I feel a bit guilty posting this, while the markets are crashing, but there’s nothing much we can do other than go on doing what we are doing, which is enjoying our time here.
Friday was a French-intensive day. Four hours of class in the morning, plus three hours of tutoring from 5:30 to 8:30. In between, Suzie and I took a walk around the town on a very windy, cloudy, blustery day. Here’s Suzie being blustered:
And here’s a dramatic sky:
One of the more interesting things to see in Paris is the various ornamentation on the buildings. We saw this on the Grand Palais as we were waiting for the rain to end.
After our walk, we found a great little relatively-inexpensive cafe on Boulevard St. Germain at the Carrefour d’Odeon, where we sat for about an hour or so drinking coffee and speaking in French almost exclusively. Then off to the tutor, a very interesting guy named Nicholas who probably deserves a post of his own.
Sunday was the first Sunday of the month, which meant that there was no admission charge at all public museums. We got up fairly early and decided to go to the exquisite Musee d’Orsay, located in a beautifully and functionally renovated gare, containing a large collection of works, including many, many, many impressionist paintings. We stood in line for about 30 minutes to get in, then had to brave some large crowds in some of the salles, but we had a wonderful, wonderful time. As Suzie said, something about being there, among such amazing works, just makes you happy. In addition, the space itself is remarkable, absolutely beautifully redone. I can’t say more than these pictures can:
A not-to-be-missed stop if you are ever in Paris. As always, more photos are on my Flickr site, for your viewing pleasure.
Categories: Travel -- France
Tags: France, Musee d'Orsay, Paris