Little Miss Museum...Part one of the Weekend

Where to start?! It is only Sunday evening, day 2 of my four day weekend and I've already seen so much! And all in good time....both Saturday and Sunday were fairly early nights. I did not stay out late at all and was back in Bougival by dinner time. Which is sort of nice for this weekend because I'm doing a lot, and could use the extra relaxing and sleep time. Anyways! I'll start with today (Sunday), first. I woke up at 6:30 this morning (after a night of not-so-great sleep). My plan was to be on the train by 8a.m. so I could be standing in line for the museum before opening at 9. C'est parfait! It worked like a charm. I was total tourist today, in my yoga pants and tennis shoes and Idaho tee shirt (GO VANDALS!). It took 35 minutes from Bougival to Musee du Louvre. C'est pas mal. It was great because the metro stops RIGHT INSIDE THE LOUVRE! And guess where I was...RIGHT UNDER THE GLASS PYRAMID inside! It was pretty great. Today is the first Sunday of the month so museums are free...so I was inside quickly and grabbed a map. (side note: I've discovered it is a really good idea to go straight for the main attraction, or whatever it is my heart is set on seeing) Nonetheless, in order to avoid major crowds or lines I went right for the Mona Lisa. She was not hard to find, and of course there were fabulous sculptures all along the way to her. I really loved the Italian paintings. Sooo much history and religion in all those paintings. And some of them are WALL SIZE. One must wonder how many months or years painters spent creating these. The Mona Lisa was in a huge room, and she was all alone on a wall, the only painting on this wall behind a glass casing...a crowd of people were crowded in front of her, so I took my time just looking at how SMALL she is (probably 18x24 or something...smaller than a regular size poster for sure)! I wonder...why is she sooo famous? I am going to read up on Mona Lisa. I did get the audioguide and so I got a little info, but not enough. It is very interesting how dark the painting is and how the colors subtly blend together. Anyways, I HAD to take a picture of the handsome guard standing in front of her. HOW CRAZY would that be to say your job is to GUARD the Mona Lisa? Wow, talk about a top dawg. I took a few pictures of her (pics are allowed in the museums, generally without a flash of course). After Mona Lisa (la Jaconde, en francais) I looked at more Italian paintings, then Italian sculptures including a few Michaelangelo's (but I need to go back and spend more time w/Michael). I really liked the wing of the Louvre with Mona Lisa and Italian art. The Louvre itself, the building, is FABULOUS. It is a definite MUST SEE when visiting Paris. It's amazing how huge and immaculate and clean and wide and open it is. I loved it. I saw Greek sculptures and antiques, and Napolean's apartment, which is amazing. Did you know that the Louvre was used as a HOUSE, a CASTLE for some of the kings and other royalty to live in? Wow, talk about unnecessary....it is so incredibly large. But not nearly as intimidating as I thought it'd be. Sure there are a lot of people there, but because of the way the building is structured and so open and wide, it doesn't feel crowded. As I was in certain halls, and especially with Mona Lisa, I was imagining "The Da Vinci Code" in my mind...now I want to see that movie again! I really like the Louvre itself. The art and sculptures were wonderful, and I will go back to spend more time....but I know the Louvre will not be my favorite museum here, as the art is not necessarily my style and I can't stare at one sculpture for 5 minutes...it's all a matter of taste in art and interest. I definitely appreciate it though.

Since today was 'free museum' day I wanted to get 2 in, and not stay at one all day. I was seeing today as sort of a "foot in the door" intro to how the museums work, etc. So after about 3 hours I went to the Musee D'Orsay. MY FAVORITE, (I think most definitely). Having been raised on Impressionism thanks to my mother and seeing these paintings so often growing up and hearing stories about them, I came to small tears when I walked into the top level with all Impressionist paintings. (side note: once again, I knew what I wanted to see most in this museum and went there first...it definitely makes the trip better when you don't have to worry about time or lines and just get the most important stuff done first) To see Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir, Degas, Cezanne, Manet, etc in ALL ORIGINALS was magnificient. And some of the paintings are LARGE, so to see the actual paint up close like that is wonderful. And with Impressionism often times its best to stand further back to really SEE the image, then to walk up close when it becomes blurry and you can see the paint blotches. The colors, the dancers portrayed, the 'water lillies', ohhh to die for! And for the paintings done in pastels, those are in rooms that are darker with dim lighting and the air conditioner is set at a colder temp...so that's interesting to know a little about 'art restoration.' There are so many paintings in Orsay, it's definitely a place I want to spend all day in. There was also an exhibit of photography that I liked, called "Le Main" (the hand), portraying all original photographs that feature hands....of famous historical people...it was quite interesting. D'Orsay is in a newer museum, in an old train station that was restored and converted in the 1980s, and there is a GIGANTIC train clock inside that's really cool. The building is wonderful with great lighting for the art. The Louvre and D'Orsay are just across the Seine from each other, a 10 minute walk...so a definite MUST DO and CAN DO in one day. I plan to spend a day at each place separately, now that I know what I like and prefer. I won't do the audioguide at the Louvre, but I will do the audioguide at D'Orsay because I really love those paintings. I packed a light lunch and ate it in the 'garden' outside the Louvre. I almost feel at home at these places....it's funny. :)

After D'Orsay, I went to Pont d'Alma, the location along the Seine where Princess Diana was killed in a car accident. It just happens to be the 10th anniversary of her death this week, so it was nice to go there now. There is an unofficial memorial for her at the Statue of Liberty gold flame. There are pictures, flowers and notes all over the statue in dedication to her. It was bittersweet. I took a few photos and read some of the notes...some in French, some in English. This location is splendid, with a great view of the Eiffel tower just on the other side of the Seine. The tunnel where she was killed must have been just below me. This location is full of great cafes, and one of the streets just there has tres fabu shops: Dior, Chanel, Gucci, Prada. Sooo this makes sense as to why she would have been at this location on that fateful night. It'll be a good place to show my guests...historical and also fun and trendy, with a great view.

After this, it was almost 5pm and I was ready to head home after a long day of walking and museums. I caught the metro and train and was back home in 20 minutes...I went up to the house and got a few items to stock my fridge and make myself a little dinner. Virginie and Jerome came downstairs a couple hours later to chat with me about some logistics, goo and gah over D'Orsay, and laugh about Idaho's senator Craig and the football game vs. USC!

Okay...I still have to write more about yesterday, Saturday! We'll see how far I get...as I'm kind of sleepy.