You Can’t Always Get What You Want: The Louvre and Musée d’Orsay

We are up early this morning in order to make the most of our last day in Paris. First stop… the Louvre.

The Louvre
Huge and impossible to see in one day, we of course, head straight for the Mona Lisa along with every other tourist. The organizer in me is appalled at the mad swarm in front of this famous small portrait of the woman with the impish smile. From behind the crowd, which is at least 10 jostling people deep, you can barely see the top half of the painting, add to that the dozens of arms in mid-air with camera attached in hopes of miraculously snapping a shot free-form style and your hopes of getting close are somewhat dashed; this is not for the weak of heart.

Why isn’t there a que? People could enter from one side, spend a couple minutes, snap their pictures and be escorted out of the way from the other side. Oh well, no pain, no gain right? I dive in and slowly make my way forward. Each time a person from the front turns to leave, fighting against the crowd to make their way out, people from each side and behind inch forward to close the gap. I don’t make it to the very front, but do manage to get close enough to get an unobstructed view for the five seconds it takes me to snap a photo. I would much prefer to stand and comtemplate, especially a painting with as much history and mystery as this, but as Mick Jagger said, “You can’t always get what you want.”


Venus de Milo

Other highlights: The Winged Victory of Samothrace, Aphrodite (known as the “Venus de Milo”), The Dying Slave by Michelangelo—I whisper to Mr. Man that it must have been “la petite mort” as the slave’s expression is more ecstasy than agony), and Psyche and Cupid.

The Dying Slave



Psyche and Cupid



Musée d’Orsay
The Musee d’Orsay is much more manageable than the Louvre; it is smaller and currently has a couple of exhibitions closed as they are in the middle of a move. Unfortunately, there is no photography allowed.

From the map we determine there are several rooms we’d like to visit and head off in the direction of the James Tissot exhibition. Tissot was known for his paintings of young women; all fully clothed. For a good commentary on his portrait of the Marquis and Marchioness of Miramon go to: http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/painting/commentaire_id/portrait-of-the-marquis-and-marchioness-of-miramon-and-their-children-8790.html?tx_commentaire_pi1[pidLi]=509&tx_commentaire_pi1[from]=841&cHash=3654df84b5

As we move to the next gallery we are surprised upon an exhibition by Claude Monet, one of my favorite artists, not listed on the guide.  There is a teacher giving a lecture to what seems a high school class in front of the Luncheon on the Grass. The canvas was huge when painted and is in two pieces and there are obviously other pieces missing. Monet painted this in 1865-1866; at the time he couldn’t pay his rent and he gave the canvas to his landlord to hold. When he could finally afford to pay the landlord, the canvas had been rolled up in the landlord’s cellar for several years and was ruined. Monet cut it up into three pieces, two of which are at the Musée d’Orsay, the third was lost.

Edouard Manet also did a Luncheon on the Grass (1865) painting and it too is housed at the Musée d’Orsay.  In this painting there are two men and a nude woman who has obviously just finished bathing in the river (there is another woman along the water’s edge in the background).  This was pretty scandalous at the time.  The woman gazes out at the audience seemingly mindless of her nakedness.  The fact that the two men are fully clothed makes her nakedness even more striking.  My absolute favorite is Olympia.  Painted by Manet in 1863.  This painting caused an outrage at the 1865 Salon.  I love the shamelessness with which the young woman looks out at the audience, naked save for her shoes.  She looks so young, but knowing beyond her years.

There are several Vincent Van Gogh paintings on display, the most famous his self-portrait.

David, Me, Mark, Mari, Mike, Mary & Leigh

Tonight we dine with our dear friends who have joined us in Paris for our 50th Year Celebartion.  Not a bad way to celebrate a birthday.  Tomorrow we are off to the Loire Valley.

For more pictures click here.

