January 11, 2019               Blog post Paris

We are in Paris for just a week to see an exhibition of Caravaggio paintings, and four paintings from the 1001 list (reason for cover photo).  Because of the tRump shutdown we left home at 14:00 for an 18:30 flight.  We were expecting long lines.  We arrived at O’Hare at 15:00, and there were no lines.  The security agents were literally waiting for us to go through the lines.  The airport was very, very uncrowded.  Our gate was changed around 17:00, and now the airport was busy.  Our flight was fine, we arrived in Paris a little after 10:00 local time.  Paris was covered by clouds when we arrived.  The plane went down through the clouds and we were expecting to break through and get a view of the city.  Well that didn’t happen.  The first thing we saw was the runway and we landed less than 5 seconds later.  This was a shocker.  The airport was really socked in.  Getting through customs was a easy and then a train ride into the city and a short walk to our hotel.  We arrived at the hotel a little after noon, easy-peasy.

The Pantheon is just a few blocks from the hotel, so we went there to buy our museum pass.  The Pantheon is now a secular shrine with the graves of important French people.  We had visited here on an earlier trip, but of course had to get some photos for the blog.  The graves/tombs are located under the building in separate rooms.  I thought most people would be able to identify these three guys in one room: Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas, & Emile Zola.  Sue doesn’t agree, she thinks only “some” people would have heard of these guys.  Let her know your opinion on Facebook.

After that we were off to the Musee d’Orsay to see a 1001 painting that was on display per the Museum’s web page.  We ended up walking a half hour to the museum.  The painting was to be in Rm 9 on Level 0.  Well we went right to Rm 9, and of course the painting was NOT there.  The painting, “Mountain Scene" by Ferdinand Hodler #693/1001 was on the wall outside the room.  We have now seen 21 of the 23 paintings at the d’Orsay.  We stopped for lunch at a corner café before continuing   to the Center Pompidou to see two 1001 paintings.  We each had a Croque Monsieur, a quintessential French ham & cheese sandwich.  The sandwiches were very good, although I’m not sure you can slice ham any thinner than what was in our sandwiches.  We caught a bus right outside the café.  This was the same bus route we took the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in the spring.  

Now of course I have to tell you about the hunt for our two paintings at the Pompidou.  The museum’s search page listed the display location of two of the 1001 paintings.  Both were on Level 5, one was in Room 7 and the other was in Exposition Folder 25, whatever that is.  We found “Rhythmical” by Paul Klee in Room 7 without a problem.  I showed the young lady at the Information desk a photo of the painting by Nicolas Stael and asked where it was located.  She said our painting wasn’t on display and that there was only one painting by Stael on display.  Talk about disappointment, I caught up with Sue and gave her the bad news.  She suggested I ask an attendant who was nearby.  He recognized the painting immediately and told us that is was on display.  Because some of the rooms were closed he took us to see the painting.  We told him this painting was one of the 1001 paintings.  He joked that when we saw all 1001 we would die.  Sue told him that more than 100 of the paintings were in Private Collections so we were safe.  Hey maybe will live forever!  I don’t think so, but maybe.  We got a photo of #696, and photos of pieces by Claes Oldenburg. We know him most for his large outdoor installations.  I added the “Bowling Pins” that we saw in Eindhoven as an example.  We were just about worn out, so it was back to the hotel.  Well there is a bar almost next door to the hotel that has a couple of our favorite Belgian beer on tap, so of course we had to stop in for a drink. Then it was back to the hotel.  It was a very long day.  

This is much longer than I typically write.  I’m writing this on Saturday after we went out to visit the Arab World Institute, because it was close, and more importantly it was included on our Museum Pass.  It was an interesting place.  It has a great roof top view, and exhibits that I didn’t expect.  You will eventually see the photos I took.  Anyway, I’m writing because Sue is still recovering from yesterday and needed a nap.  When we were out we did see one guy in a “yellow vest” talking with a group of young people, some with backpacks.  I think they were talking in English so I’m not sure they were part of the Saturday “Yellow Vest” demonstration going on today.  Most of the demonstrations were on the Champs Elysees that is about a 15-20 minute walk from our hotel.  The end.

January 11, 2019