.....altered book studio.....: museum

This is the facade of the D'Orsay Museum - formerly a train station for the Paris - Orleans Railway. It is quite remarkable how extravagant the architecture and ornamentation is for something so pedestrian as a train station.

All the towns visited by the trains are carved into the side of the building.

It is crowned by rows of elaborate sculptures.

Remember - this wasn't a palace - it was a TRAIN Station!

View from the D'Orsay to Sacre Coeur.

Now onto a sampling of the amazing impressionist paintings....

Manet

Degas

Van Gogh

Maurice Denis

Pissaro

Sadly only got to see a snippet of a Monet waterlilies. The Orangerie gallery which has most of the large paintings was closed.

Renoir

My Sister-Law Tammy!

(on display at my sister's house, not the D'Orsay)

BTW - i wasn't like the Asian school girls giggling through the salons taking selfies and not really LOOKING at the art. I sat and studied these paintings - i just grabbed a few snapshots to remember this wonderful experience.

Opera model

One of several clock windows

Many beautiful marble sculptures.

A segment of a model of a door done by Rodin.

And here is a quick glimpse of the ACTUAL thinker at the Rodin museum, a few blocks away.

Bear

Ceiling detail. this was a TRAIN STATION people!

Another clock

Interior shot

Replica of lady liberty

E and Dee at the D-Orsay cafe.

A brief pause for Limoncello sorbet and Kir Royale. As one does....

Painterly ceiling decoration at the museum cafe - the original ballroom for the D'orsay Hotel.

We were also able to see the special exhibit of Italian art from 1900 to 1950,

I loved this poster,

Not an impressionist work - but i loved this piece by Sartorio -
part of the Dolce Vita! exposition.
What a magical relaxing therapeutic day we spent at the D'Orsay. There are dozens of museums to choose from, and i am sure they are all amazing. but with limited time, i think we made the best choice.

I had the good fortune to spend a week in Paris with my dear friend E. I was on my way to an art retreat in the southwest of France, and decided to spend some time in the city. (please stay tuned for a full report of the retreat!)

We rented an lovely apartment through Haven in Paris and could not have been more delighted with it. This was the view from our window.

Haven is Paris is SUCH a better choice than AirBnB, if you are looking for the quintessential Paris apartment experience. This one had most of my pre-requisites: floor to ceiling french doors, ironwork, moldings, a bath, and an elevator!

It was a perfectly pretty setting for two girlfriends to spend a week.

Because it was ideally situated - cheese, fruit and wine were easily acquired across the street.

The street was literally one block from the Seine and Eglise Notre Dame - but so removed from tourists - it really felt like we were residents.

In a five minute walk - we were here - in the middle of all the action on Ile de la Cite and the impressive Notre Dame. No hunchbacks in sight....

Here is a closeup of the magnificent doors.

Here is the lovely Saint Chapelle with its extravagant stained glass windows, which is also on the island. We enjoyed a lovely classical concert here one evening.

When you cross one of the bridges from the island to the Left bank, you can thousands of locks which lovers attach to the railing as a special memento. There is actually more than one bridge which has locks, and i hear the city is not so thrilled with them - the weight alone is damaging the bridges!

It is a lovely spot, however, for a wedding photo op.

Along the Seine you can find les boites vert - the green boxes. they are owned by les bouquinistes, or vintage booksellers.

Prices were high, but i was able to find two lovely french books with illustrations to use in collage.

We hopped on a hop-on-hop-off bus and took a tour of the city. This is the arch at the entrance to the Tuileries gardens, from the Louvre. Or visa versa !?

So we strolled along the Champs Elysees, listening to the song, Champs Elysees to arrive at the monstrous l'Arc de Triomph. this is my lovely friend E.

Here is the Opera Garnier.

We didn't go inside - but this is a model. Gee i probably could have cropped this pic and pretended that we did!

FYI - not an accident. just normal merging. Seriously.

Just an example of the stunning ironwork around the city.

Not a Roman ruin (although there are some in Paris) but the l'eglise de la Madeleine.

I never seemed to tire of the ornate scroll work facades.

Or gates

Or doors

More doors.

Or the unbelievable number of stunning sculptures literally EVERYWHERE.
This one on the pont Alexandre.

And of course - the Eiffel Tower. Since we were on a double decker open air bus, we were able to get some nice perspective shots. The sun was just perfectly placed.

And down the road - Les Invalides - basically a veterans hospital, with one very important vet....Mr.Bonapart himself is entombed here, among others.

The Grand Palais has its own interesting ornamentation. This is one of 4 monstrous bronzes. the complex is vast, with a huge glassed ceiling - as you can see here:

Woah! This was not current day, as you can undoubtedly assume.

as the bus circled the Paris highlights, we got another perfect view of the Eiffel tower from the Champs de Mars.

On to Montmarte - and the iconic windmill of the Moulin rouge.

A few changes in the last 100 years - but still going strong!

Ahhh - Sacre Coeur. So majestic. took a taxi up, but thoroughly enjoyed the walk down.

The beautiful mosaic inside.

and this delightful carousel at the bottom!

The infamous book store on the Left Bank.

One evening we enjoyed a delicious meal with Francoise from EatWith.
It is a website that can hook you up with a home chef for a tasty meal, with 6-8 other guests. We had a lovely time.

And a picture she took of me with her signature French chicken!

This is the Medici Fountain on the vast grounds of the Luxembourg Gardens.

It looks exactly the same as it did in the this vintage photo by Eugene Atget (Found in a Taschen picture book i have at home, and was also on display in our apartment)