Friday - sun, parks, traffic and more art.

 Such a wonderful morning here yesterday. Everything looks so clean and bright when the sun is out.

 There is a huge stage set up in the forecourt of the town hall, glad it has a cover because it is drizzling today, Saturday.

Also in the town hall is a free exhibition of the photos of Brassai which I'll visit with Richard when we come back in early January.

 So to the Tuilerie Gardens, very different to when I was last here in September 2010. But very regal and fantastic.

 This is a shot across the large round pool towards the Musee D'Orsay.

 This looks straight back to the Louvre

 The clouds are something else.

This view is towards the Place de la Concorde with the big ferris wheel.

 I love this formal park and thoroughfare.

 When the trees are in foliage these walkways are so shady and cool

 Sculptures along the way

No! A Henry Moore in Paris?!!

 This is looking back up the park

 Looking west to the Eiffel Tower from the top of the Place de la Concorde

Ironic how it's called the place of peace as this obelisk marks the site of the guillotine

 Now the ferris wheel is set up - I bought a yummy strawberry crepe and hot chocolate to warm the cockles of my stomach.

So this view is west which I an guessing leads up to the Madeleine.

 Terrific work by Dubuffet in the little square next to Jeu de Paume

 The Jeu de Paume is on the other side of the park to the Orangerie. This gallery is for photography.

 This is a Parisian traffic jam! The Place de la Concorde was pretty crazy yesterday. There were police changing the traffic to allow some very important looking convoys of VIPs to zoom through. This was a grid lock.

 I was thrilled to come across this work by Louise Bourgeois!

 The bronze series of the hands are a wonderful combination of her hands and those of her dear assistant in her New York studio.

 At TAFE earlier this year we saw the fabulous DVD on the life of Louise Bourgeois and in it she and her assistant were taking photos for this.

 I guess they had to have a mold made for each arrangement.

 They are arranged on top of large blocks of granite.

 So great just to come across them and know that they are a special work by a great artist.

 This was so tiny on the huge block that I had to take a close up.

Yes dear Louise Bourgeois - the plaque hasn't been updated to include the year she died, 1910.

 The sun came out and this pool looked wonderful.

 So back in the Orsay and a view back up to Montmartre, clearer today.

 This is across to Garnier's Opera House. That's another place I haven't yet ventured.

 I visited all the Salons I missed on my first visit and these were the galleries of furniture and decorative arts from Art Noveau and a gallery of decorative schemes of the Nabis. there was one decorative comprising of seven large works by Odilon Redon which was just supurb.

 Up on the 5th level is  a platform which overlooks the whole place.

 The detailing on the roof is lovely.

 I was always confused by the design pf the place by this sort of a view but you are looking at two levels of galleries. The lower level has the inclining floor with packed galleries off on both sides. The second level has much more sculpture and more galleries off the central space. Then on the fifth level running the entire length of the building are the galleries for Impressionism.

This great clock is at the entrance end of the museum.

 Home in the twilight. First I went down into the archeological museum and then when I was walking home past the cathedral i found the tree in all its glory!

This was a lovely Friday.
I did go into the Orangerie, again no photos allowed and lots of staff checking everyone. It was a challenge getting in - the line was incredibly long which is why having a museum pass and finding the shorter line makes paying for the pass worthwhile.
The two rooms with Monet's Waterlillies were fantastic. Great to get up close and see all the paintwork. Truly you see every wonderful combination of colour and dischords ever mixed. Downstairs there is a long hall with Renoirs then some great Cezannes. I saw some wonderful Picassos, two from about 1905 plus the Grande Nue from about 1921. The eighteen paintings by Soutine were just wonderful. There was a lovely small room with Picasso alongside some Matisses. The only jangle was the dreadful later work by Andre Derain. I think the war just destroyed him.
The temporary exhibition space had a comprehensive show of the work of Frieda Kahlo and Diego Riviera. This was packed and claustrophobic. The small works by Kahlo were powerful and there was a large painting by Diego Riviera of arum lillies that I will look up for someone back in Albury.
A great Friday in Paris.

Thursday - a sunny day to explore Montmartre and a tiny bit of French Society....

Lots of pics for Thursday December 5, a wonderfully sunny day with blue sky in Paris.
I watched this chap hanging off the tower of Notre Dame, a stone mason I guess doing some work.

 This gives an idea of the scale

 Then I noticed the people on the top of the tower's look out.

They are like little ants.

I have been familiarising myself with the Metro system - 14 lines (there is another system RER which I have left alone). Today I figured out how to get the train to Montmartre, just one change at Concorde. But I hopped off at Madeleine to see the huge Church.

So Neoclassical in style and if I remember based on a classical temple at Nimes. Napoleon commissioned the church as a tribute to his army in 1806. Previously it was to this spot that the remains of Louis XVI were taken after his execution in 1790 for a few words and burial.
After Napoleon's demise, under the restored Louis XVIII it became a Catholic Church again dedicated to Mary Magdalene. Because these things take so long to build, history and politics change. Anyway it ended up finally consecrated in 1842. It's position is spectacular.

This huge boulevard ends at the Place de La Concorde which is in tomorrow's blog. 

From the Metro Abbesses I found the funicular which takes a normal metro ticket and up up up to Sacre Coeur atop Montmartre.

 It is very spectacular and lovely with some remnants of autumn colour

This was commissioned and paid for by public subscription as a recompense for the terrible times of 1871.

