What an exciting day it had been. The morning started off rough. I woke up at 6 (with only a few hours of sleep). My eyes burned and were red. It is almost as if my eyes cannot handle taking in all there is to see in this unearthly city. So, I decided to go back to bed and I slept till 9:30. So much for Versailles. Everyone seemed tired this morning. It seems that the second night is where the struggle for adjustment comes in. I remember the last time we were in Paris, our second night led into a Sunday and we had planned to wake up early to attend mass at Sacre Coeur. That morning, we woke up at 10:30 and ended up catching a portion of the mass at Notre Dame.
We decided to save Versailles for tomorrow rather than today. Instead, we thought we would still activate our museum pass and start the museums.
We made our way to Place de Concorde. For a place notable for such horrible acts, it was beautiful. The clouds were gorgeous as we were in between bouts of rain. It is interesting to step out of this metro stop because you have no idea that you are about to be opened up to what feels like the center of the city. There are cars buzzing by everywhere and you become aware of beautiful sights such as the Egyptian Obelisk, Tuilleries Gardens, and the fountains.
After snapping some shots of the area, we crossed the road to the Tuilleries Gardens. Our next stop was L’Orangerie. I am in love with this place. The focus is on impressionists. You begin by walking into a room full of Monet. The lights brighten and dim, perhaps to show the different times of day for Monet’s paintings. As you circle the room, the paintings begin during the morning and extend throughout the day until you reach sunset. There was also music playing softly. We saw amazing paintings by Monet, Renoir, and many others. Here I got the idea to take pictures of parts of paintings rather than the whole thing. I always take pictures of the whole painting, and then when I get home I don’t do anything with it. I figured that if I focused in on my favorite aspect that perhaps I might enjoy it more. I was extremely excited to see that they had a special exhibition on Gino Severini. Last year in Venice I bought his “Sea Dancer” at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum. Walking into the exhibit, I felt that I was in the wrong place because there were paintings of people and landscapes, which is not the style I was familiar with. It turned out that one of his dear friends passed away, and after that he began to associate with other artists. It was amazing to see how his artwork had changed after his friend passed. So much in our lives depends on outside influences. They all seem to be purposeful. I would like to look up more on Severini. When I come back to Paris, I want to return to L’Orangerie.
After the museum, something really exciting happened. The rain had started again, so we tried to find a place to eat in a hurry. The first place did not pan out because it was full. We went to the restaurant across the path. There still were not any seats inside, but it was covered better. So we sat down. The guy said it would only be 5 minutes to get inside. That time came and went, so we stayed outside. Lori and I were talking about the weather when Carolyn’s face changed. We looked to find that Gabriel Byrne had walked in. The paparazzi in me instinctively grabbed my camera and tried to shoot as many pictures as possible without being obnoxious. He grabbed a table near us and sat down. A lady joined him while he had coffee and smoked a cigarette. I got up a couple of times to try to sneak in pictures. I walked around the building and gardens to try to get a better view as he read the newspaper under the sun. I also managed to eat during this excitement. I ordered a hot dog with Fromage. Parisians even make hot dogs sophisticated.
After lunch we walked to Musee D’Orsay. I found this museum to be okay, but it was so crowded that I felt I couldn’t really enjoy it. At one point Carolyn and I were walking in the main area to find my aunt Linda meditating amidst the crowd. I think she had the right idea, I could have used some calming. I was not allowed to take pictures and got in trouble for trying. I was trying to take a photograph of the Van Gogh when a man (very aggressive) walks up and asks to see. He made me delete my pictures and put the camera away. He was quite loud and everyone was watching. I was very red with embarrassment. I was kind of turned off at that moment even though I know it was my own fault. At that moment I still felt entitled to be able to take pictures. After all, the Louvre let me.
After the D’Orsay Museum, we walked back to the apartment and were rained on once again. We planned to rest and then go back out to go up to Notre Dame. The plan did not work though because Ricky (Rick Steves) was wrong about the late hours on Saturday. So we had chicken for dinner and went out to the stores which were closed. It was a low key night. It is weird that I began to miss home. The one person I wanted to tell everything to was not there and not within a phones reach.
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