Paris: The Final Chapter

I really liked the Musée d'Orsay but I LOVED the Musee Rodin, which makes sense because he is one of my favorite sculptors. It was also one of the most well designed and focused museums I have ever seen, housed in Rodin's house. Oh, and one of my favorite authors was his secretary for a while.

As an aside, in the book of essays I just read it talked about distinguishing the literature from the man (or woman) author. I believe it is the same with art. I don't have to like the sculptor to recognize the genius of his work. (He wasn't the kindest man around.)

Anyway, here are a few of my favorite pieces...

For some reason, I can't find this on the museum website so I can't tell you the name of the piece.

The Thinker

And what could be more charming than a whole group of art students sketching The Thinker?

Versailles

It was a dark and gloomy day when we journeyed out to Versailles. By the end of the day, we agreed on two things.

1) We were darn cold and needed a hot toddy

2) Based on how sparkly everything at Versailles was if we had been peasants we would have been pretty pissed at the royals too.

The entrance to Versailles

The hall of mirrors. Apparently mirrors were wildly expensive so this room was built to show off how insanely rich the King was.

Marie Antoinette's bedchamber. Fun fact...when Marie was in labor and giving birth to the heir, her entire court was present. Doesn't that sound fun?

I have no idea what this has to do with Versailles but I liked the picture

Paris

Here I am in Paris....See, proof. There is the Eiffel Tower in the background and everything.

Day one...after a bit more traveling time than we had planned for we ran out and grabbed lunch so my friend wouldn't gnaw my arm off and then we headed down to do a little sightseeing. Because we got there a little later than anticipated we decided to try doing the guidebook suggestion of the evening tour of historic sites. We walked down the Right and Left bank and did some picture taking and sightseeing. Since we knew that Notre Dame Cathedral was open we decided to head down there.

Pretty, isn't it?

The architecture is done in the Early French Gothic style and personifies the French Art style (I know this because I just looked it up) and was built between 1163 and 1250. While I was visiting I looked for the Hunchback could not find him, which was a disappointment.

After we left there, my friend started to feel a bit unwell so we stopped at what turned out to be my favorite cafe for that entire trip so that my friend could try to get her second wind. That didn't happen but I had a nice cup of tea and a pastry (oh, who am I kidding, I had chocolate cake) and we headed back to the hotel so she could recover. This is the portion of the trip where I got to read about Iggy Pop's enormous "endowments" way too many times. (In case you are wondering, the new Iggy Pop bio wasn't a favorite of mine.) It was good I got the extra rest because day 2 was our museum marathon day which you will hear all about in the next blog.

By A Slow River by Phillipe Claudel

By A Slow River is a French mystery. I have found that the French literary style is not a particular favorite of mine. I have a difficult time with novels that do not have one sympathetic character (or at least one that isn't too awful). The French authors I have read tend to have a writing style that creates an emotional distance from its characters. Oddly enough, I find this interesting and compelling in French movies. Can't explain why but I will give it some thought.

Anyway, because the murders take place during WWII which creates lots of interesting opportunities for plot twists and turns and I found the mystery a bit unusual, which given the number of mysteries I have read, is saying something. Ultimately though I did not find this compelling or interesting enough to keep me riveted.

My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'Homme

Although this book describes Julia's love of France and the time she and her husband spent there, it is really about the creation of "Mastering The Art Of French Cooking" 1 and 2. After falling in love with the food (and the country), Julia takes a cooking class at the Cordon Bleu and finds her true calling as a chef, teacher and advocate of French cooking.

This was such a fun read. Julia's personality shine through and you get a very real sense of who she is. It also vividly shows the loving and happy relationship she has with her husband who was enormously supportive of her newly discovered career while at the same time maintaining his own very prestigious career.

The Mystery Guest: An Account by Gregoire Bouillier

This is one of those very "French" novels that is hard to describe but I will do my best. Basically this is the story of a man who has been invited by his ex-lover to be the mystery guest at an artists home. The man agonizes over the meaning of the invitation since the ex-lover left him with no explanations about why she was leaving him. Asking himself such questions as "Why did she invite him?" "What could she be trying to tell him?" and even analyzing the meaning behind the number of flowers at the party. (And I thought women were the only ones who over analyzed things.)

This is not a novel that captivated me but it was interesting and had a very old fashioned literary feel to it, similar to Virginia Woolf in tone.