the police here in Paris patrol on inline roller blades.  We watched this group of young police officers cruising the streets along rue St. Honore at a leisurely pace; all of a sudden, they seemed to get a call, where upon they jumped into action, and were off and running.  Or is that "off and rolling?"

Paris Police on inline skates

And they're off to skate down
some bad guys!

And some sights around the apartment:  

We managed to have an evening of celebration together here in our lovely Paris apartment; we procured a bottle of the tasty and famous Godme Champagne at the wine salon and popped the cork for some enjoyable bubbly!!

A quiet evening at home

Frank really pops his cork!

Chin chin!!!! (French for cheers)