Happy Holidays

We spent the holidays visiting with family and friends, lighting the Menorah each night and, as expected, opening gifts with Manda & Rena. On Christmas day we followed our family tradition of going to the movies and dining on Chinese food with our friends Bobby and Joanna. Christmas day is a big opening day for movies and we usually try to fit in a double feature. This year we managed to see MILK, the story of Harvey Milk, the first publicly-gay elected official. Now I realize this may not be a movie everyone is comfortable with, but it is definitely worth the ticket. Sean Penn deserves an Oscar nomination for his performance. He is a true actor and has the talent (too often missing among his peers) of totally becoming a character, so that it is not Sean Penn “playing” Harvey Milk, he “is” Harvey Milk.

We also saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons, which was entertaining, although I could have done without the last 20-30 minutes. I didn’t really need to see Benjamin becoming a child/infant to make the story work for me. Brad Pitt is very good, and as always, great to look at, and Cate Blachett is exquisite. Her beauty and poise always remind me of Katherine Hepburn.

We had reservations at Little Szechuan in Doraville for one of their private rooms as we had eight adults and two children. The food is good, but the service is notoriously slow, and on Christmas, with half the Atlanta Jewish community eating dinner there, well it was excruiatingly slow. Since we were in a private room, you couldn’t just catch the waitress’s eye and we had to get up a couple of times to seek out someone to bring us more water, beers, etc. It took us over two hours—for Chinese food! At least we had good company, and Jasper (3) and Lyna (5) were serious troopers; no meltdowns or tantrums. All in all, a fun day.

Our Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with a group of friends this year, and, for me, it was the perfect Thanksgiving—a day spent with people we love, sharing stories, good food & wine, and counting our blessings for having such wonderful people in our lives. Let’s face it, holidays can be stressful and expectations high. Add a strained familial relationship or two and it can feel like anything but a holiday. Gathering together an eclectic group of people (young, old, black, white, male, female, gay, straight and lesbian in this case), all sharing in the responsibility of cooking and cleaning takes the pressure off and provides for some interesting conversation.

We came to know our hosts, Mike & Mari Hart, through our friendship with Mark Erba. Mike is a doctor with the VA, and Mari is a nurse with the Emory Clinic. They are warm, and genuine, and fun. Also there were Mari’s parents, Pat & Mari, a delightful couple who came to America from Ireland when Mari was a child; Mike & Mari’s sons, Patrick & Drew (Patrick is in college at Oxford, and Drew is in high school and plays the bass in a band called “Highway” they are impressive, sorta bluesy rock; lead singer, Alex Lotito has a strong and powerful voice; and they write all their own lyrics and music. They play around Atlanta; check them out if you get the chance); Corey, a friend of Pat & Mari’s; Mark and his son Dante, his mother Camille, and his brother David; our good friend Heather Haase and her friend Tom; and Amanda and her girl-friend Rena. There was lots of livey conversation and laughter, and the most wonderful food, and lots of it.

It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without taking a moment to reflect on the things we are thankful for. We have had this tradition at our Thanksgiving table, much to Mr. Man and Amanda’s chagrin, for years, and I cannot let Thanksgiving pass by without putting into words how thankful I am. I think it is important in times like these to realize that even with a recession, high unemployment, raising food prices, and the threat of terrorism, we are still better off than many. We have roofs over our heads, food in our bellies, jobs, health insurance, reliable transportation, running (clean) water, and so much more that we take for granted as Americans. I'm especially grateful to have such incredible friends, not only here, but across the country and across the pond. Friends that I know will be there for us whenever, wherever. This year, I’m thankful to have taken part in a historical election, where Democrats finally—after eight horrible years of lies, self-interest and thievery—said “enough” and voted into office an intelligent, articulate, inspiring, African American President who “gets it.” I’m grateful for the hope he brings and for reminding us that it is up to us to bring about change. I can’t close without mentioning my thankfulness for my family, but I won’t bore you with the sappy details, let’s just say I feel very...fortunate.