Speaking French in 2019

Today we are scheduled for a tour of the Left Bank which I had arranged with a company called Discover Walks. Originally it was a two hour walking tour and I was thinking of adding Notre Dame and Ste. Chapelle, but then Notre Dame burned, so we were just going to Ste. Chapelle for an extra hour. I remember going to see Ste Chapelle in 1950 when I was in Paris with my parents, but I didn't have any of the photos that my father took. In 1964, I just climbed the tower of Notre Dame. I don't have any of my photos that I took then either.

I waked up about 8 and the alarm had not gone off (or if it had, A had turned it off). So we got dressed and went to breakfast. I had eggs, a pancake, grapefruit sections and a croissant.

Breakfast

The taxi arrived as scheduled at 9:30, and he took us to the address that we were given which was a cafe across from the Luxemburg Gardens. We were a little early. The guide found us pretty quickly. I find that these tours are contracted by Sage Traveling - the people that won't do any more tours for me because I was so scathing about the deficiencies of the Amsterdam visit. We looked at my photos from 1964 and he showed me that some of my IDs were incorrect. He took us across into the gardens and we stood in the shade (it was going to be a hot day)

Pan in Luxembourg Garden

Luxembourg Gardens

and he told us about Marie de Medici. Marie was Henry IV's SECOND wife. His first wife was of the opposite faith (Catholic vs Protestant) whom he married in an effort to unite both parties. On the night of the wedding though, a bunch of Protestants got murdered by Catholics. It’s called the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.

So Marie was the second attempt for Henry. Our guide said Henry IV was going away on business and he handed the powers of the head of state over to Marie. And then the next day he was assassinated. Which was suspicious. She decided to build herself a palace in honor of herself. This today is the French Senate which is not at all like the US Senate as the members are not elected and have only advisory powers.

Senat building in Luxembourg Gardens

Around the fountain are twenty figures of French queens and illustrious women (all women)

Mary Queen of Scots

of which the guide said the most important was Ste. Genevieve who is said to have saved the city from Attila the Hun

Ste. Genevievre

Next, we saw

Thermes de Cluny

which was the remaining part of what was the Roman public bath house that once stood in the northern part of Lutetia (the name the Romans had for Paris). This is one of the most monumental Roman structures still standing in Northern Europe. It's now part of the

National Museum of the Middle Ages

Detail of the museum

Door of the museum

We walked down toward the Parthenon

Saint-Etienne-du-Mont

Town hall of Paris 5th Arrondissement

Parthenon

Fountains

We passed by the statue of Montaigne. One toe of one shoe was shiny - students rub it for luck during exams.

Statue of Montaigne.

It was opposite the Sorbonne or at least it was opposite a building which had been the

Sorbonne

Over the door

College of France

We went to the street of the English (Rue des Anglais)

Rue des Anglais sign

English street

which was the only place the English were allowed to live. Here he told us what life was like in medieval Paris with no sewer system and no lights after dark and no street signs. The locals knew the streets by tradition, but after dark Paris was a dangerous place with 15 murders a night.

Then we walked by and discussed Notre Dame before and after the fire, First we stood on the side

Notre Dame

Side of Notre Dame

And then we went around to the front

Detail

Notre Dame

He showed us how the two sides of the cathedral were not mirror images of each other. You can see this most easily on the front on the levels above the

Rose Window

Then we visited Sainte Chapelle.

Gargoyle

Ste Chapelle

Sainte Chapelle

Sainte Chapelle was built in seven years and was originally to house some Christian relics. First we went into the lower chapel.

Guide for the walk at the entrance to Ste. Chapelle

Statue in the lower chapel

Lower level window

Ceiling of the lower chapel

Our guide was surprised to find that the upper level is accessible. In order to get to the upper level, we used an elevator in another building.

Elevator to go up to the second level

At the entrance there are more figures.

Ste. Chapelle doorway

On one side is heaven and the other is hell with a bunch of demons.

