Paris, Je T'aime (Part Deux)

There is just too much to see and do here!!!  How can anyone get to even just the highlights in a limited amount of time?  I'm serious.

OK, well, it was a packed day.  The weather has been pretty bad.  Rain on-and-off the whole time.  But that's fine.  The only impact it's had is that it prevents me from running.  (It's also ironic that the weather is picture-perfect in Rome this week, glorious in the Bay Area, and hitting 80 degrees in New York!  Go figure.)  I'm otherwise strolling around from site-to-site and museum-to-museum, with stops along the way to fuel up and admire how good everything looks (even in the rain).

I'm therefore going to just hit you with a few highlights from today.

Musee D'Orsay:  This is the top fine arts/impressionist museum.  (No pictures are allowed.)  A few people mentioned to me that it's far less overwhelming than the Louvre.  Plus, I did not come here on my first visit (during Bill Clinton's first year in office).  So, I thought this was a good way to start off.  And it's true that the place is manageable.  You can pretty much go through the whole museum in a couple of hours if you rush (or much longer if you want to linger).  It's doable.

But, wow, that said, even for someone who's not an art lover, this museum too has an absolute ton of amazing works that you do wish you could linger over.  The museum also looks fantastic.  I think it went through a massive re-do in the past few years.  It now looks stunning in terms of the way the sections look and the paintings are presented.  There's also a terrific cafe (Cafe Campana) on the top floor where you can get a relatively light lunch and get your energy back up.

There were so many highlights in terms of the art.  All of the Monets, Cezannes, Gauguins, Renoirs, and Manets.  I never really liked this kind of stuff in the past.  Now it's cool.  And who's this Alfred Sisley??  Check out his "Le Neige a Louveciennes."  I'm not kidding!  If you go, absolutely do not skip Henri Rousseau's "La Charmeuse de Serpents."  I could not stop staring at this one.  And Paul Signac?  I swear I'd never heard of him.  Awesome!  But the one that totally overwhelmed me was Van Gogh's "Starry Night on the Rhone."  It's a drop-dead killer.

Pierre Herme:  I think some might consider it a tourist trap.  But, when a few friends mentioned this to me as a must-get-to destination for the macarons and other treats, I couldn't resist.  Let's just say that it lived up to expectations.  Those Sicilian pastries I've been enjoying 5x per week may now have some competition.  Here's a peek:

I had one of the vanilla tarts on the right.  (I also had a couple of the famed macarons.)  

 
Jardin du Luxembourg:  This is the second largest park in Paris, and it's lovely.  It was even lovely on an overcast day that became a rainy day while I was there.  On a sunny day, it must be divine.  Would also be a great place to go running.  (Do I seem obsessed with getting a couple of runs in.....?)

The chess players had cover from the rain.  The rest of should be so lucky.  

More art:  I planned on not going to any other art museums today.  I want to pace myself on that.  But, the Jardin du Luxembourg has an art museum that is showing a Marc Chagall exhibition for a few months.  There was a lot of buzz -- seemed like everyone who's everyone was there.  In fact, I swear I saw Beyonce and Jay-Z there.  So, I waited on line and went in.  (The Museum Pass does not apply to this museum.)  It was excellent, although -- by the end -- I'd had enough art for the day.

One great dish:  For my appetizer at dinner, I had langoustine ravioli in a cream foam that had a bit of artichoke puree in it.  Fantastic.