Paris....so much to do!

Saturday 27th May to Monday 29th May

So, in the space of three days what have we accomplished?

- Visited the Louvre: Dianne for 2 hours, Ewan for 4 hours. I couldn't take the crowds any longer ánd saw the best of it in two hours so I headed off for some other activities * see below.

 The Louvre has some beautiful galleries. I particularly enjoyed the Petit Gallery, which has temporary exhibitions, and at the moment it is about movement and art.

Rodin

T

Ancient mosaic church floor

The other section we both enjoyed was the Islamic Art  Gallery which was beautiful:  tiles and mosaics and some very old cloth and metalware.

5th century 

Fabric carefully displayed in the dark to preserve it

- * I treated myself to a Hot (African) chocolate at the gorgeous old-fashioned Angelina's in Rue Rivoli

A jug of liquid hot chocolate and a plate of cream: bliss!

I resisted the cakes!!

- a peruse of Galeries Lafayette just to check out the clothes and accessories. There were busloads of Chinese tourists queuing to get into the Gucci and Prada sections of the shop intent on spending up big. Overwhelming! Good thing it is a big place and they didn't have time to do the whole store!

 I also had a s salad on the Terrace cafe to admire the view, Very nice.

And the ceiling is just as beautiful as I remembered it!

Day 4: I dragged Ewan in to have a look at the ceiling and we climbed up to the Terrasse to get a great view of Paris. Well worth doing.
























- a visit to the Musee Marmottin Monet to see the Camille Pissarro exhibition, a Berthe Morisot exhibition and some other impressionists, and yet more paintings by Monet of his garden. No photos allowed but we really enjoyed all of it. Both the Marmottin family and Monet's son had bequeathed the artworks to this Musee for the enjoyment of all: very magnanimous.

- explored the Bois de Bologne on Velib hire bikes. Past the lakes, through the wild forests with lush undergrowth and huge trees, and around and about we went, pedaling furiously on very wide and smooth bike paths for most of the way. Had to avoid the horse paths as they were sandy and dangerous for novice bike riders like me!

Me actually cycling

- visited the amazing Foundation Louis Vuitton building designed by Frank Gehry to see the Afrique Art exhibition.

There was a focus on African Art with 10 African artists work displayed, and an exhibition of South African art and also African pieces from the Foundation's permanent collection.

Recycling for artistic purposes!

Love this photo

Very striking sculpture from South Africa

Tribal sculpture

The diversity and richness of the work was fantastic. From vibrant coloured paintings to space cities, to photography to ceramics to sculpture it was all fascinating.. You download an app on your phone for a really high quality commentary, which was very helpful in understanding the intent of the artists. And all exhibited  in a well-designed  light-filled white and silver contoured building, and beautifully curated. We'll be back!

- had a spritz and a beer to revive ourselves sitting at the bar on our corner.

Actually we have done this the past three nights when we return from sightseeing. It's very exhausting being a tourist and we are getting old!
Ewan searching for a seat with a view and as far away as possible from the smokers!

Ordered a Normandy salad for dinner one night at our favourite bar and it turned up with a fried camembert in the middle. Tasted great, but not very healthy!

- gave ourselves some time off from Musees and galleries as most are closed on Mondays. Did some shopping at our local BHV department store in the Marais which stocks Galeries Lafayette scarves which I have bought for presents. So much easier and just as cheap as they gave me 10% discount because I am a foreigner. At Galeries L. you have to show your passport to get a discount card. At BHV they just asked where I was from and when I told them, with my Australian accent, they just gave me the discount on the spot. Only once did they ask to see my passport. If I had spent 175 euros in one day I could have collected back the tax I paid too, which is worth knowing if you are planning on spending up big.
- packed a picnic lunch and headed to Luxembourg Gardens to sit with the Parisians having lunch in the shade of the huge trees.
Ewan wandered around whilst I put my feet up and read my book. Totally decadent!

- rented Velib bikes to pedal along back streets to get to Gare du Lyon. Or that's what Ewan told me anyway. Somehow we ended up on major roads filled with traffic, but all was not lost as they have many versions of bike lanes, but in this part of town the bike lanes are shared with buses! And taxis! And any cars that haven't worked out they are in the wrong lane! Terrifying for me but we managed.

I'm not sure who had the bright idea to put the smallest vehicles - pushbikes- in the same lane as the largest vehicles - huge buses - it was terrifying when a bus suddenly whizzes past your left ear. I perfected hugging the very right hand side of the lane so they could just squeeze past! No bike helmets provided either!

After this first experience we actually rented the bikes many times over the next few days. Once you get your head around how to register to take the bikes to and from any Velib station it's very easy. Every time we stopped at a station there seemed to be some poor tourist there trying to get to the bottom of the system to get a bike, so Ewan would have to tutor them in how to do it. It  does take some bravery to ride off into the streets but there are lots of bike paths and , if all else fails, and the traffic was too heavy, we rode down the wide footpaths with no problems. It is easy to travel by Metro but you see nothing, and have no idea where you are when you emerge into the daylight.