Entrance to second level

So all of us were able to see the wonderful stained glass. There are 15 windows, each 15 metres high, the stained glass panes depict 1,113 scenes from the Old and New Testaments recounting the history of the world. The windows are a little overwhelming

Inside Ste. Chapelle

Jesus

Stained glass

Stained glass

Stained glass

Rose window

Rose window detail

By this time it was 1:00 (it was a 3 hour tour) so he had to leave for another tour at 2, but he recommended a restaurant for us to eat at called Au Bougnat.

Electric car recharging

He said we had a table at 1:30. A. followed his directions and we got there. But early.

Au Bougnat entrance

We had to eat outside and the chair was a very high stool. I have found that my limit is about 2.5 hours on the scooter. So I ordered a

Cheese and tomato appetizer

Salad

Fries

While we were waiting, to get our food we saw a taxi with a woman driver try to go the wrong way on a one way street. I had the impression that she was actually lost and was trying to get back to a place she knew. But it just happened that there was a police car that turned into the one way street.

Taxi facing a Police Car

What happens when a police car catches a taxi going the wrong way on a one way street? She can't get out that way and has to keep on being lost.

Unfortunately, it took so long to get our food (half an hour) that I just could not sit there an eat it.

My granddaughter at lunch

So after A. finished her hamburger,

Granddaughter's hamburger

we left to find a taxi to go back to the hotel. On the way home one of the big jointed buses had underestimated the space it would take them to turn. As a result, they were bordering the sidewalk and pressing against a potted tree.

Bus caught on a tree

So we had to wait while the bus was freed.

After we got back, The maid came to clean the room - she seems always to be here when we are getting back. She cleaned and I gave her €10 for the 5 nights we are here. Then I had a nap.

I have some interesting information that I would like to give to Sage Travelling, but I can't figure out how to do it without going through the lady that screwed up our other reservation so badly.

We got dressed to go on the River Boat Cruise for dinner. The taxi driver that picked us up was adamant that I should text the company that I had been picked up but I did not know what number to text and he didn't tell me. I should have asked. But we got to the boat in a timely manner - our reservation said either pillon 5 or 7, so he let us off at 7 but he asked the boat people at the 7 location and they said it was 5.

Boats - our boat is the Cristal

We went down to 5 and showed our ticket and got on the boat.

Table 400 ticket and a roll

We were at table 400 on the Cristal. There were some empty tables.

Dinner menu

Dinner table with juice - orange and apple

Mineral water to drink

Photographers picture of us- I look a little grumpy

Pulling away from the dock

We had a choice of an starter, main course and dessert. A. had the

Riviera style tomato salad and sorbet (fresh goat cheese with honey lemon vinaigrette)

which she said had a kind of tomato sorbet), and was good I had the

Prawns and Greek style vegetables

which proved to be cauliflower and carrots among others and was also good.

We both had the

Roast chicken supreme

which came with a separate dish of turnips, radishes and mushrooms.

Glazed baby turnips and radishes

And then we both had the Chocolate dessert

Dark chocolate mousse and raspberry sorbet

Our Route

I took about 163 photos during the cruise. Part of the time there were reflections if I was in the sun - sometimes shooting into the sun.

Eiffel tower

Under the Umbrella

Alexander III bridge

Underside of a bridge

Former RR station -Le Musee de Orsay

No anchoring

Walkers, cars and a boat

Mongol Figurehead on a boat

Dome

Number one with a green light

Picnics

Dancing

Dancing on the banks of the Seine

Houseboat - Le Peniche du Coeur

Bridges on the Seine

What is he looking at?

Acajou

Apartment building?

Party time

Dangling feet

No Parking

Batobus stop

No Parking

Someone has a good view of the Seine

Bridge detail

N is for Napoleon

Saint-Jacques tower (a free-standing tower not connected to any church), and the winged statue in the same picture is at the top of the column of the Palmier fountain at Place du Châtelet

Line for the Toilettes

Faces under the bridge

Power boat

Louvre?

