Our second day in Paris started a bit slow on account of our first day ending in our first night, which turned out to be wild and late. What a treat, though, to sleep in, slowly wake up to the sound children playing in the square across the street, walk down to the boulangerie for a baguette and croissant to go with our breakfast, and to enjoy the light of Paris coming through the trees into the window as ate.
Most of our day was spent in the Musee d’Orsay, which many people have said is their favorite museum in Paris, and for good reason. It has a varied collection, including paintings, architecture, sculpture, photos and even furniture, but, unlikely the Louvre, it is carefully curated and selective, so each of the pieces is remarkable and worth spending time with.
We were careful to pace ourselves, enjoy pieces, enjoying a snack on the balcony overlooking the city, enjoying more of the work, enjoying a break on a bench and so on until closing time.
I wrote about one of our favorite pieces in my bee blog, Pan et Oursons, on our bee blog, so you can read about that one there. Some of our favorite pieces were:
- Capresse de colonies by Charles Cordier: One of Michelle’s favorites, these were gorgeous busts in onyx and marble of three very different Africans and Arabs (a nice change from the Romans and Greeks you so often see in these types of museums)
- Scale model of the Opera House: An amazingly detailed cut-away of the Paris opera house, complete with all the inner workings of the stage pulleys and curtains, chandeliers, wallpaper, etc.
- All the Van Gogh’s. All of them! I just love how you can see the thickness of each paint stroke, how the colors aren’t just blended, but the shape and movement of the paint is as much a part of it as the shades and hues. Mmmm-mmmm, yum!
The first picture here I entitle “Self-Portrait with a Self-Portrait”. Tres meta! The second is the view from the balcony where we snacked and the third is the Opera House cut-away.
