Friday 20241018
We had the morning free, and after a big day yesterday we took the opportunity for a slow morning before heading off to the Catacombs. This all started because Paris sits on top of substantial limestone deposits which they used to build the great buildings like Notre Dame, but rather than strip mine to get them, they left the surface untouched and instead tunneled and mined the stone, which was hauled up to the surface and used. That was OK until tunnels started collapsing and bringing down buildings. That brought the mining to an end,
But they still had all of those tunnels, and were running short of cemetery space on the surface, particularly with the terror of the French Revolution. So they used the tunnels as a place to store the bones. The whole thing is about a kilometer in length and kind of interesting. And after a big day yesterday, a light day today was welcome. After we finished Eileen and Felix went off, but Cheryl and I came back to the apartment. Later we all went out for Chinese food before going to bed.
Saturday 20241019
Today it looks like cold and rainy weather ahead. Eileen and Felix returned home, and Cheryl and I decided to do laundry. Somehow seeing off Eileen and Felix and getting the laundry done managed to kill most of the day. We had Chinese leftovers for dinner, and Cheryl turned in early. When you are on a long trip a day off now and then is a good idea.
Sunday 20241020
After a leisurely breakfast, we set off for the Picasso museum. We had previously visited his museums in Barcelona and Malaga, so this completes the trifecta for us. When we got there we discovered that they had a special exhibition of works by Jackson Pollock, who is of course famous for his technique of dripping paint onto canvases lying flat on the floor. I thought that was a gimmick, but I found the actual paintings to be more compelling than I expected. Pollock was influenced by Picasso, which is why they had the exhibition, but he was also influenced by Native American art. Then we got to the three floors of the Picasso collection. Like most museums they went in a more-or-less chronological fashion so you could see how his approach changed over time. And this meant it was also a tour through the women he was with, who generally became both his muse and his model. One of them, Francoise Gilot, had a room devoted to her work. She was a fine artist in her own right, and just passed away in 2023. They had a special retrospective exhibition of her work when that happened, and now she has one room on the collection tour. We both found this museum to be wonderful, and the kind of thing no one should miss.
Coming back we walked to the Metro and once again I was hit with the feeling of “OMG, I am walking on the streets of Paris!”. It was not the first time this trip that this happened, and we still have a week and a half to go.
One thing we learned on this trip is just how good Google Maps is for Public Transport directions. You enter your starting and your destination, and it gives you detailed directions to walk to a Metro station, which train to take, when to switch to another train, and so on until you are at your final destination. It has made us very confident using the Metro to get anywhere in the city.
When we got back to the apartment we just relaxed, following our “1 thing per day” rule. At 73 I have a problem with back pain, and a knee that is starting to cause me minor pain. One nice thing I found is that this museum had benches to sit on and I frequently took advantage. That did seem to make a big difference, so I need to look for opportunities to just sit instead of walking and standing for 3 hours straight. I did that in the Barcelona Picasso museum last year, and it killed my back. Today was much better.
Monday 20241021
A leisurely morning since we don’t need to be at our pickup point until 11am. Today we are going to Giverny, where Monet had his studio and painted the famous water lilies. Sadly it looks like another day of rain, But everything is rain-or-shine on these excursions, and we certainly don’t plan to miss any. We took the Metro down on our last paid admission, and before leaving the station at the other end we discovered just how easy it is to reload the Navigo cards. The machines walk you through it in any of 5-6 different languages.
We got to our pickup point and were met by Pascal, our driver for the day, who had a van. We made two more stops, picking up 2 people at each stop, then it was off to Giverny. While in the van I needed to register for my water aerobics classes on my phone, but this time I had prepared in advance and it went pretty easily, and I got all of my classes.
While Paris had been clear, Giverny had a light rain for a bit, but we had seen the forecast and came with our raincoats. We started with the famous lily ponds, as advised, then wandered through the rest of the gardens. This late in the season the flowers were mostly gone by, and Giverny itself would close for the season at the end of October. The winter break allows the gardeners to get busy on maintenance and prepare for the 2025 season. Giverny is on the Seine, which runs from Paris and empties into the English Channel at Le Havre, and Viking now runs a river cruise on this route. And of course the Viking cruises have excursions to Giverny, and we were told to get through the Water Lilies before the mob from Viking would arrive. We’ve been part of the Viking mob on previous cruises, but there is no reason to get caught up in it.
After the gardens we toured the house. And we noticed a lot of Japanese prints on the walls. It turns out Monet was very influenced by Japanese art, which had something of a vogue around his time, which they called japonisme. The house was large, but it had to be. Monet had children from his first marriage, his second wife had children from her first marriage, and they often had guests. It was comfortable in a country-cottage sort of way, with a big kitchen and a very yellow dining room. Following the house tour it was time for a break and we went to the nearby cafe, where Cheryl had a coffee, and I had a bowl of vegetable soup and a cup of tea.
Then we walked down the street and found the Giverny Museum. We walked through the gardens out front first, then went inside and decided to see the exhibit. And it was fantastic. A Japanese artist named Hiramatsu Reiji was featured doing his take on the water lilies of Monet. So we have Monet influenced by Japanese art, and a Japanese artist in turn inspired by Monet. There was one Monet painting of the water lilies to help set the stage, and the rest was Hiramatsu’s work in response. A fantastic exhibition, and we were really glad we caught it.
Then we walked through the town to the Church to find Monet’s grave. What you need to understand is that Giverny is really just a small village in the countryside of Normandy, and if it wasn’t for Monet no one would be aware of it. So it had a small country church with a small country graveyard.
Then we met up with Pascal and went back to Paris, and took the Metro back to our apartment.
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