Tuesday, November 7, 2023

Day 7: Orsay, Rodin, Invalides

La Vérité, by Jules Joseph
Lefebvre, on display in the
Musée d'Orsay
We spent all morning at the Musée d'Orsay, looking at Classicist, Impressionist, and post-Impressionist paintings.

For lunch we went to Cinq Mars, a restaurant just a couple blocks from the museum. When we walked in, they asked if we had a reservation. No we didn't, but it was early enough in the lunch hour that they gave us a table anyway—and after that, there was never any pressure for us to hurry up and leave. The food was delicious. Also, everyone in the restaurant besides us conversed in French, so it was clearly not a place for tourists. Go there, if you get a chance. 

Then we walked to the Musée Rodin. We strolled through the gardens and the ground floor. I walked upstairs as well, but Marie did not join me.

Then we walked to the Invalides, where we visited the tomb of Napoleon. There was some kind of delegation of NATO brass visiting at the same time, and we tried to stay out of their way (while also checking all the international uniforms and trying to guess their provenance).

When we got back "home" to the Quartier Latin, we spent ten minutes in the Jardin du Luxembourg before closing time rolled around and the police pushed everyone out. So we walked up a random street about a block or so, to a bistro where we got drinks and then dinner. Once again, the food was wonderful; once again, the clientele spoke French and not English. (The waitress tried to speak English to us to be polite; but when I asked her to tell us about one of the desserts, she had to begin with "Vous parlez français?")  

          

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