Sunday, September 30, 2018

My Paris Pilgrimage #13

Six Days' Notes from Paris

Holy Moley!  A whole week has gone by since my last post--almost!  It's Sunday, the 30th. Last day of September 2018--the month that will historically go down as my full month in the lovely city of Paris!  Still, I'm excited that I go home on Thursday, the 4th!

A few things to report on from the week past. Although I stayed close to the apartment on Monday, the 24th, I did manage to get out and about in the neighborhood on Tuesday to do a little shopping, walk around, have lunch at a lovely Greek place, journal, and do laundry. Had the post office track the package I sent to myself. It's about a week later than it should be to have been delivered--the post here says it's in the US, at my home station. Hope they keep it there 'til I get home!  Here are a couple of pics of the day:

Eglise Saint Medard across the street from where I sat

Cover of menu: Don't you love the name?

View down the little street to boulevard

Salad, hummus, pita, and OLIVES! (I'm learning to like some of them)

Overhead heaters were on, but it really wasn't cold enough for them!
And that was Tuesday.

Wednesday, the 26th, was the first big event of the week. I took my first bus ride to Gare Montparnasse where I got on a Metro that took me to the stop near the Musee Rodin. I met Sylviane there and we had a magnificent day. Oh my! I do SO love Rodin's sculptures, but I also realized I like his paintings. Didn't even know he painted, but the museum had several of his works there. The biggest thing I appreciated about the museum was seeing so many of the works' early phases--first models that he worked with to get to his final renderings. I was educated and totally interested! The hotel/home that is now the museum is right next to Les Invalides, so some of my photos show the gold tower of that edifice. I'm probably boring you with too many shots of the day, but I have to give you a sample of what delightful works were there:

The Thinker (La Penseur) was outside with Les Invalides behind. Beautiful!

I took many shots of "The Kiss," found the 360-degree views so wonderful to see!

Can't remember the title of this one, but Rodin was passionate about the human body and its movements
I was entranced by this female Centaur--as shown in the two photos above.




Famous "Gates of Hell" from Dante's Inferno

A closeup of part of  "The Burghers of Calais" showing the key to the city held by one of them.
Click on link for story, it's amazing.

Aphrodite

Sylviane and I in front of the pond behind the museum out in the sculpture garden

A young artist friend of Rodin's 




After spending quite some time at the museum, Sylviane and I walked around the 7th Arrondissement and found a lovely spot for lunch.  I insisted that I buy since she had been doing so much for me and had even brought me a lovely makeup bag and decorative plate that day as gifts!
Eggplant, mushroom, and tomato pizza!
After lunch, we stopped in at Bon Marche (another amazing high-end department store in Paris), and found a Metro station where we said our good-byes. (We hope to dine together once more before I return home.)

Insides of Bon Marche
I took the Metro towards home and stopped at Jussieu station where I emerged into the light to stop at a favorite cafe for a Coke Zero, some journaling, and some reflection on the day before walking home.

Me, with pen and Coke!

Spent a quiet 27th and prepped for my big night out on Friday the 28th, for that was the day I had ticket to see "Decadance," a ballet at the Palais Garnier Opera House. I was to be accompanied by JoAnn Blodgett, a colleague of mine from the ancient days of NOSC before I went to Texas.  We realized we were both going to be in Paris at the same time and made these plans months in advance.

We met at 1700 (5 pm) with only a little anxiety--I had asked JoAnn to walk to Gare Montparnasse bus area (her hotel was near) and it was new for her--so it took us a little while to actually find one another!  But we did. And we rode the Metro together to Opera station. The Metro is directly in front of the Opera House, but I wasn't sure where the restaurant was where we had made reservations. We only walked in the wrong direction for a block or two before figuring out it was located just 1/2 block away from Metro where we had emerged. Oh well. We made our reservation at Grand Cafe Capucines just fine and both decided to have their formula dinner where you pick from a select group of items, but get a full dinner for one price. Each of us ordered the formula composed of an aperitif (Kir), 1/2 bottle of wine (I had white; J had red), an appetizer (we both had a marvelous spinach ravioli), a main course (I had bass; she had steak), dessert (I had tiramisu; can't remember what she had), and coffee (neither of us did this--we were running late)!  The price? About $60 each.  It was amazing!
Reservation confirmed

Lovely JoAnn

Restaurant was covered with gold material and red/gold lights
Lucky for us, the Palais Garnier was close by.  We entered, we were amazed, we got to our seats, we enjoyed the production of Decadance, and we left. Seriously, the interior of the building is amazing, but it was filled with people everywhere. I had trouble even using the handrail to climb the steps because so many people were posing for photos. I took what I could, but they are far from adequate to show the beauty.  

Our seats were in a little box that held about 10 people. Once we were in, we were in. The door allowed exit, but no re-entrance unless you had an usher there, and they were scarce. I read that the theater was build so that people could be seen, not so that the people could see the stage!

The production had no intermission and lasted about an hour and a half, so there was no need to leave. Vision of the stage was terrible, but I could see most of it if I stood up near the rear of the box, so that's what I did. I have included a couple of links above for you to get more info about the production and the Opera House; but here's what I took and can share. It was a magical performance! Intense, completely confusing as to what the symbolism was, but still wonderful. After the production, we took more photos and exited to the street. I enjoyed a safe cab ride home with a lovely cabbie with whom I chatted as best I could. Got a phenomenal view of Notre Dame at night during the ride.



Marc Chagall ceiling

Canvas curtain painted to look like velvet!

One of dozens of beautiful columns

JoAnn and I in our seats

The beginning...

One of the curtain calls showing the full cast! There were about 30 dancers!

Photos of interior taken after performance

Marble floors and columns

More incredible ceilings

Fireplace of old

Plaque noting those who died for France from 1914-1919

The shot of Notre Dame that I love! (from the cab!)

A befitting end to this blog post.


























1 comment:

  1. If you like Rodin, you must check out Camille Claudel. They were lovers and both sculpted. For a sumptuous and beautiful intro, watch the 1989 movie. -Rex

    ReplyDelete

Linda O

Linda O
Glamorous Me