Saturday 28 May

The rain has eased this morning and so we make our way to what have been reported to us as the best and biggest open air markets in Paris, in the Alma.  We walk over the beautiful Pont Royale, the sight of which lifts our hearts every time.

 We can’t see the markets but cannily follow those with empty shopping trolleys, and sure enough we find them in the Avenue du President Wilson.   It is so wonderful to see what priority the French give to their fresh foods.  Can you imagine Elizabeth Street in the city being closed off every Wednesday and Saturday for markets?  I don’t think so.  Perhaps this could become an election issue?  More interesting than most of them I think.  Shall we start this game?  Barnaby could represent the tomatoes and of course Cory would have to campaign for the fruit!  These markets are indeed fabulous.  The fruit and vegetable stores

With a great line of tomatoes

 The herbs were popular

 Through the jostling crowds we found some fruit and veg we haven’t seen before including some sort of asparagus, perfectly round courgettes and flat peaches

 As well as the myriad of boulangeries, there were the anticipated fromageries, some with cheese pieces the size of a small building, or to put it another way the width of my hips, which have widened considerably since being in France

There was seafood, delis, butchers , prepared foods, and the patisseries….

 Fabulously displayed flowers, with the whitest hydrangeas you’ve ever seen

 And it didn’t stop there

Taking advantage of the break in the weather, we went from the markets to the Luxembourg Gardens, by metro.  So thrilled were we with the weather that we took a selfie to prove it, but note the ominous cloud over our shoulders

These are more beautiful gardens in Paris

and once again used by families for outings, or simply as a place to read and relax

At the lake you can hire little toy boats which are pushed off with a long stick.  The fountain in the centre keeps the water moving enough for the boats to be returned to the ‘shore’ under their own ‘steam’.  It is a delightful scene and one which I could have watched for hours.

But sightseeing was calling.  Oh, and by the way, honey, the gardens have their own apiary

We walked home, got caught in the massive thunderstorm and huge rains which had been holding off all day so took refuge in what must be the strangest shop in Paris.  Deyrolle on the Rue du Bac, not far from the Musee d’Orsay on the left bank.  Our friend Bryan had told us about this, so we were happy to step inside.  The ground floor looks like a pretty ordinary garden shop, well ordinary if you consider stuffed gazelles standing up on their hind legs and dressed as humans as ordinary.  The first floor is another story.  It is here that there are a myriad of stuffed animals of all shapes and sizes.  Lions, tigers, bison, bears, pigs…..unbelievable.

The wooden are cases full of insects, butterflies, shells and no doubt eye balls had we thought to look.  This store has been here for over 100 years, and it might not have been dusted since it opened.  Strangely unsettling, but Cherrie was thrilled to find, downstairs, a gardening bag the same as that which she bought in Beechworth years ago and loves to bits.  Needless to say a purchase was made.

The storm eased enough for us to walk home , past my kinda bottle shop

And past Hotel des Invalides, where apart from the big guns (and I am not talking the election campaign again) we saw lots and lots of rabbits grazing.  It was like Watership Down.

 We feared if we loitered we would be towed away

 

 We’re tired old girls tonight, so we buy the makings of dinner and eat in

Sunday 29 May

We’re up early this morning.  The day is drizzly but that’s not going to keep us indoors. We walk to the Musee d’Orsay and are queueing up before it opens.  Even with advance tickets, the queue is long for security.  But we are pleased to be here.   We loved this museum, originally a railway station built for the 1900 World Fair, when we were last in Paris, and this time doesn’t disappoint either.

Lots of familiar Monet’s, particularly after our recent trip to his garden

and one unfamiliar one

Gorgeous works too by no talent bums such as Calliebotte, Manet, Renoir and our old friend Degas

This one, by Cezanne, reminded us of us.  We have taken to playing gin rummy when we are at home, after dinner.  This is a hangover from when we were with Garry and Di on the boat and at Les Couges, when we played Yatzee and 500.

 In a sign of the times, there were people all over the place taking selfies

And as in the Louvre, security inside was a little less strict than out

We didn’t eat there, but the restaurant at the d’Orsay looks splendid

 Of course, the other splendid thing about the museum is the Van Gogh collection

From the d’Orsay we walked over the Passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor, a pedestrian bridge across the Seine.  It, like so many other bridges in Paris, has been defaced by the ‘lovelock’ trend, whereby currently happy couples seal a padlock on a fence and throw the key away.  It looks dreadful

Paris is looking particularly misty today

We make our way to the Musee de l’Orangerie, in the Jardin Tuileries near the Place de la Concorde, which houses more impressionist and post-impressionist paintings.  Once again we queued for ages, for security reasons, but the rain had abated and so we remained dry.  The museum is set around two large oval shaped galleries which were designed by Claude Monet to create a space between the busy city life and his works.  He donated his enormous works ‘Water Lilies’ to France after WW1 and continued to work on them until his death in 1926.  There are 8 panels in all, over the two rooms, and they are really like a diorama.  Impossible to photograph but amazing to see

Two other galleries reveal the works of Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse

and an incredibly detailed tiny tiny model of the apartment of Paul Guilliaume, whose collection this is

We reckon this would be a terrific thing to do with Margaret Olley’s studio. Surely a challenge for any model maker, and an inspiration for recalcitrant teenagers.

After these two museums over a day we were, I think the expression is plum tuckered out, and we walked home for another dinner in.