Horse bas relief

Willow tree

Batobus - sightseeing boat

Equestrian statue by the bridge

White and gold decoration on a bridge

Horses at the Grand Palais

Statue of Liberty

Eiffel tower

The cruise ended at 7:30 but our pick-up was not scheduled until 2215 which would be 10:15 pm. It was still quite warm, as France was having a heat wave. I could not find any number to call in France, so I called the number on the voucher which proved to be Vacations to Go. They had no information to help me. So the lady who was checking people in called us a cab which she said would be there in 3 minutes. It wasn't of course. But some people got out of a cab so we grabbed it and got into it and were back at the hotel in a jiffy.

Lauren wrote me I heard back from the driver waiting for you after the dinner cruise and he said he waited for 30 mins and tried to call. Apparently the cruise was late getting back? He tried to call but there was no answer. I just wanted to touch base about that.

I replied: The pickup was scheduled 22:15, when the cruise ended at 19:30. Almost 3 hours after the cruise ended. This was not satisfactory. We did not want to wait 3 hours at the dock for the driver. (The next cruise did not get back until 11:00 pm)

The only number on the sheet to contact was a US number, so I called the number listed and got Vacations to Go. I knew you did not have office hours on Sunday, and so I talked to another person there - a Clifford Muller. He did not know how to contact the driver. There was no other number on the voucher to call. All the other tours had a local French number, but I had with me only the vouchers for the transport to the boat, the dinner cruise, and the transport from the boat.

Lauren said she would contact the supplier. I have not heard anything about it yet.

A's walking tour and dinner cruise report

Today we had a late breakfast - about 9:30.

Breakfast

I picked up the tickets for the L'Orangerie museum and ordered a cab for 1:30. There was a sign in the lobby that said we were meeting the cruise director for Ama Lyrica. I went to the guy at the desk and said I was going on Ama Cello and was he sure that it was Ama Lyrica? He was not. It was a mistake. He gave us a folder and our luggage tags. The folder had two tours for tomorrow and Wednesday free, but with a possibility for a cabaret in Montmartre in the evening.

Then A took some benedryl and basically slept the morning away while I caught up on some things. We were too lazy to go to lunch so I ate the cold French fries from yesterday - they weren't very good cold. I tried to use what I think is the bidet attachment and got water all over the bathroom floor even though I really tried to be careful.

We roused ourselves to get a taxi to go to L'Orangerie to see the Monet's water lilies. It was very hot today - even for A. who is from Texas.

Front of the hotel

The taxi dropped us by the entrance to the Tuilerie Gardens. We went for the shade, but we had gone the wrong way. We had to go up a rutted ramp in the sun to the museum and it was about the same as the path in Manuel Antonio had been, intermittent gravel and dirt which was hard on the scooter.

And did I mention it was hot?

We got up to the museum and I went up the ramp that the Sage Traveling website said we could use to get into the museum without going up steps and they let us in the door. They did not ask for and would not look at our tickets which cost €18 @ . Children under 18 are free and disabled people with certain types of documentation are also free, but neither of us fitted that description. But they seemed to think we did. A. had to check her backpack (I guess it was too big) but they did not even look at my pocketbook.

We bought a ticket (€6 each) for the tour in English at 1:15 which was to be an hour and a half. We were there early so we went in and looked at the water lily pictures first. There were 8 of them in two different rooms. They were arranged more or less in order of the day with the earliest pictures on the east end and the sunset at the west side. So the second room was the east end, and here there were

The Water Lilies - Morning with Willows

The Tree Reflections one in the east room we seem to have more or less ignored as I can only find this one little photo.
of

section of The Water Lilies - Trees Reflections

Some people see a self portrait of Monet here

The Water Lilies - The Clouds

The Water Lilies - Clear Morning with Willows

The Water Lilies - Clear Morning with Willows

The west room starts with this one on the west wall

The Water Lilies - Setting Sun

The Water Lilies - Green Reflections

The Water lilies - Morning

The Water Lilies - Morning

One side of The Water Lilies - The Two Willows

Then we went to wait for the tour.

Waiting for the English tour

We got headsets (which had a certain amount of feedback although it was easier to hear her) and they started to go down the stairs. I had to use the elevator and there was someone in a wheelchair in front of me and the elevator would only take one of us so I was a little late getting to the group.

