On Thursday, we took a train out to Vernon, about an hour north of Paris where we hired bicycles from the little pub and rode out to Monet's Gardens. It was a lovely ride (happily not many hills) and the gardens were beautiful! What a fantastic way to travel, much better than catching the shuttle bus! Although I must admit, we were probably the youngest visitors to the gardens by about 30 years! ;)
It was a lovely prelude to today, when we went to the Musee d'Orsay and the Musee l'Orangerie and saw a number of Monet's paintings of the water lilies. Lovely! The Orangerie has a couple of rooms with huge Monets of the waterlilies lining the walls... impressive!
There were also a series of Picasso's, Matisse, and Cezannes from an old private collection.
The Musee d'Orsay is housed in the old train station and is an amazing space for displaying art. There are a range of sculptures including some by Rodin and some beautiful paintings by Van Gogh, Monet, Gauguin and Renoir.
We were lucky when we were in Giverny that the waterlilies were out so we could see what had inspired him. The roses were out too, and smelt divine! There was the little bridge over the pond and the weeping willows trailing into the water... lovely!
We stopped at the pub for a drink after returning our bikes, how convenient! (happily the chain chose to fall off my bike only a few hundred metres from the pub. lucky!
Dinner was at a groovy old restaurant, 'chez paul', near the bastille. Tasty fois gras (again), happily this time with salad... we are starting to think we need to cut back on the cheese, custard, and other riches for a while... we had steamed asparagus for dinner the next night... (oh and cheese... but not much!>!)
Our arty time has included an evening visit to the Louvre last night. Emily has a year pass and could get me in for free after 6.45pm. What surprised me was the shopping mall underneath featuring of all things an Apple Store and Starbucks...! They really are everywhere!!
To catch some areas of the museum I hadn't visited before, we went to Napolean's apartments - so rich and luxurious - and a really interesting part - the old medieval moat underneath it all... So cool, and still all in good shape. It really is an incredible old building as well as housing some of the world's most amazing artworks.
Poor Emily nearly had a fit with all the people striking ridiculous poses with the glass pyramid, their hand on top, leaning against it, or holding it in their hand... :)
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