After a long, restful sleep, we had a big brunch at the hotel and took the Metro over to the 19th to explore the Musee de la Musique museum, walk along the large canal-Bassin de la Vilette.
Musee de la Musique
The museum is a new building in the Parc de la Villette and part of the Cite de la Musique, which includes a huge music venue and exhibition space. Organized chronologically, the collections and exhibits (in ALL formats) focus on Western music from the 17th century to today. With 1,000 instruments and art objects, the displays include gorgeous to occasionally grotesque instruments once belonging to Chopin, Django Reinhardt, Frank Zappa, and other famous folks. It was much more interactive than our photos show, and we could have spent a week here. Seeing, hearing, and reading really is the best way to learn. Hope son, Will, will have that chance some day!
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| The big music venue is behind Louie |
Walk along the Bassin de la Villette
The Bassin connects two early 19th c. canals and is beautiful and full of commercial and pleasure boats. In a typically Parisian way, the area is beautiful, as well as functional. The life along the Bassin and the canals is rich, diverse, and fascinating. Fortunately, I'd read an article about this area early in 2011, so it's opened a new playground for us in Paris. Here's the Wikipedia link, in case you want more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassin_de_la_Villette
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| Canal lock and lockmaster's house |
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| That's a Holiday Inn Express behind us. |
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| Boule |
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| Ping pong canalside |
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| a restaurant/bar canalside |
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| Yep, right on the sidewalk! |
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| La Rotonde, where we had an excellent meal - fish for me and pork knuckle with fresh peas for Louie. |
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