... where we paused a while on our way to the Bon Marche--a department store on the Left Bank that Ellie remembers of old and wanted to revisit. En route, we also walked past the Odeon, a venerable theater from (I think) the 17th century...
... where a back door to the stage area just happened to be open, allowing us this view into the auditorium...
Thence to the Saint Sulpice church in Saint-Germain...
... home to a couple of huge murals by Delacroix. This one depicts the battle between Jacob (?) and the angel. Correct me if I'm wrong...
And here's a fine view of the altar...
From there, we walked on toward our destination, passing this strange sculptural work by Cesar along the way...
Here's a view we took of the fashion departments at the Bon Marche, before a security man rushed up and all but seized our camera. He rushed off again immediately, and my guess was that had spotted my misdemeanor from a TV camera in the ceiling.
We had a pleasant if unremarkable lunch at a sidewalk cafe off the Boulevard Raspail, then continued on to the main destination of the day, the Musee du Quay d'Orsay, which houses the great French public collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art. A true feast for the eyes. The photos are, of course, inadequate to give even the smallest impression of this awesome collection. Here's a Monet haystack, among my personal favorites...
... and a couple from the whole gallery full of fabulous Van Goghs...
... and one of many paintings by Paul Gauguin...
A view of the museum, giving a sense of the old railroad station from which it was converted...
... and another, with marble polar bear in foreground...
We stopped for another vastly expensive cup of tea and coffee on the way back to our hotel...
... where I now lie on the bed, typing in this entry. My feet are killing me!
More, probably, from England, where we stop for a couple of days before returning to California on Sunday.
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