1 1/2 days in Paris

Sunday evening, 11/22/09

We’re flying to Varanasi in the morning after two exciting, if not always comfortable days in Delhi. So, as schoolkids with late assignments, here’s the Paris two days.

First picture is the glass pyramid at the Louvre. We chose not to make it our priority museum. Instead, as dusk fell, we walked up the Champs Elysees toward the Arc de Triomphe, until we found a good bridge to the Eiffel Tower. We rode up to the second level and got a good tourist view of the city. (Second pic is of one of the four legs of the Tower.) Then we tracked down the new restaurant (see third picture) serving French “comfort food” as pitched by Susan Stamberg on Morning Edition a few weeks ago. We were not disappointed in the tender pork and the chicken casserole we had. We were disappointed that the ’07 Gigondas red wine, so beloved of Mark and Ellen Sullivan was listed on the menu but sold out! We settled for a Bandol red from near the Spanish border.

Thursday a.m. we used our metro passes (having walked probably 9 miles Wednesday). We spent three hours in Notre Dame, appreciating the architecture (4^th picture), Denise’s friends, the gargoyles (5^th picture) and sadly, the Memorial to those deported from France by the Nazis (6^th picture). We bought a baguette and cheese and yogurt from a grocery store and ate in a park. It was after 3, and we assumed we had missed our chance to do much else. But Denise thought we ought to at least check out the Orsay Museum, where the art of the greatest French impressionists lives. We found that on Thursday nights, the Orsay is open until 9! So we spent over 3 hours viewing Van Gogh, Millett, Manet, Monet, Gauguin and others—including Whistler and his “Mother.” (We giggled, remembering the last time we saw the Whistler, when it was on loan to the Detroit Institute of Arts. Friends of ours from Lansing who were visiting in Paris at the time had to go without!) Striking new (to me) fact: Degas, who painted many ballerinas and dancers, was also a sculptor, and sculpted them too. (Picture 7)

Empires? There are connections to be made between several, but not simply. So keep in mind the year 1160, when construction on Notre Dame was begun. It relates to things we saw today in Delhi. Of course there will be a test!

Paul