"Au revoir! Enjoy Paris!"
Anyway, back to this morning; after a pleasant breakfast in the hotel, we spent the morning at Musee d'Orsay and had a fantastic time.
We looked at hundreds of paintings; some I liked, some I didn't like, and two I fell in love with. Both are extremely well known paintings but I found standing in front of them very different from seeing prints of them in books. The first was "Le Bal du Moulin de la Galette, Montmartre" by Renoir. It was amazing; I felt as if I could almost step into the painting. The whole scene was full of life and I loved the dappled light. The second painting that really spoke to me was "La Chambre de Van Gogh a Arles", by Van Gogh of course. I loved its bright colours and bold brush strokes. Again, I almost felt as if I was right there. I bought postcards of both paintings in the museum shop. It was really interesting talking on the way round about the paintings we liked or didn't like. We had lunch in the 5th floor Cafe Campana, which was right behind one of the big clock faces of this former railway station. The lights were in the shape of bells. Heather and I enjoyed our croque monsieurs which had an extra wedge of Brie melted on top. Then we walked to the Orangerie to see Monet's water lilies, which were pleasant enough but to me not very striking. James' comment on examining one of them closely was "He used a big brush" which showed that he was rather underwhelmed. Downstairs at the Orangerie were more paintings. I quite liked the Cezannes with their bright green foliage, but the Rousseau and Soutine paintings didn't do anything for me - or any of us I think. We then walked through the Tuileries, through the courtyards of the Louvre. It was very, very cold, but dry and it was nice to see the buildings and the river as we headed to the Ile de la Cite where we visited Saint-Chapelle. I had heard that the stained glass was amazing and so it was! The 13th century windows were predominantly blue and red and very beautiful. The fifteenth century rose window was also stunning. All of the windows told stories from different parts of the bible and reminded me of Villon's poem about the old woman looking at the pictures in church who says (in translation!),
"At Mass in church, here, I behold,
A painted Heaven, with harps: a Hell,
Where the damned are boiled, as well.
One gives me joy: one strikes me cold"
Visual images of the bible were so important when most people couldn't read, either Latin or their own language. However Sainte-Chapelle was built in a royal palace for the King, the old illiterate woman (probably Villon's mother) would have been worshipping somewhere less grand.
It was quite cold in the chapel and colder still outside so we started back to the hotel, pausing to have a drink in the Cafe Jade in St Germain de Pres, a warm, modern little cafe very near the hotel. Later we had dinner in another restaurant recommended by one of the concierges at our hotel; La Petite Cour. It was very smart and James and I loved our chestnut soup served with little pieces of toast with a sort of bacon flavoured "foam" on them. All of the dishes were beautifully presented, although the pork main course was a bit fatty (luckily I had the salmon) and my dessert, which was a shortbread tart with a red toffee sauce, was a bit strange and left me very full and heartburny. I am told that the dessert of three sorbets was excellent. All in all it was a good meal with some unusual dishes which made me want to experiment with my cooking a bit more. Then it was time for a nightcap in "La Rhumerie" before bed time. What a satisfying day of culture and good company!
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