Monceau to Concorde

Monday morning we took the metro to Parc Monceau. This park, designed in the 18th century contains statues of people such Guy de Maupassant, Gounod, and Chopin. Curved pathways provide gracious walks past seemingly unrelated edifices. A small pond which is used for ice skating in winter is accentuated by a small colonnade of Corinthian columns and as one walks on there is an arch which was part of an earlier hotel de ville. In the middle of the Parc there is a pyramid which only adds to the unusual nature of this little parc. On closer inspection it would appear to be a storage area cunningly disguised....Adding to the eclectic nature of this parc there is currently an exhibition of Chinese sculpture to be viewed with interest. As with most of the parks we've been to, it appears to be a haven for young mothers with their infants in strollers. Very pleasant to observe.
From Parc Monceau we strolled down to boulevard Haussman, one of the main arteries of Paris and named for the man who redesigned the city in the 1800's. There we found, to our delight (our delight being that we found the place!), a small museum called Jacquemart-Andre which is named for the people whose home it was along with the permanent collection contained therein. At present, apart from this collection, there is an exhibition of the art of Fra Angelico and his contemporaries. The exhibition was small and intense with about 2/3 of Paris in each room so we had to struggle to get a look. However it was worth it. We would have liked to go to the cafe which is a grand and gracious room but the third of Paris which was not in the gallery was in the cafe so we had to be content with a sneak peak!
Our next expedition was a walk down rue Faubourg St Honore which was initially quite disappointing as we expected it to be adorned by shops with goods of astronomical prices and they mostly seemed to be commonplace office furniture shops and the like. However that only describes our impatience! We soon came to the desired shops and enjoyed the window shopping until heat, traffic and the restrictions of the Elysee Palace got the better of us so we detoured and took the metro home to have a very late lunch and a rest.
In the early evening we ventured out again but only in our local area which is always a pleasure to walk around. We are continually amazed at how the place comes alive. It is now fairly late and the place has quietened down ready for sleep....