Downstairs was part of an art collection of Paul Guillaume who had an art gallery and bought paintings for himself. But it was not a comprehensive collection - just what he and later his wife had liked.

After his death, she had for instance, sold most of the Picassos because she didn't like them. The guide was trying to take us through the Impressionist and subsequent periods. She started with Renoir,

Guide with Renior (which we saw another one of the two girls playing the piano later at the Musee d'Orsee)

and then she went to the photos of Guillaume and his wife painted by Derain.

Portrait of Mme. Guillaume with a large hat by Andre Derain

Then back to Renoir for several paintings including a couple of his son who was not happy about posing and had to be bribed

Claude Renior - Pierre-Auguste Renior's son

Claude Renior

the few that there were by Picasso,

Picasso - Grand nature morte c 1918

Fille rousse by Modigliani

and Marie Laurencin who painted Coco Chanel. Ms Chanel did not like the picture and would not pay for it.

Coco Chanel

Then it was back upstairs to the waterlilies. I had to take the elevator again, and some perfectly abled people tried to get in on the -1 floor, but I wouldn't let them. There wasn't room for them unless I got off, and I wasn't going to do that.

Blocking the view

Guard sleeping

By this time it was 3:45 so the hour and a half tour had already been two and a half hours. She didn't finish until almost 4. I found her English very unfluent, although I could understand what she was trying to get across.

We went back out into the hot sun, and A called an Uber which she paid for on her phone. He came in 5 minutes and delivered us back to the hotel. We rested a bit and I ate some trail mix and A ate her leftover fries and some oreos.

Then it was time to meet Dragan - our tour director's name is Dragon Reljic. We had cocktails and met some of the other passengers. Some of us are at the Renaissance Arc de Triomphe and some are here. The ones we met were Ann and Cary from Asheville NC, Joe and Pat from NYC, and Barbara from Santa Barbara and her three daughters, two of whom are Amy and Alice. They are old enough to be married with children which have been left with the other grandparents.

The schedule is somewhat different from what it was originally listed. Originally we were to go to the Musee d'Orsay on Wednesday. Wednesday is now a free day except for the cabaret on Montmartre at night. Tomorrow we have a bus tour with a stop for lunch at Sacre Coeur, ending up at the Eiffel Tower. And then at 7:15 we are picked up for the City of Light tour which, because the sun goes down so late at this time of year, will last until midnight.

A made the concierge get out the key to the lift (usually I just go out through the restaurant) and we started out to find a place to eat dinner. The first place was Italian food but had a significant step. So we went to the next place which was called XVIeme Avenue (it was on 16th Ave). They had a ramp so we went in and they gave us a table by a double door that looked out on the terrace. It had gotten a lot cooler by this time.

We had the prix fixe meal which was €34 each plus €6.50 for a large bottle of water. A had snails as the starter

Snails

which she really didn't care for and I had frog legs which I like.

Frog legs

So we switched in the middle and she had 2 of my frog legs (which she liked) and I had 3 of her snails which I like.

Tools to eat snails

(they gave her a clamp to pick up the shells which were hot) and a tiny fork to get the snails out of the shell. What I got was a wet wipe because you basically had to pick up the frog legs to eat them. Both starters were good.

Then A had lamb and it was quite big piece of lamb and so she was quite full when she finished.

Large piece of lamb

and I had Duck l'Orange. They came with mashed potatoes. My duck was just right

Duck L'orange

We ordered dessert - she had nutella crepes, and I had two scoops of sorbet.

Crepes for dessert

Two scoops of sorbet - coffee and salted caramel

Both good, but A could not eat all of hers.

We are getting ready to go out tomorrow.

A's report on the Orangerie

We had a leisurely breakfast and went outside to wait for the bus about 15 minutes early. It was still a reasonable temperature although the forecast was for a high of 92F today, 95F tomorrow (Weds) and then Saturday it is forecast to be up to 98. Then it will cool down some. I observed a woman and a boy walking up the street (I assume mother and son) and she was fanning him with her fan as they walked. It was not THAT hot.

Mother and her son who was being fanned

About 9:12 (3 minutes before the bus was to come) the man came to deliver the fruits and veggies to the restaurant - blocking the access for the bus.

