Paris - Chapter 6

Tuesday, 4.1.08

So, today I decided to head back to some museums, and made my way to Musée d'Orsay. This museum is on the left bank of the Seine River, and is in a former railway station, Gare d'Orsay. It houses mostly French art, but is best known for the amount of impressionist works housed there.

I was able to purchase a ticket at an automated machine, as I did at The Louvre, so I was pleased about that. But once I was inside & saw the extensive collection of pieces, I decided to get a set of headphones to have the different pieces of works further explained to me as I wandered around. At this point, I felt somewhat comfortable with my broken-French, enough so to ask for a headset to be played in English. I put my headphones on and started my journey through the old train station (which was pretty cool in and of itself).

Two and a half hours into my tour, and only partially through the museum, I realized I probably wouldn't have much time for any place else, so I took my time wandering through the rest of the museum. My preference toward smaller, more genre/artist specific museums was confirmed as I walked through this museum. It was also really neat to see pieces that I had studied in college, right there in front of my face, even looking back at the pictures, it's sort of surreal that I had the opportunity to do this. Pictures of some of my favorite pieces are included at the end.

After about 4 hours at the museum, I figured I should head back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. I had taken the Metro/RER there, but as was the case other days, I liked to do some exploring while walking, so I looked at a map and figured out a general direction I needed to head.

After walking for about 20 minutes, I decided to take a break on a bench, to take off the scarf I was wearing, and to give my legs a rest. A gentleman quickly sat down next to me, eventually asking me if I spoke French. I simply shook my head (as I was told not to tell any shady-looking character what language I spoke). He followed that up with Spanish and eventually English, both of which I shook my head at. Feeling a bit like I was in a bad situation, I decided to get up and start walking again.

As I'm crossing the street, two guys in street clothes point at me & one approaches me. He starts speaking to me in French, showing me this folder he had in his hand. I assumed he wanted me to buy something, or that he was in on something with the guy from the bench, so I sternly told him I wasn't interested and that I didn't speak French. He then took a wallet out of his pocket and flashed a badge, and in broken-English confirmed that he was with the French police. He then followed up with more broken-English, asking me what the gentleman who sat next to me said. I tried to explain that all he asked was whether I spoke French. His response was something along the lines of, "Well, that's good. He's not a nice fellow." The rest of my walk was spent on well-populated streets with no stops.

This night, we decided to head to a restaurant the hotel recommended. Based on the business card they gave us, it looked to be a relatively close walk. It wasn't. This ended up being fine with me, because I was able to point out things as Matt, Heather and I walked to dinner (as if I knew the city or something). :) The walk ended up being well worth it, as the food and wine were delicious. Matt and I ordered a random bottle of red wine from the menu, and it ended up probably being the best wine from the trip, and that I've ever had (as far as I can remember). I ended up ordering veal, and it too, was probably the best meal of the trip.

With stuffed bellies, we made our way back to the hotel/Pantheon area. This night, we had planned on meeting up with a friend of ours that lives in Paris (well, I guess he lived there, as he's since moved back to the States)... being that it was late, we weren't sure if we'd be able to, but we headed toward a bar anyway.

We wandered down the narrow streets near the Pantheon and stumbled upon Le Piano Vache, which was a pretty neat little dive bar. As I was on the phone outside explaining where we were, someone from inside popped their head out and said, "Are you going to stand outside all night or come in for a drink?" I knew this would be a nice place.

With directions given to our friend, we headed inside and found a table. We ordered our drinks and settled in for the night, anticipating their arrival as we listened to the eclectic mix of music coming from the jukebox. After about an hour, they eventually arrived, citing getting lost as their reason for being late (in my mind, that made this bar a little cooler than I already thought it was). We spent the rest of the night talking, explaining where I'd been, as well as hearing what it's like to live in Paris as an English-speaking American. It was a really nice way to end our night.

Musee d'Orsay: