Museum Bargains in Paris and other Unicorns

As travelers, Mr FS and I are easy to please: we like museums, historic houses, and long, long walks. We live in one of the foodie capitals of the US, if not the world, so we don't sweat the restaurants. I already have too much stuff (and Mr FS gets hives if he goes into a store), so I don't do much shopping other than for food at markets. 

Here's a reminder  about a little-known museum bargain. At least we didn't know about it till last year. First, we discovered the Louvre membership for "professionals" like teachers. That is 35 euros per person. Luckily, the one we got last year still will have almost two weeks on it when we return!

However, anyone can get a membership. It's 80 euros for a duo/family. Even for a short stay, that breaks even (close) at 3 visits for two. With a membership, you can avoid the line for tickets! You can also use a special member's entrance, which, in typical gallic fashion, has never been open--maybe once.

Psychologically, the membership enables you (at least us--we're cheap) to go for several short visits rather than one LONG visit. If you're willing to skip the Mona Lisa and the awful crowds in that room, you can go to some of the less visited parts. Mr FS and I fell in love with Chardin last year. The room was almost empty. (Note: the bathrooms in the underpopulated areas are usually line-free and have toilet paper!)

There's also the well-known Paris museum pass. You can buy it at any museum or at the bookstore fnac. I think we only did this once. Since we like to stay at museums for a long time, it's not a good bet for us. If you like shortish visits, it's good. Another advantage is that if you go to a DUD museum (Victor Hugo was a dud for us), you can leave quickly without guilt or remorse. You might want to visit anyway since it's in the beautiful Place des Vosges. You can also avoid some lines.

Many Paris museums are free on the first Sunday of the month. For the first time, we will be able to partake. Mr FS has already mapped out a route: Picasso, Pompidou/Beaubourg, and a few others.

Our best museum deal: last summer we stayed in a miserable TINY room whose saving grace was that it was near the Cluny. We were only there a few nights waiting for our regular place to be free. Not only was the room tiny, but it was filled with the owner's stuff: mostly massive quantities of linens, arranged in rainbow order. He also mirrored most of the walls in weird ways. (His larger apartment next door was similarly mirrored--including mirrors on the ceiling over the bed and on the surrounding walls-- and piled high with neatly folded stuff). I didn't realize how stressful the space was till we went to our next lodging: I fell asleep for several hours upon arrival. 

The Cluny, home of the gorgeous Unicorn tapestries. We wandered over, planning to buy a museum pass. The Cluny was free, owing to some issue with a strike or trains or something! We spent the morning there and then returned after lunch. The next morning, we returned and it was still free! So we did a very thorough job taking in the rooms we had not spent a lot of time in.

When we walked by the next day, we peeked in and things were up and running. We had other plans but we wanted to see how long the free days were in effect. We went in. Why? Because the Cluny has an accessible bathroom. Keep an eye out for those in Paris. They are sometimes as elusive as unicorns.

Paris Shopping Plans: Not Very Exciting

Last year Mr FS and I met up with Miss Em in Belgrade, where she had spent a year. We were charged with bringing some of her stuff home. That made any shopping plans really simple: we couldn't buy anything. We needed every bit of space for her things.

This year, we have a bit more leeway. Miss Em will, I hope, be able to rendezvous with us in Paris. Our tiny apartment sleeps three. She will probably give us some things to bring back. We will bring her some make-up requested by her friends. It is a testament to...well, something..that her friends want makeup by ELF, Wet n Wild, and NYC, all extremely inexpensive drugstore brands. Everything on their wish lists came to under $30. 

Still, even though I know we can bring back a few things, I am ambivalent. Europe is not the shopper's paradise for Americans that it used to be. No need to lug home a Le Creuset pot. It costs the same in the USA. (I already own several Le Creuset pots). Besides, after about a week of post-grade-turn-in going through my stuff, I am, as always appalled by the accumulation. I am, perhaps foolishly, going in reverse of the famous Konmari method: I am putting things away before embarking on a  declutter. 

