Promenades de Paris - Le Palais Royal

The whimsical Métro station, Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre on rue de Rivoli appropriately enough, located near la Comédie Française.
Promenades de Paris - la Série
1. Promenades den Paris...le Louvre et les Jardins des Tuileries
2. Promenades de Paris...le Louvre et les Jardins des Tuileries

Aujord'hui nous faisons nôtre troisième promenade de Paris. Nous prenons le Métro à Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre. The Palais Royal is lovely - and amazingly hidden despite its location on rue Saint-Honoré one street over from le Louvre and les Jardins des Tuileries on rue de Rivoli. Alors, grab your plan de Paris, your carnet pour le Métro et allons-y!

Les Jardins du Palais Royal - Place Colette

When we step out of le Métro on rue de Rivoli, we cross one block north to rue Saint-Honoré and arrive at la Place du Palais Royal. We will cross la Place Colette, named for the scandalous writer and stage performer. Turning onto rue de Richelieu, we will pass the Boutique de la Comédie Française, which is full of reprints of costume sketches, old-fashioned puzzles, playing cards and other theatrical memorabilia.

Arcades of le Palais Royal.
Now tournez à droite, turn right, into le Palais Royal. We'll stroll the length of the arcades, taking in the eclectic array of shops and galleries and the goings-on in the central garden, where locals meet at dejeuner, lunch, to play pétanque. A popular spot for dejeuner is Muscade at 67, galerie de Montpensier, located in the northwest corner.
Restaurant Muscade, Palais Royal
Louis la Vache is of the opinion that the black and white-striped columns in la Cour d'Honneur dishonor la Cour d'Honneur. These columns were placed here about the same time several other architectural monstrosities were visited upon Paris: le centre Georges Pompidou and l'opéra Bastille.
Louis la Vache feels that these black and white-striped poles dishonor la Cour d'Honneur at le Palais Royal.
Louis, having gotten that rant off his chest, will now lead us to the lovely jardin des fleurs, a location that Louis has found to be a good spot to indulge in some people-watching. We'll check out le Prince Jardinier at 37, rue de Valois on the eastern side, to admire the French talent for display. Even the twine in this shop is beautifully packaged.
A display at le Prince Jardinier
Now we'll exit to the north onto rue Vivienne. About half-way up the block, we will turn into la galerie Vivienne, the most elegant of Paris's few remaining covered passages. Lined with myriad shops and cafés, la gallerie Vivienne is a real gem. We'll pause at A Priori Thé, a fine Parisian salon de thé, for tea. (The British have the reputation of having a huge thirst for tea, and rightly so. What few people realize is the French also drink a lot of thé, and many Parisian salons de thé are quite elegant.)
A Priori Thé, galerie Vivienne
Having refreshed ourselves at A Priori, we will exit galerie Vivienne, turn right, then left to la Place des Victoires. Now we turn right down rue Croix-des-Petits-Champs and left into la galerie Véro-Dodat for more window-shopping. Ladies, when you become rich and famous, you can treat yourself to the extravagantly-priced makeovers and cosmetics at By Terry Cosmetics.

Having safely passed By Terry Cosmetics with our wallets intact, we exit galerie Véro-Dodat onto rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, window-shop our way down rue de Rivoli and once again board le Métro at Louvre-Rivoli.
More Reading:


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