Saturday, September 16th

Went to Musee Jacquemart Andre, a small museum  in the 8th located in the home of the Jacquemarts and housing their private collection of art in addition to a traveling collection.  I was there in 2011 when they had an exhibit by the brothers Caillebotte, one a painter & one a photographer.  This time  the exhibit was the Secret Garden of Hansen and  paintings by Renoir, Matisse and Manet among others.  The house itself is very interesting and well preserved.  We had lunch in the tea room cafe which receives very good reviews.  We sat outside on the patio which is enclosed in plastic and very comfortable.  It was full the entire time we were there and we both had the spinach and ham quiche which was served with a green salad and was very good.  Then we walked over to Parc Monceau, one of my favorites as it's small and very pretty with a small lake, roman columns, a small waterfall and  lots of flower beds.  From there we went to Musee Nissim de Camondo, a mansion at the turn of the 20th century.  It was the home of a Jewish banking family who collected 18th century furniture and objets d'art and had the mansion built to resemble the Petit Trianon at Versailles.  The family was sent to Auschwitz, where they were killed.   Moise de Camondo died in 1935 and left the mansion to the Union Centrale des Arts Decoratifs naming it after his son who died in air combat during WWI.  It was inaugurated in 1936 and was both interesting and quite stunning.  We then walked rue Saint Honore-Faubourg and hoped to tour the Elysee Palace as today and tomorrow are Patrimonie, when the buildings not usually open to the public, are open for viewing free; however, the line was way too long.   We walked down Embassy row where most of the embassies were open, but not ours.  Security was heavy everywhere and the streets are crowded with people.  Back to the apartment for a short break before dinner at O'Chateau.  Dinner was really delightful as the wine bar has lots of atmosphere and is very friendly.  We each did a flight of wine tastings: Leas, white and me, red.  All the wines were throughly explained to us; as to the grapes, where they were from, etc.  We both started with tuna tataki, which was delicious,  and shared the charcuterie board, also delicious.  A really fun dinner and the perfect ending to a really fun day.