Though most of our honeymoon is in Spain, my darling wife beseeched me: What is a European honeymoon without a stop in Paris? And marriage is all about compromise.
We returned to the city of our engagement very early Wednesday morning, with no expectations our hotel room at the Odessa Montparnasse would be ready, and even less sleep from the flight. A quick visit to a nascent street market gives way to a delirious journey to one of my favorite sights, the Jardin du Luxembourg and the Medici Fountain.
Here we see the cyclops Polyphemus of Odyssey fame discovering, much to his dismay, that Galatea (no relation to Galatea) and Acis are deeply in love. It turns out no Greek playwright’s career is complete without a jab at our disproportionately sized friend.
Instead of being blinded, Polyphemus crushes Acis with a boulder and according to some traditions, steals his girl. Total chad move, if a bit messy. A truly incredible sculpture by Auguste Ottin, in a park you can sit in for hours.
Laura’s stomping grounds are forever the 5th and 6th arrondissements north of the gardens, so we awayed for a second breakfast at La Palette, a cafe opened in 1902 catering to many famous artists of the time. Some of the luster might be gone but the dark wood paneling and worn tables and chairs offer the quintessential cafe experience.
We made our way back to the Hotel Odessa for check in by way of the Musée Bourdelle, an art museum in the former studio of Antoine Bourdelle. I am a huge Rodin lover so super biased, but if Bourdelle does anything right, it is capture human emotion.
A quick siesta gave way to dinner at Mâm Son, an authentic Vietnamese restaurant. The bun cha was quite tasty and Laura’s pho always satisfies. What a crossover episode to end our first day, surely no one would believe I was eating Vietnamese in Paris.