2nd day in Paris

Today was Ascencion Day............yet another French holiday

I had planned to meet a friend of a friend in Paris. She is an American who has lived in Paris for several years. She was also one of the Americans interviewed by Michael Moore in his film "Sicko". Since it was a holiday her kids were out of school so we made plans to meet the next day

After breakfast I walked to a nearby Internet cafe and passed Luxembourg Gardens (Jardin du Luxembourg) on the way. I decided to explore it after finishing at the Internet cafe.
The park is huge and was full of people. People were running, sitting on benches, eating, reading, kissing (this is Paris after all), kids were playing, etc. There were also some of the fattest pigeons I have ever seen and they had their own pigeon house. There is a large open area in front of the Luxembourg Palace with a round fountain. People were sitting all around, reading and just enjoying the beautiful sunny day. You could rent boats to float in the fountain and quite a few kids were doing that. In addition to playgrounds there was an area where kids could ride Shetland ponies, or ride in a pony-pulled cart. Sprinkled all through the park were statues, fountains and busts---George Sand, Chopin, Beethoven, etc. Most of the statues were traditional, but there was a huge bronze face looking over the boat fountain. In the middle is a gazebo for concerts. I read later that there are over 100 statutes, monuments and fountains. There is also a replica of the Statue of Liberty and a plaque commemorating those who died on 9/11. I wandered all over the park and decided to have lunch at one of the restaurants in the park. I sat under the trees enjoying my meal and watching the fascinating parade of people

Then I headed to the Mussee d'Orsay, which was about a 45 minute walk away... by now after weeks of walking, walking, walking, my feet were starting to protest. I hadn't planned on going to very many museums so I didn't buy a museum pass. The pass does save some money- if you go to enough museums-but the real bonus is that there is a separate and shorter line for people who have the pass. The line was long, but it moved pretty quickly. It was quite warm but there was a nice breeze coming off the Seine. The museum has a huge arched glass ceiling and I thought that it looked like a train station ceiling. I later read that the building actually was a train station to begin with---the Gare d'Orsay.

I covered most of the museum, but my real interest was the Impressionists exhibit on the 5th floor. It was interesting to see early works of Monet---before he got into his (and may my artist friends forgive me) "dabby" period. I love his "dabby" pieces, I just hadn't realized that he had also done more "regular" and realistic art. One of the places I am happiest to have seen on my travels is Monet's garden at Giverny.

There was one painting (and I can't remember the artist's name---but he was part of the "realist" Impressionist movement) titled "Birth of the World" which was a painting of a reclining nude woman with a full-on view of her crotch area. In the short time I was in that room several men took photos of the painting.

By now I was thoroughly tired of walking and I was getting hungry so I decided to eat (and rest) in the museum restaurant. I had the lasagna--I wanted comfort food and few things say comfort to me like lasagna! I'd noticed that my eating schedule had moved back a couple of hours, which I'm sure is partly due to the fact that it gets dark so much later.You know the joke here that senior citizens eat dinner at 4:30, I wonder what time French seniors eat........

I was also on art overload, I love art--but after a while it all seems to blend together. Ho hum another masterpiece........

After dinner I was feeling refreshed so I set off for the Deportation Memorial. It is behind Notre Dame on the Ile de la Cite (one of two small islands in the Seine). It was almost 8:00 pm and I wasn't sure if it would be open, although most museums are open late on Thursday. I had such a good time walking along with the Seine to my left--watching the traffic (and the sometimes inventive parking), looking in the shop windows to see what goodies they might have inside, watching the people walking their dogs, checking out the menus at cafes I passed, watching the people sitting outside at cafes. Unfortunately when I got to the Deportation Memorial there--a good 45 minutes later--I found it had closed at 7pm. Ok, on the list for the next day.

Several times I have seen nondescript doors set into the wall between shops. I didn't really pay any attention to them, just assuming they were a service door for a store. But then I noticed people entering codes on the keypads and when the door was opened I got a glimpse of a little alleyway leading to a courtyard, with two or three story buildings in a U shape around it. So these are apartments tucked away, in the heart of Paris but sort of removed too. I could picture myself living there!

Wandered around some more---Paris is a city made for wandering. Maybe it is because I live in a suburban area and we drive everywhere, but I was struck by how much Parisians really use their city. I never felt frightened walking around at night, no matter what time it was people were out and about. One thing I really like is that you can sit at a cafe nursing a cup of coffee, glass of wine, whatever, as long as you want and they are not rushing you out the door to make way for the next customer. When I walked by St. Michael's square a crowd was gathered. I could hear Prince's song"Kiss" playing and apparently some guys were dancing or doing some sort of routine. I don't know what they were doing because I couldn't get close enough or see over the crowd, but whatever- it was a big hit. On the way back to the hotel my feet took me to the Haagen Dazs shop where I had some ice cream and used the Internet.