Wed Paris

Last night I ended up going to the automatic teller to get cash to pay for accommodation. I was worried about carrying so much money. If I had thought in advance I would have purchased a traveller's cheque for this amount. Hopefully, there will be a next time so will be better prepared. 'Paris Oasis' will be our Paris home.
Wed was an excellent day. We did so much and everything fitted in so well. Set out early and took a bus to the Louvre - we enjoy the buses as you can see more of Paris. We have used the underground a lot too but you end up walking miles through connecting tunnels that sometimes it seems that it would have been as quick to walk at street level. Anyway our queue at The Louvre moved quickly. Managed to buy tickets at the machines without problems. The renovations since the 70s were outstanding. We ended up seeing much more than anticipated and so many well known paintings. We had soup at the balcony cafe and used the central glass lift that was the middle of the spiral staircase to exit. This was primarily for the disabled but as Roger had his stick we had this little adventure. For the past couple of days he has felt confident to go without it but he now doesn't get given as many train seats. After the Louvre we leisurely walked through the Tuillerie gardens to L'Orangerie which is a converted glass house that has two large oval rooms containing four huge Monet paintings of the waterlilies. These rooms enclose you in a beautiful environment. The second room includes foreground willows with the waterlilies. Monet gave these paintings to France as a place to find solace and rest from the hustle and bustle of life and conflict. We sat for quite a while in this wonderful inspiring environment. This gallery was closed when I was last in Paris in '79. The new extensions house a magnificent private collection of Jean Walter and Paul Guillaume. This was an impressive collection of Impressionist and later Early 20th century artist. There was also a temporary exhibition of Klee's work. This is a
relatively small gallery but is highly recommended to visit. Afterwards we took the Metro to Musee Rodin. This now has a stunning garden including shady trees and beautiful roses that surround the sculptures; there was also a temporary exhibition of a contemporary sculptor with laser cut rusty metal structure that references Gothic art. I did a sketch of Eve in the garden to rest my weary legs in a pleasant shady spot. Paris is now hot but not intolerable. We caught the metro home and then went to Moulin de la Galette where Renoir and others had painted. This was quite a long walk but through interesting parts. We had a beautiful, not cheap meal and I sketched Roger with a poster in the back ground in a place where the greats had worked. This was a very satisfying day.