What Sunday Mornings are Made for...

 Sunday spring mornings in Paris are too perfect to miss. Most of the city is asleep after those wild Saturday nights. The light is soft, and the places that will soon be overrun with footsteps … are empty. Pure and quiet!

  

Walking down quiet streets and where the early morning light is magic - as though its warming the earth

 

 Enjoying le jardin tuileries

 

Or le Jardin Luxembourg

 Chocolates and sweets in bed aka Breakfast

 a moment to yourself on any parc bench

 catching the metro at the dead early hours where for once there are no people about is a rare and amazing thing.

 

Getting a dose of mind body and soul therapy at one of the Paris perfect parcs

  

Queuing for Bread

 Being the first to buy the freshest baguette for the day

 a stroll or light jog along the banks of the seine

its these magic hours where the few people who are out all seem to be characters from some bohemian novel. Some are still living Saturday night, stopped in time wherever they were when their body or mind hit that invisible wall. (Some never even saw the wall. They drank their way through it.) Some are the “early birds,” catching those worms … or collecting those coins in the fountain. And some are just so darn perky (singing out loud as their jogging feet make a gravel rhythm in the gardens) that they make you thankful you’re noctilien

 Riding a Velib over the bridges of Paris

 Tossing or collecting? Coins at the fountain - place des vosges

 Staring out your window at Paris buildings

more sunlit walking

 more velib bike riding down quiet, not yet awake, streets!

 Having a coffee at Rue Montergueil before anyone else is there

 more time to yourself

 getting to the best boulangerie in paris and queuing for more bread :)

 taking the bus instead of the metro - SEE the city!

 more walking (im a walker can you tell hehe)

 

 enjoying a view across paris

Strolling through village like neighbourhoods known as 'la campagne' (little street and utterly Parisian neighbourhoods you would not know) - this is Rue Siegfried in the 20th...

 

Breakfast Feasts

 Lingering around your Petite Paris Apartment for longer than you should, watching the world unfold below!

 Falling in LOVE!!!

www.petiteparis.com.au

Musee de la Vie Romantique

Stumbling across Paris' quaint and secret gardens, usually hidden behind walls and carriage gateways, is like discovering this cities soul! 

Located in the 9th arrondissement, is this little spot - the Musee de la vie Romantique. Though it's primarily residential, the 9th arrondissement isn't exactly top in its class when it comes to public parks or open spaces. There are only 5 and they are small and most are neary noisy arteries too. Gardens in this arrondissement are often hidden behind those imposing carriage gateways. Thats one of the many reasons to make a pilgrimmage to the Musee de la Vie romantique and it's garden - especially its garden. 

 

Everything is wonderful here, starting with the shady lane leading to garden court where a handful of tables from the museums tearoom stand, a perfect spot in nice weather like now, for a pick me up. Flowers bloom on all sides: old fashioned roses, camanulas ... The beautiful old trees, greenhouse, rock garden and fountain are also wonderful.

This enchanting spot was the home of painter Ary Scheffer, a member for the Romantic Movement - on the academic side.

This property was built in 1830 on a piece of land previously owned by the Abesses Montmartre, next to Comte Chaptal's. It remained in the Scheffer-Renan family till it was transferred to the City of Paris in 1983, to become the Museum of the Romantics, dedicated to the arts and literature of the first half of the XIXth century. It is one of the few remaining artists homes, dating from the early days of King Louis-Phillipe's monarchy.


The ground floor displays keepsakes, furnitures and portraits, previously owned by the writer George Sand (1804-1876) and bequeathed by her grand-daughter Aurore Lauth-Sand to the City of Paris in 1923.

The upper floor offers highlights of Ary Scheffer's art (portraits, historic and religious paintings...) among other artfacts of Romanticism.

Each Friday Ary Scheffer would entertain prestigious guests in his working studio opening to the left of the passage - when arriving : George Sand, Chopin, Delacroix, Rossini, Liszt, Pauline Viardot, thiers....The opposite studio was used by his brother the painter Henri Scheffer, as well as assistants and pupils. 

These twin studios facing north, on each side of the paved courtyard, are used nowadays to show two temporary exhibition each year.