Tim and I slept late again and thought we were too late for breakfast. I really don’t think we were, but it didn’t seem to matter. The staff was so gracious and served us without a question. The hotel has worked out so well for us, and everyone here has been wonderful.
We decided to take another walk this morning, passing more expensive shops as we headed toward the La Madeleine, a Catholic church completed in 1842. The neoclassical design of La Madeleine is based on an actual Roman temple, La Maison Carrée in Nîmes, France. Fifty-two massive Corinthian columns surround the structure.
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| La Madeleine, and What It Might Have Looked Like |
La Madeleine is another historic building that is currently under restoration, and the main portico was covered with scaffolding. Luckily, the northern façade was visible except for its column capitals. It was interesting that a panel on the fence describing the project included a drawing of an earlier proposal for the building. As we left, I could still recall our first guide’s advice to come back to Paris after the Olympics – every building will be renovated by then!
The upscale Madeleine neighborhood is known as one of the richest in Paris and is home to the stately Élysée Palace, the French President's official residence. Tim and I happened to walk by the palace when we got a bit lost, and we saw lots of police in front. Shortly after we arrived, the police cleared the sidewalk and blocked the road. I don’t know if President Macron was getting ready to leave the palace, but we did see members of the French Republican Guard Band lined up inside the gates, ready with their instruments.
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| Élysée Palace |
As we continued walking, I happened to look in a shop window and did a double take – a display of Fornasetti pieces! Fornasetti is an Italian design company founded by Piero Fornasetti, a multi-faceted artist known for using fanciful motifs such as the sun, moon, playing cards, animals, and various Surrealist imagery to create thousands of objects. My friend Herbert introduced me to Fornasetti when I lived in Miami, and I have collected many pieces since then.
Tim and I couldn’t resist walking into the shop. What a treat! A lovely woman showed us around and told us about the original bar in the showroom, pointed out many of Fornasetti’s original drawings, and described the myriad of objects in the cases. It was all eye-candy for me!
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| I Had Never Seen So Many Fornasetti Pieces in One Place |
We were just going to look, but Tim spied a lamp on the bar that caught his attention. I mentioned that tomorrow was my birthday, and perhaps he should pick out something for me. We hemmed and hawed, and Tim admitted that the lamp was the piece he wanted me to have. I had thought he might pick out just a small piece, but I was thrilled with the lamp. Best of all, the shop will ship it to us.
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| Don't Tell Anyone, But I Think Tim Wanted the Lamp for Himself as Much as He Wanted It for Me! |
We left the shop with smiles on our faces and finally managed to get a bite to eat before our timed entry at the Musée de l’Orangerie. This museum is located in the west corner of the Jardin des Tuileries and is most famous as the permanent home of Monet’s Water Lilies. I’d been there on an earlier trip, but I was looking forward to visiting again, especially having just seen the actual water lily pond at Giverny.
Monet’s Water Lilies were painted between 1916 and 1926 as a gift for the French state, symbolizing peace at the end of World War I. The eight monumental paintings are hung across the curved walls of two elliptical rooms, exactly as Monet designed them to be displayed. Natural light from a glass roof fills the rooms, also as he specified. The paintings surround and encompass the viewer, and the effect is mesmerizing.
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| The Water Lilies at the Musée de l’Orangerie |
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| Four of the Eight Water Lilies |
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| I Love This Museum |
Unfortunately, we did not have the energy to view the other collections. Instead, we walked back to our hotel through the Tuileries, picking up sandwiches on the way. We are certainly not partaking of any haute cuisine in Paris.
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