There was a sudden jostle amongst the young hawkers who flew down the hill with a few police in pursuit.

It may be where I am staying but I have seen police everywhere. Cops on motor cycles, police on bicycles. There are constant reminders about pickpockets everywhere too.

So the view - fabulous. The next few shots pan from left to right which is east to west I think. This shows the huge Gare du Nord.

 Panning west not sure whet the huge cathedral is yet.

 This shows how Paris is low rise, skyscrapers are away from the old city.

Towards the top right side of this photo you can see the Pompidou centre.

 The towards the top of this you see the twin towers of Notre Dame

 In the distance must be Monparnasse which I have yet to explore.

Into the westerly sun and the Eiffel Tower is still further west. All fantastic. 

On late Friday afternoon I went down into the museum below the Notre Dame forecourt. This houses the excavated site and the history of Paris from Roman times through the medieval time up to recently. You can walk around the excavations and see the old city explained in models. It's amazing to see the evolution of such an ancient city.

 This is the Musee Montmartre.

 Apparently this is one of the oldest houses on the hill - C17th. Apparently Renoir painted quite a few of his works here in the garden, for example the Woman by a Swing

 This is the view back to the House that holds the ticket office. It faces onto the street and next door is a huge refurbishment for the museum which will have a cafe and many more galleries. I'd say that when that new space opens they may transfer the collection from the current fragile structure.

 A view west from the museum.

A view east back up towards Sacre Coeur

 Adjacent to the museum is a piece of empty land - a rarity on Montmartre.

 No one is allowed here

This is behind the museum looking down the hill.

 Looking across to the north west

 Looking north.

Again no photos were allowed. The collection is mainly of prints made by a collection of people associated with Montmartre. There was a room with the old zinc bar from the Lapin Agile and lots of posters. Another room celebrated Le Chat Noir. Then a room about the can can and the Moulin Rouge. This is a photo of Jane Avril.

Later on I found the Eiffel Tower at sunset.

 So I had dinner at a brasserie on the Place du Tertre. This is where all the 'artists' display their wares in the square and all the tourists have a look.

The Christmas lights were great. It was busy until dark then most of the painters go home. A few diehard 'artists' in berets and warm coats walk up and down with their folio trying to sell stuff to the tourists. I was happy inside.

This is the home of  lady whom I visited after dinner. An experience being the only non French speaker at an evening of neighbours and old friends. The home is full of her late husband's paintings and sculptures.

 I'm not sure if this is a residence or a chapel but is was down the hill from the brasserie.

 One of the fabulous houses on the way down to Nicole's.

Another cluster of houses.
I found my way back to the Abbesses Metro station and whizzed home on the train. There are people around everywhere until late here and the streets are well lit. But you need a little torch or a phone with a light to see the keyhole and I'm glad there is a light for the spiralling very steep staircase.

How Did I lose Wednesday?

Somehow, sometimes a girl just wants to stay at home and play on the computer and catch a movie. This is what happened to Wednesday December 4. I sent my brother his birthday greetings and thought a movie would be nice. To listen to a whole conversation in English and get involved in a cinematic story... So I went to Les Halles, bought another 4 day museum pass, checked out all the French takeaway food outlets in Les Halles - 'Bretzels' - pretzels and bagels with any filling from the same shop; Something aux Pommes - any French wonderful pastry and cake combo with apple connected; Creperies - these abound; the ubiquitous Starbucks - but it sells yummy french pastries; a Sushi bar - very expensive; a mexico takeaway also expensive and a pizza place. Apart from Satrbucks the omission of very BIG name fast food is very obvious.
In any case I had my bottle of boiled water, cooled down. So the movie was The Fifth Estate - called something much more exciting in an untranslatable unpronounceable way. It was exciting at the ticket office and after making a complete dill of one's self you can get the message across and use fingers to explain what number film it is you want a ticket to see.
So here is the film about Julian Assange and Wikileaks. Yawn some of you I know - no pictures yet! I was curious as to why Disney's Dreamworks would partially finance a film on this chap and the whole subject. Well once the film heated up it was obvious that it was based on the book by Daniel Berg the German whiz who was a partner of Assange until Bradley Manning's leaked documents turned the whole phenomenon into a global affair embarrassing to the US.
In hindsight we now know that Bradley Manning has been incarcerated for the rest of his/her life. Julian Assange is still in asylum in the Equcadorian Embassy in London.
Benedict Cumberbatch is very good as the white hot focus Assange with a huge ego (compensating) and a bit of a social dickhead. The bearded chap who played the wet Danial Berg was wet and really the trite lines of offense against Assange were pretty well ... trite.
It was frustrating for me to sit through it in a French theatre - I was giggling a few times in complete silence and at the end when I offered a bit of a tirade to the chap next to me (the theatres are small and very packed) he had absolutely no idea what I was saying. So I 'Pardon' ed and cleared out.
That was the beginning of an adventure called getting lost in Paris in the dark. This was fine because after 30 minutes luckily I realised I was back at the very same 'Fruit de Mer' brasserie and decided to be sensible and retrace my steps to the Metro and then home!!!!
That's why so many Parisians use the metro because it gets you where you want to go - easier than what's on top of the ground! Haven't even ventured to describe hunting for a 'ladies' while lost.... too gruesome. So no pics for today!!!!