Vegetable and fruit delivery

The bus came and they put the scooter under it and I climbed on. Since most of the people were at the other hotel, the bus was pretty full when it got to us, but someone in the second seat offered their seat to me, so I thanked them and took it. I let A sit next to the window

We had a city guide and she explained about the arrondissements and how the city was laid out and a bit of the history. She said that the Seine flows east west. As you look west where the river is flowing, the Right Bank is the northern bank and is more modern and the Left Bank is the southern bank and is older and has more artists etc associated with it.

She took us down the Champs-Élysées - she pointed out the Louis Vuitton store which would not open until 10:00 and it was only 9:30 and people were lined up outside waiting for it to open. She said that there were only 8 or 9 people who were rich enough to live on the Champs-Élysées now, it was so expensive. She made a joke she said that there was no French word for "cheap" so they had to say "less expensive". She pointed out McDonalds did not have golden arches - they were white - as all the store names on the Champs-Élysées had to be white.

Burger King on the Champs Elysee

We went through a very narrow archway with the bus - it looked like we were going to lose the mirrors on the bus.

Sphinx

We headed for Notre Dame. Here we got out our little listening radio things with the earpiece so we could hear the guide and no one else could, and were told to tune to Channel 1 for the slow walkers and Channel 40 for everyone else. Since I was not walking at all, I picked Channel 40. We walked over to where we could see Notre Dame and then we were to have 30 minutes to wander around and shop or have a snack. (We would have to have a snack in order to use the bathroom anyplace)

There was a bookstore that I knew A wanted to see but I didn't think it would be accessible and besides I was sleepy and I had seen this twice already this week so I wanted to go back to the hotel. I left A on the tour and the guide got me a taxi back to the hotel. He had a nice jazz radio station on.

I got back to the hotel and took a nap because we are going to be out late tonight - until midnight. The maid came while I was napping and I told her it was OK to clean. So she did the bathroom and emptied the trash. I woke up again when A got back as apparently her key had demagetized or something and she couldn't get in.

I took a shower and we ordered room service as we have to be out at the bus at 7:15 and there is no time to eat dinner before we go. We got a hamburger and a pizza and split them.

Pizza

Granddaughter in bed

We left the room for the second part of the tour about 6:50. A had to get her key fixed so she could get back in the room, so we went in through the restaurant to the lobby. The door we usually use has a small step of about an 1.5" which stops the scooter and we have to lift it over it. And since we were now in the lobby, I had to get the lift again to get out to the street.

It was still hot outside

We stuck the scooter under the bus and since they had opened the back door of the bus, I climbed in the back door. It was MUCH steeper than the front door - it was like climbing an Alp. But I made it. We had only 10 people - just the ones from our hotel.

We were in time to see the end of the 6:30 ceremony under the Arc de Triomphe where they rekindle the flame and lay wreaths.

Arc de Triomphe ceremony where they rekindle the flame and lay wreaths

We went up to Montmarte in the bus and got on a little trolley/train (Like the Conch train in Key West) It was red and white. We put the scooter in the front seat and Dragan sat with it. We had six people per section and it was pretty tight.

Little red and white train

Cabaret show

The train took us up near Sacre Coeur. But Sacre Coeur is just not accessible so I stayed outside and took photos of the general scene while everyone was inside.

Sacre Coeur

Paris from Sacre Coeur

Paris from Sacre Coeur

Then the guide told us that we had from 8:00 to 10:00 to have a meal and walk around. A and I really only wanted dessert, so we found a pizza place that had ice cream

Pizzeria Restaurant

Children's menu and Cheeseburger price

and we had three scoops of sorbet (Black current, Lemon and Passion fruit) and we had water to drink.

Our sorbets

After we finished the sorbet it was still only about 9:00 so to fill in some of the time I had a chocolate mousse.

Chocolate mousse

It was about 9:30 and I paid and then I went back up to where the funicular was. I also scootered around to the other side of the viewpoint of Sacre Coeur to take some more photos. I was looking for this sign which showed where the landmarks were.

Sign in 1964 which no longer exists

But it no longer exists.

