Monet, Mulot, and Mayhem

Today it started out raining, so a walk on the Champs Elysee got nixed and we decided to do a museum instead. Of course there are plenty to choose from but we wanted to go to a little untouristy museum that holds much of Monet's artwork, the Marmotten Museum. We couldn't believe our luck!

Down in the basement are at least 65 of Monet's originals, all donated to the museum by his son Michel. This part of the exhibit shows in three rooms, all rooms open to each other and flowing through the different artistic periods in his life. It started out with his pencil drawings of city folk done at age 17. Then his travels with his friends, his life at Giverny and then the period of his life when you realize that cataracts are changing the course of his art and life. It was most incredible seeing this transformation. There were no photographs allowed in the museum and in fact they made you check your backpack too. Soooo, no pictures! We saw the above Monet in the Orsay Museum earlier.

A high school class was meeting in the museum and it was interesting as we listened in on the class. Obviuously the curator was trying to get the kids excited about Monet and his work. They tried to look interested but we could tell they were just dying to get out of there! It took me back to when I went to France in high school and here I was in the center of history and all I cared about was what to wear, whom to talk to and when were we going to have fun!!!! Deja vu all over again.

We found our way back home (got on the wrong metro today!!!) and realized that we needed a treat. We have heard about the best patissierie in Paris (Gerard Mulot) and it is only a couple of blocks from our apartment but haven't been there. We felt that we deserved to try it out and the rave reviews are worth it. Trust me on this one. It is like walking into an art museum of food. Each pastry is beautifully prepared and you know that each one is done by hand individually. And they taste as good as they look!


Since we hadn't walked our 7 miles today and we had a couple of pastries, we headed out to see Notre Dame at night. Notre Dame was as beautiful as ever and the crowds never thin out--even at night. We got there at dusk with the sun setting and then around 8:15 the lights came on. Really nice.

We had to laugh to ourselves though. Here we are at the foot of the Notre Dame in Paris, France and most of the crowd on the square was watching some street artist, doing a fire dance! (you know, like with fire on the ends of batons) I guess to them, fire-eating is more interesting than the beauty of the Notre Dame at night.

We aren't night owls so we don't usually see the Parisian night life too often. Now I know why! All sorts of strange events going on and it is as busy at night as it is during the day. At 9:00 the cafe's were all full and people are everywhere. All the businesses except restaurants are closed, but the streets are lively with the comings and the goings of the people-Parisian mayhem! Generally, Parisiens eat much later than we do. Very often, lunch can be between 2 and 4 and dinner can be around 9 to 11. Sorry, we try to delay our eating a little, but we still keep fairly normal schedule.

Sidenote: Yesterday when were at the Eiffel Tower, we remembered that the minature Statue of Libery was in the neighborhood, so we started looking for it. We knew that they saw it from the Eiffel Tower on the Amazing Race show, so we thought it must be right there somewhere. We searched a little bit and knew that it was near the water (the Seine). So we walked to the river and couldn't see anything, so we started down the river, always looking to the next bridge for the statue. We had seen its location on TV but couldn't see anything matching it. So we kept walking...to the next bridge and finally we say the beginning of a narrow, "center island" that ran from one bridge to the next. And then finally we saw the statue way down at the other end of this center island. So we started walking again...and walking, and walking, until we came to a dead end, and decided we didn't need to see it close up after all! We'll have to try again later, now that we know where it is.

Girls: Here is a picture of the purse dad got me. Isn't it so chic?! Print this post