2 Posts in One Day

Since we were up so early this morning, I actually have enough energy to post again tonight! Today was a fairly lazy day....we finally left the apartment at 1:30 pm and headed straight over to the Musee D'Orsay. I love this museum...it's manageable and just has beautiful, beautiful art. It's also in that gorgeous train station so even if there were no art, it would be impressive. I've taken a few pics of some of my favorites. Here's a picture of the building itself...isn't it just beautiful???

Here's a close up of the clock that you can see in the distance above.

Here's a small part of Toulouse-Lautrec's La Danse au Moulin-Rouge, painted by him in 1895. It is a huge painting in person and awesome to see. His work was all fairly dark and the dancer really stands out.

Here's Van Gogh's Starry Night Over the Rhone....it is a beautiful painting in real life. It also is not the "Starry, Starry Night" painting he painted while in an asylum.

Here's a piece of Renoir's Moulin de la Galette. Another large painting that is exquisite in person. Renoir did not use models for this painting, he painted his friends instead. Again, just an exquisite painting to have seen up close and personal.

And last, but definitely not least, is one of Monet's paintings of the Rouen Cathedral. We have sat in the square facing this Cathedral so it is just an awesome feeling to know that Monet probably sat in the same vicinity for these paintings. His home, Giverny, was nearby and he travelled to Rouen to paint the Cathedral in different light, different time of day, different weather. Altogether, he painted 30 canvases of the Cathedral. At the Musee D'Orsay, five of them are hung on the same wall so you can see them all together...amazing!!!!

I wish I'd had more of an appreciate for art and architecture when I was younger. I love the art...all of it....in museums, but to stand in front of paintings, sculptures, etc. that have been around for 100s, sometimes thousands of years....just amazes me. Architecture as well continues to amaze me. We were in Notre Dame tonight, on our way home, it was dark in there and they were showing a film....it just made me want to weep

Here's me at the end of the day, standing outside of the museum...in case you were wondering...I brought several coats but this one and the fur are the only ones that have been warm enough for me to wear!!

We had dinner in the Latin Quarter tonight. Dick and I had both been wanting raclette, a Swiss cheese dish....the cheese is melted with a special lamp and you serve the melted cheese over meat, potatoes, bread, etc. It is yummy and perfect for a cold, Paris night.