Taxi on a crowded road

Sacre Coeur

Paris from Sacre Coeur at dusk

There was a guy with a guitar singing and someone keeping rhythm by beating on the box he was sitting on.

Guitar player

Paris from Sacre Coeur

We had to met our guide again as she had our tickets for the funicular. First we had to get the wheelchair gate to open and it took several conversations in French before it finally opened for me. We all got into the funicular car, and boy was it hot in there - like a sauna.

Sign in the funicular

Back onto our nice A/C bus. I sat in a front seat which happened to be the seat the guide used - I would have thought she would use the jump seat in the front, but she didn't.

Cafe

Colonne Vendôme

Ride in Tuileries Gardens from the bus (still 34 deg C/93 F)

Ride at the Fete

We were heading for the Eiffel tower twinkling light show which they do for five minutes every hour. Everyone but me got off the bus. I gave A my camera to take some photos, and she got off the bus with it.

Eiffel tower at night

She suggested that I might be able to use my cell phone if I moved to one of the other seats on the bus, so that is what I did. And that worked. I will have to figure out how to put it here.
https://www.facebook.com/gmbeasley/videos/10217735352769260/?t=1

Carousel at the Fete

I looked at my photos from 1964 and tried to match them up with the ones I took today

Then and now - 1964 and 2019

Then in Now - 1964 and 2019

We were back at the hotel by 11:30 or so and the gate was across where I would usually go to get in to the room, but it was not really locked. We would just have to push it to get it open.

A's report

Tomorrow we will try to visit the Muse d'Orsay and pack and we will also do the cabaret at night.

Today was a free day - on the itinerary from AmaWaterways, it was originally listed for us to visit Musee d'Orsay. And I still wanted to do that.

Mixed fruit at breakfast

Breakfast

I went onto their website to look at what kinds of things they had in their collection, and made a mental note of things that I would like to see. We got a cab to it. Although I had A look at the bus routes to get from one place to another, we never actually used the bus. A cab was just so much easier.

I had found that the entrance for handicapped and priority people was entrance C, so after the cab dropped us off, we went to entrance C. This involved my finding the ramps that led from the street up to the entrance.

Horse With A Harrow, Pierre-Louis Rouillard, 1820-1881

Not only did we jump all the lines, but they did not make us buy a ticket which I was willing to do. Even though I do not have any of the credentials that gives a handicapped person free access, I guess riding on a scooter is enough. What I mean by that is:
The actual websites for the museums say something like
"There is free access through priority entrance C for the disabled visitor and one accompanying person, on proof of eligibility: valid cards issued by the MDPH (local regional authority for the disabled) or equivalent certificate from another country, together with photographic ID"
But I don't have any such cards. And they do not ask me for them. All I have is a handicapped tag for my car, and I don't have that with me.

The Musée d'Orsay was originally built as a train station to bring visitors to the 1900 World's Fair. Architect Victor Laloux built the Gare d'Orsay with modern features such as luggage ramps and elevators and an attached hotel. The museum has been organised on three levels: on the ground floor, galleries are distributed on either side of the central nave, which is overlooked by the terraces of the median level, these in turn opening up into additional exhibition galleries.

Musee d'Orsay

The top floor is installed above the lobby, which covers the length of the Quai, and continues into the highest elevations of the former hotel.

Inside of the clock

Peeking out through the clock

We first went to see Toulouse-Lautrec which was on the first floor (or the floor we came in on. I thought that would be good for the cabaret that we are going see tonight.

Pastel of Mme. Lucy by Toulouse Lautrec

Jane Avril dansant by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec

Panel for La Goulue's Booth at the Foire du Trone, Paris

A got a map of the museum and she wanted to see the Van Gogh next. That was on floor 2, but it wasn't directly on floor 2. We went up to floor 2

Les Romains de la Decadence by Thomas Couture

and there lots of sculptures and furniture

Animal sculpture

Furniture display

but there were steps to get down to where the Van Gogh and Gauguin were. So we asked.

