i didn't sleep well on monday night, only like three hours. so on tuesday we got up, had breakfast -- the orsennes' beagle, othello, still hasn't given up begging off us, even though we don't feed the sweet l'il thing -- and took a while to get it together. but finally went off on le metro to the musee d'orsay, which was a total mob scene. (en route we had our totally dorky-americans moment of not being able to figure out how to work the damn cartes oranges, but we sorted it out.) luckily, we planned to buy a six-day paris museum pass -- so we went to a special purchasing line and, after we got the pass, were directed to a different entrance with a MUCH SHORTER line.
maybe the place was so crowded b/c it's popular -- but also b/c the weather totally sucked. wow, it's like scotland all over again. to say i'm disappointed would be an understatement. i wasn't expecting it to be blazing hot, but i am fucking pissed that it's basically going to chilly and rainy the whole time we're here. whatever.
anyway. my feet are already kind of a mess from all the walking. b/c it wasn't that warm yesterday, i didn't want to wear the flats i had engineered for this trip but stayed in my boots. mistake! today i wore my converse, which helped at first but ended up being just as bad. happily, we found some amazing blister-fixers in le drugstore, but the damage is done.
so, we used the museum tour in the book paris day by day. it suggests to see six things: carpeaux's sculpture la danse; manet's dejeuner sur l'herbe (Picnic on the Grass) -- which is the famous painting where the naked woman lounges with the totally clothed menfolk (i think it shoulda been called "picnic in your dreams, dude" but whatev ... apparently there is an early cover of ms. that reverses the lack-of-clothing sitch); renoir's moulin de la galette and degas's absinthe; a bunch of monet's waterlilies, lovely; degas's ballerina thing; van gogh's starry night (which the squirrel informed me was A starry night but not THE starry night -- tres confusing, but tres vrai aussi)
we saw a bunch of other stuff too -- including the amazingly ornate ceiling (and the famous clock, pictured at the top of this entry) of this grand hall itself -- a former train station, to quote the guidebook, "built for a 1900 exposition and later turned into a museum devoted to works created from 1848 to 1914." there was a lotta impressionism happening, and i learned the difference b/w manet and monet. it's way more than one letter, let me tell you. also, we admired the work of sisley very much and loved how when you stood across the room from his stuff it seemed to gain dimension and seemed incredibly ... realistic. ironically. in a couple of rooms, little old ladies had easels set up and were painstakingly copying paintings. they were really good at it.
there are some major recurring themes here, namely jesus/religion ... and boobies. universal subjects, i suppose.
anyway. we were hungry, so we nipped off to the little cafe. i had a glass of wine and the cheese plate, yum. deb had a nice toasted piece of bread with goat cheese slightly drizzled with honey. and wine. we went out on the terrace adjacent to the museum and took each other's pictures (and, no, you can't see them). close at hand was this statue:
and far off in the distance, we could see le sacre coeur (this is a close-up from the original shot):
here's an extreme close-up:
i am sure it would look really really beautiful if the sun were out. i've noticed that l.a. and paris have something in common: both look really kind of ugly and uninviting when it's cloudy. and, yes, i might stop complaining about the weather soon.
then we went to the little shop (i love a little shop -- and, yes, sadly, who-isms are finding their way into the conversations daily), where deb bought some postcards and i toyed with the idea, but felt tired and woozy and just wanted to go sit down outside. so i did, forgetting that it was cold. and it started to rain while i was out there. so i raised my umbrella and listened to joe henry on my ipod for a few minutes before the squirrel reappeared.
anyway. we actually went to les invalides to see napoleon's tomb, but my feet really hurt by then, and it was pretty late in the day. so we bagged it and returned to the hotel, and i took a nap for a while. my feet hurt, and i was wiped out (joyously, i'm also on the rag). then we regrouped and went to dinner at this place called cafe constant on 13 rue st. dominique. we got a little lost, and it was raining, but we saw the eiffel tower do its flashy thing with the top of the tower all enveloped in fog, which was kind of cool.
at the restaurant, where we were seated upstairs with the other americans, but also some french people, there was a jukebox replica that looked vintage, but i don't think it was. it had all manner of platters: brenda lee's "sweet nothin's," frank sinatra's "new york new york," tony bennett's "i left my heart in san francisco," eddie cochran's "summertime blues," marilyn monroe's "heatwave," skip & flip's "it was i," etc. etc. etc. we ordered red wine. while waiting for le food i watched this guy come up the steps with a bouquet of roses and some other tchotchkes, hand roses to the american women at the table near us, and couldn't believe it when they didn't know the guy was of course trying to get them to buy the roses -- they weren't free! the french woman at the table next to them tipped them off. le metro may have stumped us, but i'm glad we're at least savvy enough not to be taken in by the universal hustles.
anyway, i had homemade foie gras, deb had an asparagus and tomato salad aux provences. for entrees i had roasted lamb with white beans (OMG xlnt!) and she had chicken with tagliatelle, all artfully rolled up and seasoned with an amazing blend of herbs. no room for dessert -- bummer! the food was really good, but the foie gras wasn't as good as the one at la terrasse, which had tons of little notes of flavor. this was more straightforward, but creamy and delish.
limped back to the pad and relaxed for a while. tonight i'm taking an ambien -- must sleep.
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