- had coffee and macarons at the Le Train Bleu at the Gare du Lyon.

It's an institution in Parisian dining and very expensive for meals, but we enjoyed a coffee and had a bowl of tiny macarons whilst sitting there drenched in sweat from riding the bikes in the heat, and surrounded by the well-to do French waiting for a train.






- rode along the banks of the Seine and then walked around the islands in the middle of the Seine to the Pylones shop (one of my favourites).We had a quick look at the good old Notre Dame as we walked by and headed back to our favourite bar next to the apartment and collapsed in the heat wishing we were 40 years younger and that the promised cool change would arrive!

- ate meals at an array of cafes along or near Rue Rambuteau: Italian, Middle eastern, Japanese, Thai ...and French of course!

- visited the Musee d'Arte Moderne and saw some challenging and interesting exhibitions.

Raoul Dufy's amazing painting of French history which filled an entire curved room

The first was called 'Medusa and was about modern jewellery, its social impact as well as it's beauty. Some weird pieces but also some superb ones.

I'm sure I had a ballerina brooch like this when I was small!

The second one was an exhibiiton by Karel Appel, a well-known Dutch painter who lived in Paris for many years before his death in 2006. He was an innovator in his time, and we were very taken by the bright colours and huge amount of paint he used to layer his paintings to give them depth. There were a number of groups of kindergarten children learning about the art which was delightful.
Unfortunately the neighbouring Palais de Tokyo was completely closed so I missed out on seeing it again!

- Ewan visited the Musee D'Armee (the Army Museum of course) in the impressive structure that is the Hotel Invalides. He also visited the Musee d'Orangerie where the Monet waterlily paintings are beautifully displayed, and really enjoyed an exhibition of modern impressionist masters from the Tokyo Museum sponsored by the guy who set up Bridgestone tyres.

- we cycled to the Rodin Museum which involved negotiating our way around a huge roundabout  neat Hotel D'Ínvalides. The challenge was to avoid the tourists taking photos of everything and not looking where they were going!

Rodin's most famous piece 'The  Thinker': note the bird perched happily on its head!

The Rodin Musee has beautiful rose gardens, woodlands and a pond to display many of his plein-air sculptures. A delightful old mansion contains many of his other pieces. The audio guide was long and a bit repetitive but very useful all the same. There were only a few of his small sculptures of Nijinsky and the dancers of the Ballet Russes which I particularly like, so that was a bit disappointing, although some of them I had seen in the Louvre special exhibition about movement and art.

One of the figures from the 'Burgers of Calais' sculpture

- On our very last morning we decided to go to the Picasso Museum which was a mere 5 minutes walk from home. There seems to be a Picasso Museum in every major city and most Musees have some of his paintings drawings or ceramics.

The Parisian Musee features the paintings that he kept and treasured: both his own work and those of others, which was very interesting. We were intrigued by an exhibition called 'Olga': which featured paintings, drawings and even an old film, She was a Ballet Russes ballerina until he married her.

They had one son and there were some lovely affectionate paintings of him too. Picasso had a long term affair with a very young woman, but the exhibition only mentioned her briefly and the impact on the marriage wasn't clear.There's always something new to see in every Picasso Museum I find.the interesting thing for me is how talented and skilled an artist he was: his portraits and still-lifes from his early years are superb. Yet, like Dali, he is best known for his abstract art.

So in five days in Paris we have walked and cycled and 'oohed' and 'aahed', and ate and drank and shopped and observed ...and had a busy and fascinating time. There is so much to see here that it's tempting to just go so fast that you miss the chance to appreciate the beautiful buildings, and the cafes where you can sit and watch the world go by. I love Paris. And I'm glad we spent a few days here whilst we are fit and healthy enough to enjoy it.

We had an uneventful trip home although the jet lag has been hell! We had to catch the Eurostar to London then the train to Heathrow and then the plane home via Kuala Lumpur. It was fascinating to see the beautiful French sunshine disappear as we neared the coast of England and grey clouds descended.

We were made very aware of the dangers of travel when the terrorist attack occurred in Borough Market in London. At the beginning of our trip we had stayed in an apartment that overlooked Borough Market so we were relieved that we hadn't been there as we would have been in the middle of this tragic event.The threat of terrorism won't stop us travelling but it is a very sobering experience to know that other Australians were killed.

I'm sorry this last blog post took so long but I struggled with the WiFi in Paris , and life has been busy since I returned home. I will reflect on the experience and o one last blog at some point soon.

Your well-travelled, contented, but jet lagged correspondent

Dianne