Bonjour Family and Friends!
We started our day in the usual way at the Patissiere just across the way. Today we lolly gagged there quite awhile while choosing how to spend the day in Paris. Once we finally left our little table, we walked over to the metro station Maubert-Mutualite and hopped on the train with the plan of disembarking at the Champs Élysées stop (after only changing trains once). When we came up from the tunnel into daylight, it was pouring rain once again. It was a good thing we had packed our umbrellas. With umbrellas open, we sloshed through the water to the Petit Palais on the De la Ville de Paris, between the Champs Élysées and the River Seine. The Petit Palais is across from the Grand Palais and both structures were built for the Universal Exposition of 1900.
The Petit Palais now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts. It displays an amazing collection of paintings and sculptures, pottery and jewellery. There were works by artists we love such as Rembrandt, Ruebens, Delacroix, Monet, Pisaro, Sisley, Cezanne, Modiggliani and Rodin. There were also works by lots of artists we had never heard of. It is fascinating to look at art that depicts life back in the 1600's. There were so many, beautiful and very touching paintings of people in all kinds of situations in life. I took quite a few pictures of some of these works. One picture was of a destitute little boy from the 1700's who had fallen asleep in a dark, corner of a street. As well, there was a beautiful picture of a woman in a black dress with a large hat, which was called "Parisian Life".
We left the museum and walked across the Pont Alexandre III (bridge). This bridge is a stunning work of art in itself. It is the most ornate bridge in Paris. You see lots of gold and bronze sculptures. There are beautiful, large lanterns all across. It is also interesting to note that the bridge was designed by Gustave Eiffel. All along the bridge, are different sculptures including the nymphs of the Seine. This bridge is featured in "Midnight in Paris", as well as the James Bond movie, "A View To A Kill". Also, if you are an "Adele" fan, and love the song, "Someone Like You," you'll see the music video was filmed on this bridge.
We walked along Boulevard Des Invalides on our way to Musee Rodin on 79 Rue de Varenne but on the way we stopped at Cafe Du Musee Brassiere, which was very close to Musee Rodin.
At the cafe, I tried the Croquet Monsieur sandwich, which was fattening, but delicious and Ron had a chicken salad and we decided to share everything. Though we liked the food, we didn't especially care for the cafe, as it seems to have become a place where the customer, especially the English-speaking ones, are not appreciated. We felt the waiters were unfriendly, and it's really the first time, that we've really noticed this. Even if you try to do all the right things like say "Bonjour Monsieur" before you order anything, or "sil vous plait" (if you please) after you do put in your order, and "Merci", when the food is brought to your table, you just can't please some waiters. Maybe it's because the gratuity is already included in the menu price. This really gives the waiters the upper hand because it can lessen their incentive to behave properly. If you are happy with the service then do what the French do - leave some change on the table and depart with a smile and an "Au Revoir Monsieur!".
But happily, we shook off our cranky waiter, and walked into the loveliness of the Rodin Museum, which apparently has been open since 1919. Before we saw his glorious sculptures in the marble gallery, we walked through an extensive, lush garden filled with roses of all different colours. I noticed an Asian girl taking and re-taking pictures of herself over and over again, amongst the roses. In this garden we saw many of Rodins' large, bronze sculptures including his most well known and famous one - "The Thinker", which was wonderful to finally see, as both Ron and I have wanted to see this since we learned about it while sitting together in Art History (when we were 18 and 19).
But, even more stunning was the marble gallery which had an extensive collection of white sculptures. These works could not help but capture you. You had the greatest impulse to touch the marble which looked like silk, but of course this was not allowed.
Rodin was able to extract human emotions and display them in marble. This was said of Rodin in an article on line, "His genius was to express inner truths of the human psyche, and his gaze penetrated beneath the external appearance of the world. Exploring this realm beneath the surface, Rodin developed an agile technique for rendering the extreme physical states that correspond to expressions of inner turmoil or overwhelming joy. He sculpted a universe of great passion and tragedy, a world of imagination that exceeded the mundane reality of everyday existence." That really tells it about this collection exactly as you see it. The figures emerge from the block of white marble, but part of the figure is still in the marble. The most glorious and captivating sculpture is "The Kiss". If you have never seen this, please look it up because it is so beautiful.
Other works have names like, The Secret, The Hands of Lovers, Day and Night, Despair, The Convalescent, Psyche and Cupid - just to name a few. Another one is called "Winter" and it is represented by an old, withered woman, who is long past her prime.
When we left the museum, we walked along Rue St. Dominique, and saw the Tourville cafe was just ahead, so we stopped in to celebrate Auguste Rodin, and the beauty of his life and works, with a glass of rosé wine from Provence. We could see the Eiffel Tower while sitting there admiring the sights all around, which isn't hard to do in Paris - because there is always something interesting to look at. One mystery remains which I don't think there is an answer for. Why do Parisians wear big scarves in the summer? You and I would peel the scarf off, because we would perish of heat stroke if otherwise, but not the Parisians. No way. That scarf will never come off.
We left the cafe, and walked by the Lavirotte Building on 29 Rue Rapp to see one of the coolest examples of Art Nouveau architecture. The whole facade of the building was flamboyant to say the least, but the exquisite doorway into the building is what really captured our attention. And if you turned around, there was the Eiffel Tower! Just a note about art nouveau - it is a decorative style of art that was really popular between 1890 and 1910.
Over the last several days, as we've walked around the Paris streets we have seen different stages being set up for tomorrows' 'Fete de la Musique' (which means "Make Music")the biggest music celebration on the longest day of the year in Paris. The festival originated in Paris in 1982 and is now celebrated world wide. There will be musicians at every turn playing everything from classical, to rock, to jazz. Alex, our landlord, said that it will be loud around the city and that the celebration would go long into the night. Ron was happy about this, and even happier when he found a festival program laying on a park bench.
Lastly today, before we again limped into the apartment, we walked down Rue De L'Universite in the 7er (arrondissement) and paused at the big blue doors with the Number 81 just in the upper right corner. One level of this apartment building was the home of Paul and Julia Child for a few years when they first came to Paris in the late 1940's. If you read "My Life In France", you can't help but stand at this doorway and try to imagine what it must have been like when Julia moved to Paris with her husband, and wondered what she might do to keep herself occupied. Not only did she learn French, but she got interested in cooking, went to Cordon Bleu cooking school and the rest is just amazing history...
No comments:
Post a Comment