Bonjour. This is the first time that I am writing the blog a day late. We didn't get to the hotel until after eleven last night; that was too late for my brain to function clearly (assuming, of course, that it does sometime:) As I had said, it was Rich's birthday and a non-tennis day, so he got to choose his activities -- with a few requests from me. We started with breakfast at the restaurant where we had had our omelets. The waiter remembered us and asked if we wanted another omelet, but this time we went for the "formula" which was hot beverage, croissant, half a baguette, butter, jelly and two eggs. I was happy that we had had a good breakfast later on when we put some not so substantial things in our stomachs.
Next we were off to the Tullieries via the metro. Since this was our second trip, that was familiar. Our target this time was a small art museum called Musee de l’ Orangerie. The Tullieries gardens were not as beautiful as I had remembered, but they seem to be much enjoyed, especially on a weekend. We took a little time to sit in the sun and read. Then we strolled on to the museum.
This museum is noted for the private collection of a Parisian named Paul Guillaume and for a spectacular gift from Monet of two rooms in the round with murals of his famous water lilies. They are to depict his garden from sunrise to sunset. He intended the rooms to be a place for the people of Paris to find some peace and refreshment, especially after the war. Silence is requested when enjoying the rooms. They are amazing.
The rest of the museum is devoted to Guillaume’s taste in art. We saw all of our favorite impressionists and made the acquaintance of two artists new to us. One is Chaim Soutine. The description calls his works “strong and tormented,” but that seems a bit extreme. We watched a film about him first, which we could not understand, but which offered a helpful perspective –the film would show a real scene or person and then superimpose Soutine’s depiction. It gave a good vision of his style. Our favorite was of a large tree “blowing in the wind.” It was very powerful and created a remembrance of the tornadoes that have been devastating our country.
The second artist was Gino Severini. His career spanned about 40 years and the interesting thing about him was that he painted in so many different styles. He started with pointillism, then something called futurism, then cubism, then classicism, and then finally he returned to Italy and painted very lovely and recognizable scenes and people from his homeland. He truly did it all and seems to have enjoyed it.
Leaving the museum, we were off to 226 Rue de Rivoli, the site of Angelina’s chocolate, recommended by a friend, raved about on the web, the place to find the best hot cup of chocolate in the world, peutetre. Well, we haven’t had any better, that’s for sure. We were served cups, a pitcher of chocolate, a small container of whipped cream. It was milk chocolate and seemed to be like chocolate pudding that had not yet set, rich and creamy. We also ordered a pastry called mont blanc, that came highly recommended. It was the size of a huge muffin with about two inches of creamy chocolate, over a thinner layer of whipped cream nestled in a meringue. Angelina’s also serves sandwiches and regular meals, but the chocolate was enough for us, and our wallet. The setting was elegant – high ceilings, painted in gold with ornate crown molding, perhaps reminiscent of “old Paris.” The pace was just the opposite of Monet’s water lilies rooms – harried. The waiter would not stay around if you were having trouble making up your minds, as the customers next to us were. He would dash off and come back later.
Our next destination was the Eiffel Tower, though we stopped off at a little kiosk in a park to purchase some crepes. I had jelly in mine, which eventually cascaded down my fingers. So messy, but so good. The walk to the Tower took about 20 minutes. It looked so close, just like I remember the Washington Monument seeming close when it really isn’t. As our hotel receptionist said one day, “No one minds walking in Paris because it is so lovely and so interesting.” Yes.
We were anticipating a long wait in line at the Tower and we were not disappointed. It was a good opportunity to read a couple of chapters on our Kindle, which has come in very handy. The only strange thing was that we could not buy a ticket to the top from ground level. You could purchase a ticket for the first level, and then you had to get in line on that level to purchase another ticket. It was very confusing to us and caused us a little difficulty later on, but we survived. The view from the tower is magnificent, Paris in the round. The crowd was happy even when standing in line or being redirected to stand in another line. Good examples to us all.
It was when we got back to ground level that things got a little more difficult. All day we had been trying to make a connection with our Chinese friend He Da, but had been unable to arrange anything mutually agreeable. That means that he did not agree to anything we suggested Finally, we made a plan to meet for dinner. To do that we had to find the Metro, which took several times stopping to question people – some of whom seemed as clueless as we were – then crushing onto an elevated train, making a connection to another train and ending up at a huge station with escalators and stairs rising seemingly to the sky. When we finally emerged into the sunlight, it was already about 9:00 and it took He Da about 20 more minutes to find us. He prefers to eat Chinese food, so we accompanied him to a Chinese restaurant of his choice. The food was fine and he seemed to feel at home there. Finally, he walked with us to the metro stop that would be where we will need to get off to get to the airport bus on Monday. See you next time, He Da said. Maybe in China, maybe in Paris, maybe in America. Hope so. I hope Rich enjoyed his birthday; it was certainly a full one.
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