The un-Accidental Tourist

Unlike M. Obama who had a whirlwind 5 hr stay we have had a pretty leisurely time here. Now more than half way home I am getting a bit panicked. So... we did 3 " big" touristy events in 3 days (now 4 in 4 days). Gary has never been to the Louvre. I have very mixed memories of my 30- something years ago visit but he wanted my company so off we went. There was not much of a line which I took as a good omen, but once we got in there were crowds. We headed off to the Denon wing to see you know who. I am not much intrigued by classic painting or religious art. (shallow me) Do I think all the people tramping through the museum are ? No I do not. Their faces reminded me of people at the mall a few days before Christmas; man ,they were on a mission. As for Mona herself I probably could have gotten closer to Brad and Angie's twins. This is what it looked like from the sidelines. I waited for Gary under a nice picture of Venus. I saw some nice small oils from Italy by Pierre Henri de Valenciennes which were my favorite work there.We pushed through the Italian section looking for paintings by Canaletto a favorite of Gary's. We didn't find them until we went upstairs to the Richelieu wing to see some drawings and there they were. I left Gary looking at them and took off; it was complicated and mazelike to get out. I am not embarrassed to say I felt like I had been sprung from a bad class at school.

Our next trip was to the Tour Eiffel and I thought this was a great way to spend time. It too was very crowded but everyone seemed happy and anticipating fun in spite of the Disneyesque lines. You need to go up on 2 elevators. I took a video looking up through the top of the elevator.

The Seine was shiny and green, it was very clear.People and cars predictably looked like ants but I could pick out so many of the places I had been looking at from the ground. I love the way cities look from up high. I will always do the tourist thing and take the elevator up. One of my favorite children's books is called "The Man Who Walked Between the Towers
about Philippe Petit, the Frenchman who walked on a tightrope betzeen the World Trade Center buildings in 1974. It was written and illustrated by Mordecai Gerstein who also wrote and illustrated "Arnold of the Ducks" somewhere in a 5 or 6 waytie for favorite kids book ever. Sorry for dragging out this digression but I just read a review online of a movie called "Man on Wire" directed by James Marsh. It tells the story of Petit's feat as a mystery/crime plot. It sounds wonderful and opens in Cambridge two days after I return home.
I had such a good time.

Day 3 was the Modern Art Museum at the Pompidou Centre. The Pompidou is called the Beaubourg around here.( http://www.centrepompidou.fr/) The building looks as if has been turned inside out. All the infra -structure, heating,plumbing, etc. is on the outside, letting the whole floor be surrounded by light. It was everything the Louvre was not; spacious, quiet, filled with people who seemed, at least, to be looking at the art. I saw works by several artists I had never heard of,Kupka, Michel Larionov, and Nicodème. I just liked what I saw.
There also were many paintings by Leger who I really like as well as this big red rhino.

All this rushing around made me think how lucky I am to spend a month in one place. I can go back after I think about things, look at them again, buy them, or eat another serving.

Today we went to Pere Lachaise. I think I have written more than enough about Paris cemeteries but we went on to Charrone a village-y part of the 20th . It has a 13th century church with its own graveyard. It was lovely. We ate a delicious lunch (I had anchovies) on a quiet lovely streetWe then walked to see this iguana sculpture I had read about. It is perched high on the side of a nondescript building.

We left this quiet spot for a crowded Metro and big Parisian department stores. We poked around in Au Printemps and went on to Galleries Lafayette. This section of Paris was the only place we'd been that was more crowded than the Louvre. There were people in costumes singing show-tuney stuff as we made our purchases. We then went up to the food section.

It is a very gourmet place in the middle of a Saks kind of store. They have very fancy pastries, all kind of cheese, tea and spices, foods of many countries. They even have a supermarket style wall with regular yogurt and Tropicana juice as well as Lu cookies. They sold eggs !!! The cheese we bought there was some of the best we have had so far. We then went to the Femmes part so Gary could see the stained glass dome. It is beautiful and was built just for the store. I cannot imagine anywhere in America a business that would give over this much retail floor space to art.

Coming soon: Tour de France

Stay safe.


Digression: I like my camera way more than I ever expected. Sorry if I bore you; I can even show you pictures of my sardine lunch.