Loving Monet Again

musee d'orsay
Originally uploaded by Kit Pollard.

After our walk down the Rue, we had a wonderful dinner Chez Yvette et Claude...a restaurant Sarah and Gilly's grandparents started visiting years ago. Then we had another big, huge night, followed by another tough day.

As punishment this time, we decided to do some hardcore sightseeing - not just shopping. So we went to the Musee D'Orsay, then, for some unknown reason, walked across the left bank to the Eiffel Tower. It was a pretty day, but hard. Probably not surprisingly, we all went to bed early that night.

Despite my extreme levels of tiredness, this day might have been my favorite...because of Monet. Monet was my, like everyone's, favorite artist when I was in eighth grade. But by the time I got a little older, the water lilies were so ubiquitous that my art snob self wrote them off. Not so anymore. Now that I've seen the Rouen series and some of the Giverny work in person, I'll never roll my eyes at a water lilies coffee mug again.

Plus, I got to see Manet's Emile Zola and Olympia. Totally breathtaking, especially when considered in the context of the sociopolitical climate of Manet's Paris. Which is how I considered them all through college.

Then, of course, the walk to the Eiffel, which was way too long, took us through all of the cute streets of Paris, lined with flower shops and cafes. That might be what I love most about Paris...that the streets actually look like the pages of my French III book.