A helpful museum employee told us to get an elevator down and then go up a ramp. The elevators were all behind doors which opened in towards the elevator. So I could not go through the door and then wait for the elevator on the other side as there was no room for me to be there with the door shut - it would have to shut where I was sitting on the scooter.

We did go down the elevator and and found the ramp which was behind a plain (and very heavy) door. I saw a bunch of paintings of Van Gogh's

Portrait de l'artiste (pre-camera selfie)

L'Arlesienne: Madame Joseph-Michel Ginoux by Van Gogh (she owned Café de la Gare)

and some of them I had no idea that they existed. The Siesta

La Meridienne, dit aussi La Sieste- Van Gogh

Dans le jardin de docteur Paul Gachet by Van Gogh

My favorites were

Chaumes de Cordeville a Auvers-sur-Oise by Van Gogh

Thatched Cottages at Cordeville and

The Church in Auvers-sur-Oise

but there was also one like the Sunflowers and Iris paintings,

Fritillaries in a Copper Vase

except that this time it was of Fritillaries. I had taken a photo of fritillaries three years ago when we visited the tulip gardens in Amsterdam, so I was quite interested to see a painting with Fritillaria in it.

Fritillaria

There were also paintings by Gauguin on this level as Van Gogh and Gauguin were contemporaries. My favorite was

The White Horse - Gauguin

because I like paintings of horses.

We ignored the Berthe Morisot special exhibit (you have to prioritize) and next went to the top floor (5) to see the rest of the Impressionists.

I wanted to see the painter who started the whole impressionist movement - Manet. There were not as many of the Manet that I had expected to see, but there was Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe

Manet - Luncheon on the Grass

which was rejected by the Salon jury of 1863. So Manet seized the opportunity to exhibit this and two other paintings in the 1863 Salon des Refusés, where the painting sparked public notoriety and controversy. I could compare it to Pastoral Concert (ca. 1510) by Giorgione or Titian which was in the mainstream of painting at the time - if Manet's painting had been illustrating a historical event or a Bible story it would have been OK to have nude women with fully dressed men.

Comparison

There were some paintings by Monet - the waterlily pictures.

Blue Water Lilies

Le bassin aux nympheas, harmonie verte by Monet

But there was also a picnic picture by Monet

The Picnic, Claude Monet

In the beginning Monet was influenced by Courbet. (Courbet painted the picture I saw in the Louvre of a life raft where people were canabalistic) The Picnic (6 by 6 meters) was unfinished and later rolled up and then cut up. In one of the two large fragments preserved in the Musée d'Orsay it is possible to recognise, seated among the guests in a clearing in the forest of Fontainebleau, the figure of Courbet himself. We also saw

Jardin potager à l'Hermitage. Pontoise by Camille Pissarro

There was a Van Rysselberghe which was very "Old Man and the Sea" ish (except that the Old Man wasn't in a sailboat)

Van Rysselberghe - The man at the Tiller

Then there was Cezanne,

Woman with a coffee pot by Cezanne

and some of Degas which I really liked. In addition to the ballet pictures,

Detail of Rehearsal on Stage, Edgar Degas, 1874

He also painted race horses

Le Champ de courses. Jockeys amateurs pres d'une voiture

Course de gentlemen.

From Renior there were sculptures

Eau - Renoir statue in bronze

We saw another one of his

Jeunes filles au piano

and could compare the two

Comparison of the two young girls playing the piano by Renoir

At about noon, A called for an Uber

Rhinoceros sculpted by Alfred Jacquemart

and we went back to the hotel. I probably should have gone to the Galleries Lafayette as she needs a wallet that isn't broken, but we have to pack to have our suitcases out by 6:30 tomorrow. We did pack a little bit in the afternoon and then we both took naps.
A's report on the museum
It was still pretty hot and I heard people at the hotel complaining that the A/C didn't work, especially on the top floor. But we are on the ground floor so there was no problem for us.

To sign up for the cabaret

We leave at 1900 for the cabaret, which will get us back late. I'm just going to take my cane because there is little space for the scooter inside, and I think I will only have to walk from the hotel steps to the bus, and from the bus into the restaurant. The club was named Paradis Latin and was built by Eiffel. I think my dad went to the Folies Bergère in 1950 - I was too young to be allowed to go.

