Museum Day, Take Two

Well, Monday's day of culture was a total write-off - as mentioned earlier, the Musee D'Orsay was closed (this Interweb thing really could have been a time-saver, had I checked first). Then, my arrival at 6:00pm at the Centre Pompidou was met by police tape. And not the artistic kind - very unfortunately, someone decided to take their own life from the roof of the building late that afternoon and it was of course closed for the day.

Resetting things for Tuesday, the Musee D'Orsay was back on the agenda. Perfect timing, actually, as it was the first full day of rain since my arrival in Paris.

One note for eventual travellers to Paris: the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays, which may account for the massive line-up to get into Musee D'Orsay. We waited close to 45 minutes to get in - not bad during peak season, but there are probably better days of the week to choose in order to take in the impressionist art at D'Orsay.

Once inside, the museum left, well, quite the impression.

It is just fantastic to see what talented people can do - even if you're not a typical art fan, this place will not disappoint.

I will let the photos of the amazing art speak for themselves (mostly - I may interrupt at some point). More photos will appear shortly on a new post as well. Be sure to click on each photo to view a larger version.

Poor Timmy was often the subject of locker room ridicule

I call this one "Annoying Man Who Stood Like That For 5 Minutes"

Now Museum...

Due to weather conditions being ridiculously good - low 20's, mostly sunny or high cloud, I have yet to venture indoors to one of Paris' dozens of museums.

BUT as today it rains, I do have plans to attend Musee D'Orsay, the home of many works by Monet, Degas, Cezanne, Renoir, and a number of others who sound impressive but whom I really don't know a thing about (yet).

**Update** - just returned from a fruitless trip to the Musee D'Orsay - apparently Orsay is the French word for "closed Mondays". Eh bien. Time for a little rest.

And, to top off this cultural smorgasord, in the evening I have a private tour with an employee of this place - le Centre Pompidou at 6:00pm Monday. Le Centre Pompidou is a huge museum of contemporary art, as well as other rare works and photos - including the latest rarity to hit Parisian streets, "Jogger Before 10am".

Maintenant, some weekend photos and activities to catch up on.

Friday was a complete day of wandering, by design (or lack thereof), to an area called Montparnasse. It was an amazing stroll, with lively, bustling streets like Rue Daguerre and Rue des Mouffetards (not to be confused with Rue des Muffintops, which I seem to be walking down further everyday on a steady diet of almond croissants, beer, cheese, and very little exercise).

This area also includes the Cimitiere du Montparnasse.

Now walking through a cemetery where no one personally known to the walker lies in rest may not be one's idea of good holiday times... however the peace and beauty of the place quickly grabs you and it seems perfectly normal to be there once you walk down the various avenues. Yes, avenues - the place is that big.

And it seems that the French do everything very tastefully and artfully, including honoring their dead.

Some of the tombstones/gravesites were amazing, as seen below. At first I was leery about taking photos, but there is actually a guide map on site advising people where to go (Simone de Beauvoir and other writers are buried here).

This one said, in French, "To my friend Jean-Jacques, a bird who flew away too soon" When I go, it would be great to have a tombstone half as cool.

So while I first thought walking through here would be a grave mistake, it turned out to be a very nice experience in the end...

Below some additonal random photos from the day in Montparnasse:

This was one of the few restaurants in the entire city that had gone out of business. Alas, it was in fact, not to be.

Just a very imposing statue in a large intersection in Montparnasse

This was outside a museum, where the current exhibit was devoted to graffiti - this wall and others like it were purposely tagged.

More entries coming soon...