Thursday 20 January 2011

Orsay and Beyond



Having decided not to set an alarm after our demanding day in the Louvre, we both woke to find it was 12:20pm! So, we did indeed need to catch up on our sleep after such a busy day.


No matter, we headed out to our friendly local boulangerie again to pick up breakfast (well, early afternoon breakfast style snacks) and a sandwich to eat later for lunch. Then we wandered to the south bank of the Seine to the Musee d'Orsay, the former train station now dynamic art gallery, presided over by a massive splendid golden clock.




After a quick explore, we took a tour which took us round the sculptures, the neo-Classicists, the Realists, the Impressionists and the Post-Impressionists. Was very pleased to see Millet's 'The Angelus', which hung in our family lounge for a couple of decades during my childhood and is so very familiar to me, and was lovely to see in reality. Also enjoyed Van Gogh's hay bales!

After a quick wander round the upper floors, we had our sandwich lunch on a cold bench outside and began our walk towards the Ile-de-la-Cite, before sneaking into a cafe for a hot drink and a little game of Scrabble. As darkness fell we hit Notre Dame, such an imposing and strong edifice. Wandered round inside to see the end of one mass and the beginning of another, so it seemed. Familiar smells of Catholic incense wafted round.




Then we chose French fast food for dinner, after the over indulgence of yesterday's meal choices. 'Quick' was unfortunately not very quick, and was pretty indistinguishable from MacDonalds to be honest. After popping into the Pompidou, we then decided to call it a night and jumped on the Metro at Chatelet for a relatively early night in the hotel.

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