So here's my list. It is as humble in its way as the make-up list. I am lucky that it is humble by choice; Miss Em's Serbian friends crave consumer goods that are simply unavailable to them. 

1. Frugal Son likes little notebooks. Where better to get some than in Europe where the pages are graph paper? My plan is to get some at Muji while Mr FS is waiting on line for the famous falafels at L'As du Fallafel in the Marais.

2. To improve my French, which has been on the wane since I left the wonderful M. Giordano and M. Moore (how did these two non-native speakers leave me with an accent that has been complimented over the years? Merci, fellas), I peruse the Monoprix site. Now whenever I actually go to Monoprix I find myself quite underwhelmed by the quality, so I usually don't buy much of anything there. Mr FS buys food in the basement while I look around upstairs. 

Two items are on my radar. Five years ago, I bought a pair of black leggings in the Nantes Monoprix. They have served me well but are starting to get holes. I will wear them on the plane and swap them out for a new pair for 13 euros.

The site also features some black sarouel  pants, which to my eye look quite a bit like the famous Eileen Fisher slouchy pants that I am too cheap to buy. They are about 20 euros. 

Of course, cheapwad that I am, I will test my luck and wait for the sales, which start on June 24. 

Why is my list not longer? The most expensive part of the trip is the flight. When we get there, I start plotting our next trip. So I put the stuff I don't buy in my virtual savings account, where it can go toward a plane ticket.  Of course, there's always a chance I may succumb to temptation. I'm always tempted by a Longchamp handbag. Every year, I say I'll buy one next year. That's why I have to go back.

A Public Service Announcement from William Blake

So many hurt feelings and so much festering anger in our lives.

Wisdom from Iceland

While I was cleaning up (sort of) in preparation for my trip, I found a postcard that I brought back from the airport in Iceland. There were a few FREE postcards on offer. The only one I took has a picture of a haystack with the following caption:

Everything is hay in hard times

Isn't taht great?

Make your grilled cheese with mayonnaise

Why is this so earth-shattering? I love grilled cheese, but for some reason dealing with butter is a pain in this instance. I recently read SOMEWHERE (can't remember) that grilled cheese is better made with mayo, which is, after all, nothing more than oil and eggs.

It was great. So easy.

Instead of shredding...

I'm sure most people are more organized than I am. It would be hard not to be. It is the bane of my life.

Common wisdom says one should put statements through the shredder. Our shredder went kaput a while ago, PLUS I never could keep up with the shredding. Then I read an organizing book by Susan Pinsky. She has a whole page on why one doesn't need to shred. She says that almost no identity theft is perpetrated through garbage. It is the work of cyber thieves. She does say that--for things with really private information like social security numbers--one can use a thick black marker to obliterate the info, kind of like those redacted documents one sees in the news and on movies.

I just threw out a bunch of stuff, including old retirement account statements. It does make me a bit nervous. And I forgot about the marker trick.

Mr FS to the rescue! He just threw all the papers into an empty garbage can and poured water on them. He's going to stir them into oblivion. This really takes very little time. Much less than shredding.

Just a tip for any messy, overwhelmed, and disorganized types that might be out there. And we don't need to buy another shredder.

We Heart McDonalds (France only!)

While in France, we don't scoff at McDonalds. In the US we enter a McDonalds perhaps once every three years or so. Make that five years. In Paris though....we are more frequent frequenters. 

In fact, another tip is that as you meander along the streets, keep an eye out for the nearest McDo. Pourquoi? Three reasons: 

1. One euro coffee. Sometimes you don't WANT to sit in a cafe for an hour. The coffee is surprisingly acceptable.

2. Bathrooms with toilet paper. 

3. Free wi-fi (pronounced wee-fee). This is not as critical an issue as it was a few years ago, when our rentals were sometimes without wi-fi. Now many parks have free wi-fi also. 

And guess what? Most of the customers are "real" French people (mostly teenagers) and not tourists.