Pompidou

On my last real day in Paris, we went to the Pompidou. There was a very interesting show on prehistory and how that became a thing and how artists responded to discoveries of prehistorical information. I hadn't really seen that combination before. An Arp sculpture and a prehistoric sculpture are hard to distinguish, aside from the scale.  I also really liked one piece that was in a completely darkened room; you had to let your eyes adjust for several minutes before you could make out a series of handprints decorating a wall.  That one, obviously, is not pictured. 

 

I also went back and saw the floor of art that I'd missed the first time: the contemporary art. 

There were several pieces that each took up an entire room. I tend to really like those, so you can imagine I was happy.  In particular, this one, where you were completely surrounded by enormous rolls of felt.  The atmosphere was so different!

 
This was a room completely lined in bay leaves:

Then we went out for crepes and I snuck back to my favorite bakery one last time...

Louvre

Luckily for us, we managed to go to the Louvre.  The previous day, the guards had shut down the whole place in protest of staffing cuts. 

I've been to the Louvre before, so I tried to go to places that I hadn't seen.  I saw a bunch of European statuary.

I saw Napoleon's old apartments and a bunch of 18th/19th century crafts.  Stunningly opulent.  I mean, hideous to my eyes.  

I also spent some time looking at Greek, Roman, and Islamic art. They had an interesting thing where a contemporary artist made pieces that responded to older works.  This is an example:

 Enormous floor mosaics seen from above:

Not at the Louvre, but in the mall extending from it, was this light piece.  I really liked it; it was hard to photograph.

 

Galeries & shopping

Covered passages are sort of proto-malls and there are a string of them that link together.  We walked through 3, culminating in a visit to one of the oldest candy stores in Paris.

 

 

 


After that, a walk around the area near St. Eustache, which included a visit to a great yarn/fabric/etc. store that I'd been to a few times.

We also went to one of the coolest paper stores I've ever been to.  I realize that I, sadly, didn't take a good picture of the whole thing.  But this paper moon was stunning.

Giverny & Le Train Bleu

Giverny -- best known for being the site of Monet's house/gardens -- is quite close to Paris by train.  Monet's gardens are so lovely.  

They are split into two parts.  There is a flower garden that is next to his house and walled in. Then there is the pond, which is across the street (there is an underground tunnel to walk over).  You can also go into his home and see some of his art and his studio.  

(That is the second or third version of that rainy day Caillebotte painting I saw.  I guess I need to go back to the Art Institute to see the big one...) My sister was charmed by how the furniture was painted to match the walls in multiple rooms.    

The pond obviously has lots of water lilies, but also bamboo (to nicely parallel all the Japanese art Monet had in his home). It was seething with tourists, but you could still find little pockets of privacy to appreciate the beauty. 

Fun fact: there is a little boat there that a servant used to take out to tend the pond.  Including drying off the lilies for optimal painting. 

I didn't leave us quite enough time for us to explore the town itself -- there is a museum and a lot of art galleries.  We ended up "just" having iced tea in a beautiful garden, with a rooster making sure we were on our best behavior.
  
I had a minor French language success, in that I got my mom a flower for her journal. There were heaps of flowers that we being thrown away -- the gardeners were working intensely at all times -- so I asked if she could have one.  Bien sûr!

On our way back, we stopped at Le Train Bleu, which my mom was interested in (it featured in a book she'd read). It was lovely.  

Although, perhaps the most memorable part was the tiny mouse that was scampering around the corner for much of the time. My mom and I could stop looking at it!  When we told the waiter about it, he said that he knew: "our cat died."  Okay, then.