7th November Paris:Musee d'Orsay

This morning I had a sleep in which was fabulous. I had planned to do a couple of things today but a sleep in was needed, particularly after 21 days of touring and early mornings. I Skyped Mum and Dad again and then Jess called in on her way home from teaching at Westside so I got to talk to her too. 

I headed off to the Musee d'Orsay today. When we were in Paris in 2001 it was closed for renovation work so I missed seeing it. I was probably most excited to see this place of all the things in Paris I was going to see...and it didn't disappoint. As I walked across the bridge to the left bank...surprise surprise there was a woman trying to pull 'the ring trick' on me! I can't believe they are still doing this. If you don't know what this is, what happens is a woman walks past you and as she passes she bends down to the ground, flashes some gold ring, picks it up and then tries to tell you that you have dropped your ring. When you tell her its not yours she offers it to you and tells you she can't keep it because it's not hers, not the right size, against her religion, blah blah blah. Then as you are walking away with the ring she starts to tell you the sob story about how she is poor, hungry etc since she gave you the ring maybe you could give her half the value of the ring...its worth nothing!!! I had heard about this scam but didn't believe they were still trying it. The thing I found most amusing was that they bend down in front of you...if you dropped it, it should be 'behind' you??? Well she didn't fool me!!

Ring lady behind me, it was off to the Musee d'Orsay. The Musee d'Orsay is housed in an old railway station, the Gare d'Orsay which was built between 1898 and 1900. It is the home of mainly French art dating from 1845 to 1915 and is best known for its collection of impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces, including works by Monet, Degas, Renoir, Cezanne, Seurat, Gauguin and Van Gogh. I decided to start at the top and work my way down, but first lunch! I was surprised to hear someone calling my name while I was in the line for the cafe, but it was a a family (Mum, Dad and adult daughter) from my tour who had also stayed a few more days in Paris. After a quick catch up they headed off to explore more of the museum and I headed for lunch. The art in this museum was awesome (yep, there's that word again). I was able to see many of Monet's work (there are 86 pieces in this gallery) including 'Rouen Cathedral', which I have a whole new appreciation for now that I have seen the real thing. I also saw Van Gogh's 'Self Portrait', 'Starry Night Over the Rhone' and the 'Bedroom in Arles'...I have these as prints at home from when I saw these on exhibition in Canberra! I also saw 'Whistler's Mother'...as in the Mr Bean movie ;) I loved this gallery and it was so wonderful seeing this amazing collection of work.

I then walked (crazy I know) back into Paris and had a wander through Galleries Lafayette which had a couple of new displays up for Christmas, one of which was Cinderella's pumpkin carriage, all lit up. Exhausted, I got a salad and vanilla eclair and headed home for dinner.