Today was forecast for a rainy afternoon which pointed us in the direction of an indoors sort of day. Towards that end we decided to take a visit to the Musee D'Orsay, all the times we've been there together it has been quite busy so we were hoping for fewer visitors. Getting to D'Orsay is more complex than the Louvre because it's across the Seine and consequently involves more transfers either on the Metro or on a bus. Deb solved the problem nicely by saying that we should go to the Christmas choir concert at the American Church which is over by the Eiffel Tower. It became an easier trip because it only took one transfer to get us within a 5 minute walk of the church. So we walked along the Seine and went first to the church, bought our tickets for Saturday night, and then walked another 10 minutes down the the D'Orsay.
When we got to the museum there was a line snaking out into the courtyard with people standing under umbrellas due to the light rain. But since we have a membership we go to the other line and walk right in. So it was busy, but not horribly overcrowded. We started out looking for a specific Rosa Bonheur painting of farmers using oxen to plow a field, but in the process came across 3 other rooms of objects that we'd not seen before. That was kind of surprising given that we have been in this same section several other times, but it turned out that some of the rooms had been closed for renovation and had only recently re-opened.
They covered decorative items from the 3rd empire, that of Napoleon III, and had some very beautiful cabinets, porcelains, silver, and furniture from that period which overlapped the beginning of Victoria's reign in England and culminated with his abdication after the battle of Sedan in 1870.
But I digress, we couldn't find the Rosa Bonheur painting immediately so we headed up to the 5th floor to see the changes to the Impressionist rooms which I'd seen while Deb was in Denver. When we got up there it was pretty busy so we walked through and into the restaurant behind the clock face on the top floor. We had a little lunch of curried chicken pot pie for Deb and a risotto with Cepe mushrooms for me, along with a couple glasses of rose Champagne (after all it is the holiday season) and then a bit of dessert (rum babas).
Then we went into see the impressionist paintings, but we went through backwards from the main flow visitors so we could sort of control the density of bodies by moving around the rooms based on where people were congregating. We play a mental game of picking which painting in the room you would take home with you if they were giving one away. Then you have to say a little something about why that painting, it could be artistic merit or just that you love the painting. So we worked back through and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
At the beginning of the impressionist rooms is a large painting by one of our favorite Spanish painters, Joaquin Sorolla who we became acquainted with on our stay in Madrid a few years back. Love that painting. We did eventually find the Bonheur painting before heading back to the apartment.
Today was forecast for a rainy afternoon which pointed us in the direction of an indoors sort of day. Towards that end we decided to take a visit to the Musee D'Orsay, all the times we've been there together it has been quite busy so we were hoping for fewer visitors. Getting to D'Orsay is more complex than the Louvre because it's across the Seine and consequently involves more transfers either on the Metro or on a bus. Deb solved the problem nicely by saying that we should go to the Christmas choir concert at the American Church which is over by the Eiffel Tower. It became an easier trip because it only took one transfer to get us within a 5 minute walk of the church. So we walked along the Seine and went first to the church, bought our tickets for Saturday night, and then walked another 10 minutes down the the D'Orsay.
When we got to the museum there was a line snaking out into the courtyard with people standing under umbrellas due to the light rain. But since we have a membership we go to the other line and walk right in. So it was busy, but not horribly overcrowded. We started out looking for a specific Rosa Bonheur painting of farmers using oxen to plow a field, but in the process came across 3 other rooms of objects that we'd not seen before. That was kind of surprising given that we have been in this same section several other times, but it turned out that some of the rooms had been closed for renovation and had only recently re-opened. 
They covered decorative items from the 3rd empire, that of Napoleon III, and had some very beautiful cabinets, porcelains, silver, and furniture from that period which overlapped the beginning of Victoria's reign in England and culminated with his abdication after the battle of Sedan in 1870.
But I digress, we couldn't find the Rosa Bonheur painting immediately so we headed up to the 5th floor to see the changes to the Impressionist rooms which I'd seen while Deb was in Denver. When we got up there it was pretty busy so we walked through and into the restaurant behind the clock face on the top floor. We had a little lunch of curried chicken pot pie for Deb and a risotto with Cepe mushrooms for me, along with a couple glasses of rose Champagne (after all it is the holiday season) and then a bit of dessert (rum babas). 
Then we went into see the impressionist paintings, but we went through backwards from the main flow visitors so we could sort of control the density of bodies by moving around the rooms based on where people were congregating. We play a mental game of picking which painting in the room you would take home with you if they were giving one away. Then you have to say a little something about why that painting, it could be artistic merit or just that you love the painting. So we worked back through and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. 
At the beginning of the impressionist rooms is a large painting by one of our favorite Spanish painters, Joaquin Sorolla who we became acquainted with on our stay in Madrid a few years back. Love that painting. We did eventually find the Bonheur painting before heading back to the apartment.
I love that Bonheur painting! I hope it was the one you'd both select in that room.
ReplyDeleteOh, without doubt
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