This was my third trip to Paris, each of them short. But on this one, I had just one museum I was determined to make: L'Orangerie. This is where Claude Monet's famous oval rooms of paintings from Giverny are housed, and I really wanted to catch them.
Spectacular they were. Surprisingly, you can take pictures, just without a flash. These don't do them justice, but hopefully you'll get a sense.
Yes, this is actually four shots that I've stitched together. It takes patience to avoid all the other tourists! Below is a detail to get a better understanding of color and brushstrokes, from my usual off-angle. I do like these....
Downstairs is a lovely little collection of mostly impressionists. This Renoir of two girls by the piano really caught me.
After a quick lunch I jumped into the Musée d'Orsay, a large and vibrant museum housed in an old train station. I'd been years ago, but wanted to return. Between the two museums, most of my day was gone. This was actually fine, as it was Sunday, so there wasn't much to be done aside from museums.
You couldn't take photos at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, but this is one of my favorites: La Guingette.
Looking out through the clock.
An overview of the central space. You can see how it was a train station.
Once I tired of the museums, I headed for the Luxembourg Gardens to read and wait for Greg to call after his day finished. I didn't yet have a dinner plan, and the next day were my meetings, then the shopping that I needed to complete before heading home. Those two tasks did take the whole day. But I finished with a lovely dinner at a seafood restaurant that I stumbled on during my walk back to the hotel. Even if the waiters here didn't flirt with me (they were waitresses after all), I had enjoyed my time in Paris. This was the end of vacation, after four trips in four weeks, and I was ready to head home.
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