|
Musee d'Orsay
& Les Invalides
TV shows in France start at strange hours; not on the hour &
half-hour as in the States. It was strange watching Star Trek
Voyager in German while in Paris. There is a Spanish channel
(maybe two), a Italian Channel and the only English channel was
CNN International and, of course, a few French channels .
We left the hotel at 0830. We were quite surprised by the almost
complete lack of vehicular or pedestrian traffic when we got on
the road for the day. Our choices for breakfast were very
limited since not much was open yet.
We ate breakfast at Petit Point. We had white coffee, orange
juice, cereal with milk, toast and 3 eggs with ham. The cost was
€25.00 for the two of us. Our impression that food is more
expensive continues to hold true.
We took the subway to our first stop of the day which was the
Musee d'Orsay. We found the subways stations to be a little more
confusing and a little dirtier than what we experienced in
London. The first subway train we took was a double-decker;
something I had never come across before.
The Musee d'Orsay is considered one of the finest in the world.
It is probably the second most well known museum in Paris (the l'Ouvre being the most well known). The Musee d'Orsay has the
largest/best collection of Impressionist paintings and
sculptures in the world. The artists featured included
Caillbotte, Cezzane, Degas, Gaugant, Manet, Matisse, Monet,
Pissaro, Renoir, Rodin, Serrat, Tolousse LeTrec, Van Gogh, and
Whistler.
We arrived at the museum around 0945. We did not know it, but
the museum did not open until 1000. We were maybe 100th in line,
but we were inside by 1010 or 1015. We decided to go against
traffic to avoid the initial crowd.
We took the stairs to the 6th floor to work our way down. We
noticed the escalators, but they only went down. We only figured
out later that the up escalators were on the opposite side and
opposite end of the building. It was on the map we got when we
entered the exhibit, but God forbid we actually look at it.
The quality and quantity of Impressionist paintings was nothing
short of amazing. The lighting through the skylights at that
time of the day was angular and less than ideal. We passed
through the exhibit in the opposite direction shortly after
noon and the difference was stunning. An early start allows you
to avoid the larger crowds, but the light is much better for
viewing around noon when the sun is overhead.
Despite all of the above, the majority of the pictures I took
using my Nikon CoolPix 5400's museum scene mode came out
unbelievably good. Very few of the images had any blur due to
low shutter speeds and camera shake. I'd say of the 383(!)
pictures I took this day, 255 were of the Musee d'Orsay and
probably 225 were good-to-excellent to my critical eye.
We at lunch at the museum cafe. We stepped outside on the 6th
floor balcony and got a few good skyline shots. This is
definitely worth the trip. We decided to use the cafe rapide
since the main restaurant very busy. I got a tuna sandwich on a
baguette, Cheetos Friettes, and Heineken (which was €3.40 vs.
€2.90 for a 12 oz. Coke). My meal was €8.50). Dick's was
€10.25).
After lunch. We took the subway again (including a very long
'single circle) to the Ecole Militare which included the Musee
d'Armee and the entombrede Napoleon. When we arrived, the cadets
were going through drills. While they were not sloppy, I'd say
they were less precise than what I experienced when I was a
cadet at West Point. The fact that they were drilling on
cobblestones probably contributed to the less than precise
movements. They were still out there when we left more than 2
hours later.
The entoumbre de Napoleon in the Eglesies de Houreos was
impressive. The tombs for Fouch, laTassey and others were there
as well. The friezes, statuary and paintings were very
impressive. This part probably took little more than 30 minutes
for us to go through.
The Musee d'Armee included displays of numerous canons going
back at 400 years, weapons, emblems and uniforms from 1650-1945
and displays featuring Louis XIV, Napoleon and De Gaulle. It was
quite small when compared to the Imperial War Museum we visited
on London last year. The quantity and quality was considerably
less.
By this point in the day (around 1600), we were done. All of the
walking and standing had made us quite sore. We headed back to
our hotel. We got back around 1700. It took me two hours to
offload all of our pictures (455), rotate the ones that needed
it, and get the batteries (ours and the camera's) recharged.
We saw quite a few strange automobiles. Several of them I did
not recognize and I read several car magazines each month. Of
the few American vehicles we saw, we saw a one Corvette and a
couple of 300Ms & PT Cruisers.
Speaking of cars, we watched the French
equivalent of AutoWeek, Turbo (www.turbo.fr).
Quite interesting. They showed the Mitsubishi Colt, an
aftermarket DVD-based voice activated Navitech navigation
system, and various Nissan off road vehicles. It was one of the
few shows that I had some idea what they were saying and what
was going on.
Believe it or not, they had a section on the Chrysler 300C hemi.
I think they liked it. To say my French is weak is an insult to
the adjective. All I was able to get for sure some phrases:
classy interior, Chronos concept, nice presentation and finish.
The craziest thing on the show was a twin engine, two seat, twin
steering, 6 wheeled go kart! I am telling you this thing was
bad. Incredibly fast, with excellent handling (with 4 wheels in
sets of two ala the Tyrell how could it not be?). I have just
found my next toy! I wonder what my wife Linda will think about this one?
We went out to Chieng-Mai - Specialites Thailandaises (12. Rue
Frederic Sauton, Paris, 01 43 25 45 45, Metro:
Maubert-Mutualite) for dinner. I had the Phat Thai and Dick had
the Ken Khad Phai. We had two Singha beers a piece (beer was
€3.50 and Cokes were €3.20). The food was good (we are Thai food
fanatics; we eat once or twice a week). The total for everything
was €30.80). Not too bad of a price (comparatively) for a good
meal.
We got back to the hotel shortly before 2200. Speaking
(parenthetically) about military time, the French express all of
their time based on the 24 hour clock. Based on my experience in
the military and in IT, I am quite familiar with the 24 hour
clock. If you are not, just subtract 12 hours from any time
after 1300 and make it PM. That's all there is to it.
We were surprised again at how light it was at that hour. It was
darker than dusk but not quite night yet. It reminds of the time
I was on my way to my first station in the Air Force in Misawa,
Japan. We had engine troubles so we made an unscheduled stop in
Anchorage, Alaska. As it was our last night in the states for at
least 18 months, we decided to watch a little 'merican TV. We
did not pay attention to the time and decided to head down for
dinner around dusk. Man, were we surprised when we found out it
was 2330! |
