10 25 Friday ( and Thursday)

On Thursday i did very little other than experiment with butterflies and sit in 3 separate bar / cafes for early breakfast, morning tea and late lunch and plan today's outing.

Today I walked over to the other side of the river again to go to the Jaquemart Andre museum.  This apparently is a very fancy house with a very rich couples art collection.

I didnot have a ticket and, according to the sign on the queue, it would take me 30 minutes to an hour to get in. I didnot fancy waiting so went to the next place on the route,,the Parc Monceau. It was quite nice wandering around.

Next on my route was the Alexander Nevsky cathedral , a russian orthodox church. I found out about this in the Secret Paris book i have, nowhere else have i seen it mentioned. It was consecrated in 1861. ( as an aside i remember that john and i in 1976 stayed in a hotel on Nevsky prospect ( street) in St Petersboug ( except it was Leningrad then) it was then the main street of the central city area) Alexander Nevsky was a great leader , wise ruler, successful military commander and devout Christian, so the book says. Apparently  it is the archdiocesan seat of the Russian Orthodox Church in Western Europe..  in  2019 i went to another russian orthodox church , next to the seine, much newer. It was supposed to be important too. Maybe there are different flavours of russian orthodoxy.  Todays one was circular, lots of domes and taller than it was round. Inside was quite dark with paintings of people and saints all over most of the walls. There were a few chairs and there were a few other people just sitting , so I did too. It was about very peaceful.

My route took me past the arc de triumph.  There were lots of tour groups , tourists, hawkers, a largish group protesting about something, etc etc ( including pickpockets i assume) . I quickly walked close enough to get a sort of photo then hurried away. There were 2 buildings on my list , I with  facade made entirely of pottery, the other  very attractive art nuveau building. I try to eat at small cafes but I had been looking for a while. They usually tend to be in back streets, not the main roads where the big bistros are. Today I went to a nice looking big bistro . Apart from 2 japanese girls, i was the only non French speaker. The schools are on holidays and there are lots of kids around. I caught a bus back to my apartment,  the first time this trip, that i have used public transport.