Paradis Latin program with the featured female singer

There proved to be more walking than I was told. I rode the scooter to the front desk and Dragan said to put it on the bus just in case. I did have my cane. The first step of the bus was a really high one and I had some trouble with it. When we got to the restaurant they did let me out at the door, but it is a very big restaurant and our tables were right next to the stage - so quite a long way from the door.

Tables near the stage

I can only walk a maximum of 300 meters, so I was quite out of breath by the time I got there and I took the first seat.

First we had dinner

Menu

They gave us 1/2 bottle of Bordeaux Wine
1/2 bottle of Mineral Water
1/4 bottle of Champagne and at the beginning a glass of Rose. We
tasted that and the Bordeaux but we only really drank the water.

A choice of 3 appetizers -
Aperitif Paradis Latin
Perigourdine Salad
Shrimp in Puff pastry

We both had the Perigourdine Salad (I looked it up on my phone first) which had pieces of either duck giblets or just duck in it as well as cherry tomatoes, some croutons, and a piece of something like pate, as well as a plethora of water cress and a lot of other greens.

Perigourdine Salad

Then we could have Beef Chateaubriand or Salmon Filet, and we both took the beef since we had quite a bit of salmon recently. This came with potato Gratin Dauphinois - a little cup of potato with cheese on top.

Chateaubriand and potato Gratin

And last we had apple tart, but they had taken away all our utensils except a big spoon so I couldn't cut up the tart part but only eat the apple slices that were in it.

While we were eating this lady sang.

Dinner singer in the balcony

A can tell you the songs - I don't remember them all. There was also a cello player and various dancers dressed up in skin tight suits with leopard spots, or tiger or zebra stripes or snake skin.

Dancers on the stage and in the balcony

Back of a male dancer

There was one girl who had cotton balls all over her outfit which I couldn't figure out who she was representing except maybe she had killed a lot of rabbits to decorate herself with their tails. After dinner the real show started - there was a comedienne who only spoke English

Female comedienne and singer

to tell us that there were to be no photos or videos. Some of the dancers were topless (both the men and the women) and there were some very interesting acts and singing. There was a lady in a long red gown and her sidekick who was something like Stan Laurel of Laurel and Hardy. At least he was like the skinny one, who I think was Laurel. He was the straight man. A described this perfectly (better than I could). This is what she wrote
The woman would come out on stage with some dangerous thing (knife, darts, whip, rifle, hammer) and attach it to something or set it up. Then she would yell “BERT” which sounds like belt with a French accent. This guy would shuffle out and she would make him part of her dangerous stunt somehow (putting an an apple on his head, making him balance on a wire while she shot balloons etc.). Before she commenced each thing she would ask “okay?” And he would reply “ok!” with both fear and nonchalance.
The rest of A's report
At one point they called the waiters up on stage - they all had pink feather fans. One of them was actually the male singer and the rest of them went back to being waiters.

Former waiter - now singer

There was a featured woman singer who was not the one who sang at the beginning.

Girl comes down on Pegasus

There was an underwater scene with fishes swimming among the dancers (projection on the curtain to look like fishes), and suddenly dropping into the "sea" was a whole lot of plastic and garbage.

Two of the men were dressed as centaurs and they had a mock fight. In one of the sections the men had shirts on that looked like they were all tattooed. They did a version of the can-can at the end. The music was loud.

I counted only 6 male dancers. (One of them reminded me of a man who was a trainee of mine back in MOSH)

Dancer that reminded me of a friend

There were a lot more women in the show. They were all beautiful - not a speck of cellulite on them, and they must have all had at least a Brazilian.

We got back to the hotel about midnight and the gate that we go in to get to our room was actually locked (and not just shut as it was last night), and there was a luggage cart against it inside to keep it from being opened. A had to go in and get them to open it.

We packed - I was going to try to get my computer bag into the suitcase, but I could not do it even though A took the extension cord and the scooter charger in her suitcase. We put the suitcases outside the door before we went to bed. We leave for Lyon to board the boat tomorrow