Photos on Flickr.
2015 – 07 – 19
Paris Day 3
Hercules, shooting his bow, Musee d’Orsay
A little rain this morning in Paris before we got off for the day. This afternoon, we’ll be spending our time in the Musee d’Orsay, where today is the final day of an exhibition featuring Pierre Bonnard.
The line outside the museum is about 30 minutes long. It looked longer, but seemed to move reasonably quickly. Between being the last day of this exhibit and family day, the museum is crowded.
The Musee d’Orsay is a former train station that was converted many years ago into a museum featuring impressionist artists. It overlooks the Seine and is across from the Tuileries. Since it was a train station, you’ll see several station clocks amongst my photos.
The museum is five floors, but we only visited the Bonnard exhibition and the 5th floor, where there are some halls devoted to other major impressionist artists (painters and sculptors). We spent about five hours here, but, like other major museums, you could spend days if you have the time. Not far away is the l’Orangerie, where Monet’s water lillies are on exhibit; we visited it several years ago after a lengthy renovation of the museum. There is at least one photo in my album from 2006. You can buy a ticket just to the featured exhibit , for the general admission and the special exhibit, or one that includes l’Orangerie. And then there’s the Paris museum pass if you are going to several of the museums.
Paintings by Pierre Bonnard
Vincent Van Gogh
Petite danceuse de quatorze ans Edgar Degas
Station clock, cafe on 5th floor
View from Musee d’Orsay across Seine to Sacre Coeur
After the museum, we’ll head back to the hotel for a while before we go in search of dinner.
We took the Metro out as far as Georges IV along Champs Elysee , with a plan to walk back towards the Place Concorde, depending on how the feet were holding out. We walked from there to near the Arc Triumph, where there were still people on top. We’ve done that once before, where you walk up inside one of the legs to the top. There’s a museum inside at one point. On a clear day, it’s a very scenic place to be.
On a Sunday evening at 8 pm, there are still quite a few people on the sidewalk. Most, but not all of the shops have closed, though the restaurants and cafés are still open. We had the same idea as a number of other people, stopping midway crossing the street, in the small traffic island to take pictures in both directions of the Champs Elysee.
Rent Me (please, I need to make my Ferrari/Lamborghini /Bentley payment)
9pm and it’s time to take the Metro back to the stop near our hotel and call it a day. We’re following Le Tour de France on the TV. The Tour finishes here in a week. The streets around the route in central Paris are lined with barricades along the sidewalks, but no viewing stands have yet been erected. We were in Paris in 2002 to see the Tour finish. Look in the 2002 album on Flickr for photos.
This family, arriving at a hotel, doesn’t get ‘travel light’.
Photos on Flickr.
TerraTraveler 