How lucky are we that two of Paris’ best early-summer exhibitions are practically across the street from one another? At the beautiful Guimet museum, is a major retrospective of Japanese  painter and printmaker Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) who’s work would influence European painters from Degas to Van Gogh. In his quest for perfection, Hokusai’s landscapes take on a poetic, inspirational quality.

Also a master in painting the quiet, sometimes troubling beauty of landscapes is contemporary artist Peter Doig. Over 100 of Doig’s paintings and drawing are on display at Paris’ Modern Art museum. Doig was born in Scotland but spent a good deal of his childhood in Canada and Trinidad, two very different environments that inspire his paintings of farm houses, frozen ponds and jungles. Interestingly, he didn’t paint these scenes outdoors but in a studio, the result of different memories and ideas that become an “escape” for the artist. For the viewer as well. Doig’s paintings have the ability to transport us to someplace else, usually someplace very inviting.

Note: if you go Wednesday or Saturday morning, you can take in the wonderful food market that fills the center of Ave. du President Wilson (in front of the museums) in the morning until about 2pm – one of Paris’ best markets.

Hokusai – through August 4. Guimet, Musée Natioanl des Arts Asiatique. 6, Place d’Iéna, 75116. Metro Iéna. Open Wednesday to Monday 10am-6pm. Closed Tuesday. www.guimet.fr

Peter Doig – Through September 7. Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. 11, Avenue du Président Wilson, 75116, Metro Iéna or Pont d’Alma. Open Tuesday – Sunday 10am- 6pm, Thursdays until 10pm, Closed Monday. www.mam.paris.fr

Photo: 100 Years Ago, Peter Doig, 2001. Collection Centre Pompidou.

Like most of us, when I want to see what’s new in Paris dining I ask friends, but I also check out the latest reviews and blogs.  With a list of possibilities I set out to try some new restaurants – instead of always relying on old favorites, like L’Epi Dupin or Chez Michel.

I settled on Urbane, a restaurant that I’d seen mentioned in a May Bon Appetit article and on a few blogs. Located not far from the Canal Saint Martin, Urbane is in a section of eastern Paris that is increasingly on the food-lover’s map. At first, and second, sight, Rue Arthur Groussier is pretty nondescript, but the white-painted restaurant is bright and pleasant. I was meeting a friend for lunch, at which time the restaurant offers a very limited fixed-priced menu, basically the young chef-owner’s market choices for the day. There was one first course choice – sardines with a red pepper purée. Red peppers and sardines are not my favorites but OK, I tried it out and it wasn’t bad. Main course were a choice of beef or Saint Pierre, a white fish. Faithful reporters that we are, my dining companion ordered the beef (which he confirmed was tender) and I had the fish. I have to say that while my fish on a bed of celery root purée, was fine, it wasn’t special. It was missing an added shot of spice/herb/taste whatever, to lift it up to the next level. But at 19 euros for three courses this was a very good deal. And dinner gives you new choices.

The question is would you travel across Paris just to eat at Urbane? I don’t think I would (again). If I lived in the area would I give it a second try – yes, definitely.

When I got home my husband had been to the farmer’s market to prepare a light buffet for neighbors who were stopping by. The bread from our local, award-winning baker (Noël) filled with hazelnuts and figs, then slathered with chèvre, not to mention the saucisson with fennel were the best thing I ate all day!

Urbane. 12, rue Arthur Groussier, 75010; Metro Goncourt; Tel 01 42 40 74 75.

Rue de Seine is one of those perfect Parisian streets. A mix of street market stands, cafés and art galleries stretching from the Boulevard Saint Germain to the Seine that’s always busy with a mix of clean-faced, fashionable 20-somethings and natty Left Bank intellectuals. Most congregate at the Café de la Marché, at the bustling Rue Buci intersection. But there is also La Fromagerie 31, The owner’s of this traditional, cheese shop have added some tables on the sidewalk where you can order a plate of pears with   blue cheese and a glass of wine amongst other dishes designed to get you tasting fruity comté and ripe camembert.

