Tuesday - The Orsay - adventure almost over

When I woke up this morning it was dark and gray out and then later it began to lightly rain. Not good for my last full day in Paris. Over the evening David and I had discussed our plans and had decided that if the weather was bad he would opt out of the Orsay venture and that was fine with me. It would be another day on my own in Paree. We had our usual Parisian breakfast - croissants and coffee - and basically just chilled for the morning. Around noon it stopped raining but it was still nasty and chilly. I wisely decided not to walk to the museum this time, electing instead to take two connecting buses.

I left the apartment at 1:30pm, was on the first bus at 1:40pm and at the Orsay at 2:00pm. Big problem upon arrival - it had begun to lightly rain again and there was a long line at the ticketing area. Damn and double damn.

Now about the Orsay - the Musee d’Orsay houses French art of the 1800s (specifically 1848-1914) and picks up where the Louvre’s art collection leaves off. This means Impressionism. The Orsay houses the best general collection anywhere of Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, van Gogh, Cezanne , and Gauguin. It is my favorite Paris art museum. The reason for the crowd? Well, the Louvre is closed on Tuesday, that is why, and this is something I knew about but had forgotten to take into consideration in my planning.

This is what it looked like outside when I arrived --

Dammit - no way was I going to leave Paris without the Orsay, no way, so ... at 2:05pm I took out my umbrella and got into line. Luckily in about 15 minutes the rain stopped but it still took a long time to get inside the exhibition area because of a thorough security check and mandatory checking of backpacks. I was inside and ready to go at 2:50pm.

This is the main concourse inside --

I walked the bottom floor and then went to the upper level, 5th floor, and began making my way through the various rooms. There was a special exhibition investigating Monet’s influence on Picasso but the line for it was way way too long so I reluctantly passed.

Somewhere around 4:45 I came upon 2 Monet paintings that seemed to capture the same scenes David and I saw on our Giverny day-trip. Here they are --


And these are the last pictures I took on this 2008 Paris Adventure - how very fitting.

It had stopped raining so I again decided to walk back to the apartment. I walked nearly the entire length of Boulevard St. Germain to rue Monge and later calculated the distance to be 2.5 miles.

David had a plan for my last night in Paris. We took the Metro back to the St. Germain des Pres district (through which I had walked) and went to a restaurant called the Brasserie St. Benedict. It was a great choice because the meal was outstanding - I had soup l’onion, baked salmon and then shared a creme brulee with David.

We were back at the apartment at 10:30pm and I began the packing process. Will get up around 7:00am in the morning so I will have plenty of time to get to the airport no later than 11:00am for my flight departure time of 1:15pm. David remains adamant in his plan to go with me to the train station Gare Nord, although I really don’t need to be escorted there. But, this is his decision.

This will be my last posting from Paris. The next one will be when I get back to The Big Apple and get settled in.

This wonderful time far exceeded my expectations and I want to thank my dear friend and fraternity brother David West for his hospitality and friendship. THANK YOU ROOMIE!!!

Billi Pod
wanjr@aol.com.