Mark in front of one of Monet’s water lily paintings in the Musée de l’Orangerie
I’ve fallen way behind in keeping this up to date, as I spent much of the last week either visiting with friends – a good thing – or trying to track down my lost luggage after I arrived back in the States. Not such a good thing. Before that fiasco, though, we spent five more days in Paris. And once again it was nearly perfect. Great weather, great food, great walking, great parks.
One highlight was what might have been my first ever visit to the Musée de l’Orangerie, an impressionist and post-impressionist museum in a corner of the Tuileries Garden. It was closed for renovations from early 2000 through 2006 and somehow I think we’d just never made it there. The star of the show there are Monet’s Nymphéas, eight large water lily canvasses in two separate oval rooms. Beautiful, and I appreciate an exhibit that only takes a few minutes to enjoy.
Arlequin et Pierrot by André Derain in the Guillaume Walter collection
They were appropriately great, but I really enjoyed the exhibit one floor below made up of Guillaume Walter collection of early 20th century art. There’s a fun story about the Guillaume Walter collection. It’s named not for a Mr. Guillaume Walter, but rather for Paul Guillaume and Jean Walter. Guillaume was an art collector and, when he died, his widow Domenica married the wealthy Walter and continued to expand the collection. On her death, she donated the collection to the museum. What makes it really interesting, though, is that Paul Guillaume died early and under suspicious circumstances. Some thought Domenica may have been involved, but charges were never brought. Then she married Walter … and he died suspiciously after being hit by a car. Oh yeah, and her adopted son survived an attempted murder.
Apparently she lived out her life as a widow but somehow notwithstanding her inherited wealth other men weren’t flocking to marry her.
We love the Luxembourg Gardens. In late August it was surprisingly empty but still a glorious spot to sit and read.
Otherwise it was a lot of walking, drinks one night before dinner at the newly renovated Ritz Hotel, and lazy afternoons in the parks. And starting to plan in more detail our fall jaunt through the South Pacific including, it seems, a couple weeks in Papua New Guinea. That’s all a few weeks off, though, as first from here it was back to the U.S. for a couple weeks visiting family.
A lion along with beautiful flowers in the Luxembourg Garden
Reading on a cool, cloudy afternoon at the end of the Tuilleries
The Tuileries on a sunny day. I wouldn’t guess that the ferris wheel is permanent, though it was there in May and just looks great there.
Here I am in front of some of Monet’s water lilies
This was a little diorama from the Guillaume Walter collection showing Paul Guillaume’s apartment with fabulous art all over
These are actual water lilies in a park way up in the northwest corner of the city
And then there was food. This was an amazing gazpacho in one of the 50,000 great restaurants in Paris.
One of our favorite appetizers, available on most Bistro menus, is oeuf mayonnaise, simply hard boiled eggs and fresh, home-made mayonnaise. It is sublime (and the wine doesn’t hurt, either).
Chilled melon balls with prosciutto and parmesan all in a red wine sauce. Just in case there was ever any doubt that the French know how to do food.
No visit to Paris is complete without a stop at Balzar, a brasserie on the left bank with a very filling choucroute on the menu
And finally. We’re walking past this little store on a Sunday when everything was closed. Teddy bears, sleeping cat, and you think we could NOT take a picture?