Impressionism is my favorite period of art, and Claude Monet my favorite artist of that period. (Cliche, I know, but oh well.) I planned this day to celebrate that, with a visit to Monet’s gardens during the day and the d’Orsay later since it has evening hours on Thursdays. The d’Orsay has one of the best Impressionist collections in the world and – surprise! – they allow photos now. I was thrilled to discover that; they weren’t allowed when I was here in 2014. And I took advantage of that. So if Impressionism is not your thing, feel free to bail now! But if it is, you should enjoy this.

I was up a little before 5am, got started on the blog, went downstairs to finish it over a bite to eat and some much needed coffee. I headed out about 9:45 and took a subway to Gare Saint-Lazare, the 2nd largest train station in Paris after Gare Nord where i came in (and where I leave from tomorrow). It has over double the number of platforms of Cologne. I bought a ticket to Vernon-Giverny and luckily it was leaving in about 10 minutes.

 

Giverny was the home of Claude Monet from 1883 to 1926, 43 years. It has since been turned into a museum. And the town had another museum dedicated to Impressionists. This is my geek day.

As seen here, Giverny is about a 45 minute train ride mostly west and a little north of Paris.

By comparison, this had only 2 platforms – coming and going!

Timed to match the arrival of my train, this guy was waiting for us just outside the station. It was about a 20 minute ride to Giverny (he wasn’t exactly going the speed limit).

This is outside the parking lot sort of on your way into town. There was a nice description by the artist of his intent with the bust, some of which is: “The placement of this bust draws attention to a site that I hope will become the destination of discovery walks, an invitation to immerse ourselves in this authentic environment that has become an important part of art history for more than a century. I wanted to place the sculpture here out of respect for a sense of solitude, a notion Monet held dear. He loved this area and found inspiration here for numerous masterpieces.”

It filled the area with a lovely sound.

It was about a 5 minute walk to his home through the town of Giverny, which now appears to be mostly thriving on tourism.

I don’t know why but I was surprised it was as big as it was. And good thing because there were LOTS of people. So not what I imagined when I booked this. In my head I would be quietly sitting by the lily pond (there in the back) by myself. How delusional of me. This place isn’t exactly mainstream – you have to make an effort to get here. Clearly lots of people like Monet. What I hadn’t counted on was the tour buses. It was almost annoyingly crowded. But I didn’t let that get to me! Thankfully I had bought a ticket online (months ago) and didn’t have to wait in the long line to get in.

The gardens closest to the house were stunning. Then there was a large section that looks quite orderly in the map, notsomuch in reality. Then a tunnel under the road to get to the pond. I went into the house first. Again with annoyingly crowded, and hard to get decent photos so I only included a few.

You’re going to see those women with umbrellas later on, too.

The yellow decor made it light and airy. I managed to catch this at a break in the flow of people.

It was as extraordinary to be here as I imagined it would be.

There were lots of people about, but everyone was being very respectful of allowing all their turn at a photo opportunity.

From there I went to the Museum of Impressionism in the village.

If this museum had a permanent collection, I missed it. It seems to exhibit only one artist at at time, the current one being Henri-Edmond Cross. I didn’t recognize the name, although later saw some of his work at the d’Orsay. I’m a little surprised because his style is one I enjoy very much, very similar to Paul Signac, who might be my favorite Impressionist after Monet. So I indulged in photos. Deal with it. (I won’t even tell you how many I left on my phone…)

All that to say, everything that follows here is the work of Cross.

I’d gotten there around 11 and made my way back around 3. This was a very old school train station, just like you see in the movies, with the station right next to the tracks.

The outside of the station back in Paris. I’d come into it from the subway underneath so this was my first time seeing it.

This is a department store called Printemps, which translates to spring or springtime.

The name translates to Not Guilty! I realized I hadn’t eaten a proper meal all day and needed something before doing another museum.

Crepes was one of the things on my list to eat while in Paris so I can check that off now.

This was a huge center with an interesting mix of entities – from the Justice Ministry to shopping such as Rolex!

Tuileries Garden is a huge area between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde. And today, there’s a carnival in it!

This is the largest square in Paris, and was the site of many public executions during the French Revolution. If you look closely you can see the Arc de Triomphe in the center background, with the Champs-Elysees running in between.

Behind me is the center of Tuileries, with the Louvre at the end of that in the background. I love that you can draw a perfectly straight line between the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe.

I’m sure this is the most quintessential Paris photo I’ll have of this trip: that’s the tip of the Louvre to your left, Notre Dame dead center if you look carefully past the next bridge, with a tour boat in front of the bridge, the Seine River of course, the d’Orsay on the right, and love locks in the foreground. You can read about the love locks here if you’re not familiar with them.

For many people, the d’Orsay is a better museum than the Louvre; it’s actually #1 on TripAdvisor’s things to do list; there Louvre is #8. I’d intentionally planned my Monet trip on a Thursday so I could come here  after when they had evening hours. I got here around 5:30pm and my strategy worked: there was no line, I walked right in. As I said earlier, I was thrilled to learn that you could take photos. I don’t know if that changed or we just misunderstood the last time. But I took advantage of it.

As you can see, much of the center is filled with sculptures, many of them quite large. There are also sculpture terraces which contain more large ones. Smaller ones are in the galleries with the paintings.

A young satyr perhaps?, killing – or playing with? – a snake.

A lesser known Starry Night, still by Van Gogh. I couldn’t believe I was seeing this. I’ve never been a big fan of the better known Starry Night with the big swirling stars. I saw this one at the DeYoung in San Francisco when it was on tour in 2010 and fell in love, so much so that I bought a print of it that is now framed and in my office at work. (I joke about a $65 print in a $400 frame, but that’s not really a joke…) At any rate, I’m sure I would remember seeing this if it were here in 2014, but I don’t, so am thrilled to see it again in person. The stars are more subdued, more like actual twinkling, and I love their reflection on the water. This is my favorite Van Gogh. Both of his pieces called Starry Night he painted while in the asylum, and came strictly from his imagination.

Apologies up front for this weird angle and others you may see. It was sometimes difficult to get directly in front of the item because people.

This and the next one are both Jean Beraud. I love how realistic they look.

 

 

Not something you see everyday.

With a focus on the clock in the background; this building was originally a train station completed in 1900.

Alright, let’s get to the reason we’re here. All of that was just working my way to the back of the museum and up to the top floor where the Impressionist exhibit begins. There was a nice overview of the period going in, which included how it got started. The first exhibition was organized in 1874 by, among others, Monet, Renoir, Degas and Cezanne, an essential step in recognition. It was a great shock and one critic, ridiculing the work, considered it unfinished, sketches almost, and used the term “impressionist.” The name stuck.

This is one of my favorite Monet’s, I remember it well from the last time, it’s so unique. Done in 2 panels, not of the same size. The first tall and thin with a man and two women; one of the women’s dress spreads into the 2nd panel, more square but not quite, and shorter than the first, with two other couples all sharing a picnic on a white blanket. All people dressed in upper class garb of the late 1800’s.

I can’t decide if Renior is my 2nd favorite or Signac; I go back and forth. Renior is certainly better known. The above is a social affair of some kinds, lot of people chatting in the foreground, couples dancing on the left, a crowd all around.

I don’t remember seeing this name before but I liked this piece by Gustave Caillebotte.

These above and below are of the more famous Monet’s.

A couple dancing. Probably the thing I like the most about Renoir is his vivid use of color.

I don’t think I’ve seen a Renoir landscape before – his stuff typically has people in it.

Possibly Signac’s most famous work, and certainly one of my favorite. I could stare at the details of this up close for a long time, and did. This is done in a style that he and George Suerat created as a branch of Impressionism called Pointillism, which is just what it sounds like: lots of dots.

OK, have you had enough? I think so. I’ve got more but am going to restrain myself. Plus I’m tired :)

Another fun photo: Sacre Coeur in the far background on the left, a ferris wheel off center, the Louvre on the right, Seine River in the foreground.

You had to walk on the side of this to get to the balcony.

It was about 7:45 when I left, so was there a little over 2 hours I guess. It was less than an hour walk back to the hotel so I decided to do that and find something to eat along the way. I was so close to the Louvre that I decided to go through that way.

The guys in the foreground are playing bocce ball in the gravel; there’s an exercise class going on in the grass behind them.

So many people milling about enjoying the gardens. There were tons more people over around the museum and the pyramids, which was hard to believe since it had been closed for 2 hours at this point. People just like being in a beautiful environment I guess. I know that’s why I was there, and attempted another video while I was at it. Not very from different from the one the day before, just a little closer to the museum.

So here’s a funny story. I was following the path set out by Google, and it took me up through all new areas for me, very residential, not a tourist to be found. Which I love – just being where the normal residents are. At some point I noticed things were getting seedier: suddenly massage places were appearing with some regularity, the bars were getting divier. As I get closer to what is clearly a major intersection I understand why: I’m back at the Moulin Rouge, just approached from a completely different direction. All around that are sex shops, etc. So I’m standing at the intersection about to take a photo, and a girl approaches me. She says something in Italian – maybe asked if that’s what I was? I said No. She switches to English: where are you from? I said “what do you want?” She whispers in my ear “50 euros”. I just said No very loudly and walked across the street where I took the above ? As I’m crossing she says she can call me a cab; I just ignored her. Haven’t had anything happen like that since I was in Frankfurt in 2013!

I had come this way on Tuesday night. The way back was the street going off into the right in the above photo. But I’d been that way before and behind me looked more interesting, as seen below.

I bought a 6pack of macaroons. Haven’t opened it yet! Will be a good snack for the Saturday train ride to London.

I stopped here in the next block for dinner. I sat outside, at that empty table just to the left of where those people are standing reading the menu. It was 72 degrees and a nice breeze was blowing – really lovely.

I actually couldn’t finish this. There’s a lot of apples in this, not sweet at all, very little crust. But was also full from the entree. The white in the little container they called double cream. Tastes like sour cream but has a soft butter consistency. I didn’t think it worked that well with this but what do I know.

I took a different way back than the other night and guessed correctly where it would lead: the top of the stairs you saw near the restaurant I ate at on Tuesday night. I had no idea they were this high!

I got back to my room about 10:30, which has been standard this trip so far. I have nothing really planned for Friday, my last day in Paris, so I’m looking forward to see what I come up with…