New on the street, at no 56, the Russian-influenced tea company Kusmi (www.kusmitea.com) has opened a brightly colored boutique with a tea room/lunch and brunch restaurant upstairs. Kusmi has been making tea since 1867 and is definitely one of the coveted brands among tea lovers today. A lot of the appeal has to do with the color-coded tins, each with distinctive pre-revolutionary graphics. The tea is also very good, and this is one of the few places in the world (the other is their headquarters at 75, Avenue Neil) where you can find their full range of  teas from the popular “ Bouquet de Fleurs no. 108” and “Anastasia,” to the new “Detox.”

In the quiet tearoom take one of the seats near the window for a view over the street. Food is light, including several inventive salads (I had the rolled smoked salmon with eggplant and ricotta) at 21 euros for a lunch salad + desert combo. Add six euros for a pot of tea, and you’re ready to head back out on the street.

Don’t miss the new Jérôme Dreyfuss’ boutique around the corner at 1, rue Jacob. Dreyfus is one of Paris’ hottest handbag designers. 

Monday May 12 is known is France as Pentecost Monday, one of the many holidays that make the month of May go by in slow motion.  Not only is today a holiday (like May 1 and 8), but French schools are conducting a nationwide strike on Thursday, May 15 and on Wednesdays children don’t have school anyway.

After the heat wave in August 2003, which lead to the deaths of 30,000 elderly people in France, the government tried to make Pentecost Monday a working day. Asking the French people to give up one of their many vacation days to save money that the government pledged would go to programs for the elderly. Unfortunately public schools didn’t follow the call, so that parents who agreed to work were stuck at home anyway. Private business largely went to work but business was slow. Moral of the story is that Pentecost Monday is once again a holiday.

I spent part of holiday at a new Paris museum called the Pinacothèque de Paris, on the Place de la Madeleine. I had been here once before to see the excellent Soutine exhibition (and buy some great cards in their boutique). The space features mid-sized temporary exhibitions, just enough to spend an hour immersed in a single artist or collection.

Through September 14, the Pinacothèque is showing the “Soldats de l’Eternité,” a selection of the life-like terracotta soldiers and horses created for the first Chinese Emperor of the Qin dynasty around 210 B.C. The Emperor planned to continue his rule after death and built an entire underground tomb/city in what is today Shaanxi province. He protected his tomb with an army of over 8,000 soldiers that would be rediscovered in the 1970s. The beautiful exhibition shows many other bronze and jade artifacts from the same period, on loan from China. Think about reserving your tickets on-line at www.pinacotheque.com, and doing some research ahead of time as the descriptions are all in French.

Pinacothèque de Paris. 28, Place de la Madeleine, 75008. Metro Madeleine. Open daily 10:30am to 6pm. 

Anne Fontaine, better known for her shirt designs, has opened Paris’ hottest new day spa. Located in the lower level of her Rue Saint Honoré boutiue, the spa is designed by Andrée Putman to be instantly relaxing. The space includes a hammam, relaxation area, Jacuzzi and fully equipped dressing rooms.  I tried it out on a weekday morning and it was fairly calm, though I should have come early – as they recommend – to use the steam room. I did bring home the linen body cream, which is light and creamy.

Like Fontaine’s blouses the dominant theme is white fabrics with treatments named “cotton” and Rêve de Soie, or Silk Sensation Massage. Everything is natural and there are several treatments inspired by her childhood in Brazil, like the Amazonian Baptism (Fontaine went through a traditional tribal baptism ceremony as an adolescent) where you can be slathered in fragrant resin containing 11 essential oils. But unlike in the real ceremony you won’t be having feathers stuck to your body to give you “wings.”  Still a very comfortable and relaxing place to spend anywhere from 30 minutes to an entire afternoon. See the full list of treatments on their site www.annefontaine.com.

370 rue Saint Honoré, Telephone: (33) 1 42 61 03 70. Open 10am to 9pm.

Photo: Satoru Umetsu/nacasa&partners