More art, culture, food and "My Winnipeg" exhibit

It has been a bit rainy and cool this past week.  The weather blows in and out very quickly and we've had to carry our umbrellas with us.  On Monday June 20, Nancy and I spent the morning at the Hotel de Ville Paris in the Age of the Impressionists show that Alain and I had seen earlier in our trip.  It is an excellent show of masterpieces from the Musée D’Orsay detailing life in Paris from 1850 to 1914. Here's one of my favourites - Monet's picture of Gare Lazare.  The story is that he even got the stationmaster to burn more coal so that there would be a large cloud of smoke. Apparently, Monet also managed to have the station closed for a time, so that he could paint.

Monet- Gare Lazare

We then went to see La Tour Eiffel up, close and personal.  While very controversial when build in 1887-1889, for the 1889 World's Fair, the Eiffel Tower is now the most visited paid monument in the world.  We just took pictures from the ground.

Alain in front of La Tour Eiffel

View under the tower

We then walked back to Shakespeare & Co., stopping for a drink at Le Frégarde, a café we passed on the way.  We also passed a memorial to the Algerian war.  Very interesting plaque accompanied the memorial, which contained names of those killed in the war.

Memorial to Algerian War with names of those killed

Accompanying Plaque

We then went to a wonderful reading by Priya Basil, born in London in 1977, who grew up in Kenya and returned to London to study.  She read from her latest novel entitled The Obscure Logic of the Heart.  Very engaging and talented writer.

Priya Basil at Shakespeare & Co.

Dinner at home (home made gnocchi from the market and tomato sauce).

On Tuesday June 21, we tried to see the Manet exhibit at the Musée D’Orsay. Unfortunately, there was a sign on the door cryptically stating that it couldn't be guaranteed that the museum would open at all that day.  We found out later that there was a one-day strike.  What we found strange was that there was no information about the job action- no workers, signs or educational material.  WTF (Welcome to France), as we were told.

Not helpful signage at the Musee D'Orsay

We then decided to walk up to the 9th arrondissement to visit the Musée de la Ville Romantique.  We first stopped at the wonderful chocolate store La Mere de Famille, which still has a cashier in an old-style wicket and then had wonderful noodle soup and fried noodles for lunch at Les Pates Vivantes.

Old fashioned wicket

Nancy in front of La Mere de Famille chocolate store

Home made noodles at Les Pates Vivantes

Les Pates Vivantes

The museum is housed in the former Paris home of Ary Scheffer, a Dutch born painter (1795-1858), who was close to King Louis-Philippe and his family.  The building dates back to 1830.  The first floor contains mementos of George Sand (1804-76), who used to visit the house.  In particular, there are plaster casts of Sand's right arm and her lover, Chopin's hand.  The second floor contains a number of beautiful pictures, some of royalty, by Scheffer.

The museum's main building

Picture by Ary Scheffer

Salon

We walked home and rested before heading out to a wonderful dinner at Le Timbre.  The restaurant is literally the size of a postage stamp (about 22 seats) located in the 6th arrondissement.  The chef, who is British, has lived in Paris for 20 years.  The food was superb, highly rated and very reasonable.  The chef did everything in the small kitchen, with only one helper doing dishes, and one amazing waitress. We sat next to four Israeli men who were in town for the Paris air show.  They work at a company that designs defence mechanisms for aircraft, including Canadian planes in Afghanistan.  They shared some of their wine and we had a most interesting discussion with the two nearest to us.

Delicious mushroom appetizer

Anchovies on toast with caramelized onions

The dinner menu

Alain and chef in background

We had a very leisurely meal and ended up walking home at around 11:30 p.m.  June 21 was the annual Fete de la Musique.  There were thousands of Parisiens out that night, enjoying the free music at a multitude of venues.  Nancy stopped for a gelato at Amorino just near our apartment.  They make a beautiful petal shaped ice cream.

The crowds out at Fete de la Musique

Nancy with her gelato at around midnight

On the way home, we saw the first signs announcing the BIG sales that were starting the next day.

Wednesday June 22 was the start of the semi-annual sales in Paris.  There are two legislated sale periods in France- the summer sales this year are from June 22 to July 26.  Most stores have items on sale for 30 -50% off.  Nancy had some gifts to buy and we all did a bit of retail therapy.  We then tried to get into the Manet show again, but the lineup was too long and we instead wandered around St. Germain, stopping for a drink at Les Deux Magots.

Toby and Nancy at Les Deux Magots

While Nancy packed, Alain and I went to the opening of a terrific show entitled My Winnipeg, which was held at La Maison Rouge, a private art gallery in the 12th arrondissement, about 30 minutes from our place.  Alain's friend Ron, who is writing a piece for the Winnipeg Free Press and who was visiting Paris from Toronto, had invited us. It was a fabulous exhibit, with about 70 Winnipeg artists' work on display, a number of whom were in Paris for the opening.  Something about that prairie water.....

For a review on a anglo Paris site (Paris Update): see http://www.paris-update.com/fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1321:my-winnipeg&catid=34:temporaryexhibitions&Itemid=54

House on Fire- Sarah Anne Johnson

Diana Thorneycroft

Marcel Dzama - On the Banks of the Red River

Marcel Dzama- Winnipeg Map

Alain, Ron and Marlene (from Plug-in Contemporary Gallery, Winnipeg)

Toby and Alain at opening

Thursday morning, Nancy left early to catch her flight to Toronto.  It had rained during the night, but had stopped early in the morning. Alain and I went for a run (Alain did 10 km and I did 6.8 km).  In the morning, Alain got a new pair of jeans at our favourite store-Marithé et François Girbaud.  We had a late lunch at home.  In the early evening we finally made it to the Edouard Manet (1832-1883) show at the Musée D'Orsay entitled Inventeur du Moderne. We got to the museum at around 7:00 p.m. and finally got in to see the show at 8:00 p.m.  We were finishing looking at the last few pictures when they kicked us out at 9:30 p.m.  The show was a good one-- some of Manet's best pictures were on display (as an aside, a number were bequeathed by Isaac de Camondo- art collector and brother of Moises Camondo (Nissim de Camondo museum).  Manet declined exhibiting with the Impressionists, even though many see him as the father of impressionism.  Many of his works were mocked when they were first exhibited.  He died of syphilis.  What comes across is his innovative and original approach to modern life subjects- a real pioneer in this regard.

View of Musee D'Orsay

A bit of history--Musee D'Orsay (the former railway station) was a gathering point for
returnees from WWII concentration and labour camps

Berthe Morisot, the painter, is on the left- she married Manet's brother

La Dejeuner sur l'herbe- created quite a stir at the Salon

Chez le pere Lathuille 1879

Death of a Matador on poster

Death of Maximilian

After the show, we stopped for a quick bite at Da Rosa on Rue de Seine and later took this picture of someone wading into the fountain at Place Saint Michel.

Someone taking a late night shower at the place Saint Michel fountain

Friday was a beautiful day, sunny and warm (21C).  We went for a long walk to the left bank, doing a bit of shopping (food and clothes) and stopping for an apéro at Le Babylone, a cafe near the department store, Bon Marché.  Home for a salmon dinner.  Here's Alain in his new jeans.

Alain in his new jeans chez nous