This time we were moving from a hotel we liked in a very interesting area to a more sedate business location further away from the centre of town. Kind of like staying in the West End and relocating to (dare I say it) Surrey. On the plus side, this hotel has free wi-fi,saving me the 15 Euros for 3 hours of internet access.
The move involved lugging our baggage on the Metro which has lots of stairs and turnstiles. After settling in, we walked to the Gare Austerlitz, which is the train station we depart from on Sunday. Ironically, it is close to the hotel (about 1 KM), but has no direct access by metro. We will have to take two trains to get there.
Next, we went on to the Musee d'Orsay, which we had missed on Tuesday due to the crowds. This museum is a converted railroad station, situated across the Seine from the Louvre. It opened in 1986. Although thre latter has the most impressive art collection in the world. it can be argued that the Musee d'Orsay got the good stuff. It features art from 1856 - 1915 including impressionists such as Renoir (my favorite), Degas, Monet, and a limited number of Van Gogh's. Also included are some sculptures by Rodin, although there is another museum dedicated to him that is on our initerary.
We spent close to 4 hours in the museum, and saw pretty much everyything. One gets groggy after a while, but we knew we had no time to return here later.
Below are the photo highlights from the Musee d'Orsay:
1. The museum interior from the 5th level
2. Napoleon's March in 1814 after his first lost battle - by Messonier
3. Ugolin by Jean-Baptise Carpeaux
(with a large unrelated painting in the background)
4. Whistler's Mother (formally know as
Arrangement in Grey and Black: The Artist's Mother)
by James Whistler
5. Starry Night over the Rhone - Van Gogh
This is a variation on more famous "The Starry Night"
mentioned in the Don McLean song.
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