On to the sights...
After class on Thursday, another Latin quarter adventure ensued. We knew we A) wanted to escape the brutal heat and humidity and B) enjoy our first afternoon not bogged down with homework (no class Friday - woo!) and C) intellectually stimulate ourselves.
Ok, so we didn't actually plan on part C), but that's what happened at the Musée d'Orsay! Everything I've only heard GREAT things about Musée d'Orsay. "It's better than the Louvre" or "It's my favorite museum in the world!" so this place had some pretty high expectations. We arrived at the revolving doors, exhausted from class, dirty from the metro, and sweaty from the heat/ humidity (ok, I was sweaty). I was already in a foul mood because a group of rowdy Brazilian tweens cut in line (like 50 of them) and I didn't like their shoes - the closed toed things that have a slit between your big toe and your little toes. Like an effing camel. Big in Europe and Brazil apparently, will NEVER catch on in the States.
Anyway, once we actually got inside my mood instantly lifted. 3 floors (or is it 5? can't quite figure it out) of artistic genius. Plus the building is an old train station so it had the sweetest huge walls and clock aaand plenty of drafts to keep it nice and cool. We started in the sculpture section, wading through endless busts of Napoleon or sprawled out naked women (fig 2) to end with a fun model of Paris (fig 3) that we could walk on and see through the glass floor (I swear I almost broke it). We ran straight into Austin from Project Runway Season 1 (skinny tall blond guy with lots of makeup) then we found Monet's pre-Impressionism room(Fig 4) and my aches pains and sweat dissolved away.
Fig. 2(not kidding, this exorcist type pose was everywhere)
Fig. 3 fee fi fo fum (Paris under me)
Fig 4I don't know why, but I've always been a little bit obsessed with Monet. When I was growing up my entire room was his water lilies, the wallpaper, bedspread etc. were his unique impressionistic stroke. Our beagle's name was Mo'Dudley (The Mo part was for Monet. My sister and dad wanted to name him Milkdud to go with Butterfinger. So we compromised. Clearly, I've always been the intellectual of the family...) And growing up I always wanted to be Linea in Monet's garden (please tell me you've read that book) anyway, seeing his work brought back a swell of nostalgia for the days of elementary school. Weird how great art (Fig. 5) makes me feel like a little girl again.Anyhoo...
Fig. 5 More Monet!Don't tell Monet, but when I saw Van Gogh (Fig 6) up close I kinda sorta fell in love with him a little more. If you ever want to hear my opinion on Van Gogh, just ask, I don't want to launch into it now. I'm already bored reading this and they are my thoughts, I apologize to anyone who has gotten this far on my rambling! Needless to say, 2 hours was not enough time at Musée d'Orsay and I can't wait to go back. I have a pass to get in free anytime (apparently I'm an art history student now) aaand there's a French law that anyone under 26 can get in to all Museums free! But most places are pretty selective about it (even though that's illegal).
Fig. 6. What a nice clean room for an insane man.We concluded Musée d'Orsay with a photoshoot on the top floor, you can see the Louvre, the Ferris wheel and Sacré Couer (Fig. 7). Pretty amazing. Too bad a storm was brewing make the sky super dark (and I couldn't capture the lightning on film! While posing for pictures my dress flew up...all I could think of was "I see London, I see France...France sees my underpants!" I hope they liked them. The little American boy tourist sure did. His mom, not so much.
Fig. 7 Sacré Couer = mosque looking thing, ferris wheel = obvious, Louvre = building on far right, underwear flash =not seen, happening to photographer
i'm pretty sure I saw that same van gogh painting in Amsterdam when I was there. either they moved it, or my amsterdam mind wasn't very clear, which is entirely possible.
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