Sunset at the Louvre


Well, that’s basically it for Paris, and the three-day break has just been great. Metro was easy, bike tour fab (like, totally awesome in guidespeak – all Fat Tire guides appear to be Americans in Paris) Food up to expectations. Cataclysmically expensive, but I suppose that’s just the way of things. Bring on the Scottish euro! Or British…

Great discoveries? The Caroussel mall under the Louvre, utterly devoid of signposts and possibly the most impressive shopping centre in the universe. Great food court, too, where you can eat good French food relatively cheaply (glass of wine, 2 euros). Gobelins is a good place to stay, handy for walking into the Latin Quarter (Rue de Mouffetard is pure Alan Furst)Jardin des Plantes and reasonable Metro connections. Hotel was friendly and generally very good (Eurostar deal). Oh, and the Paul caravan next to the Louvre is great for Tuilleries picnic stuff. Cesar pizza place on Boulevard St Marcel is very good, as is Le Petit Bar.

Paris is the star. You can just walk around and look at…stuff. But for me, after two visits in two days, the Musee d’Orsay was just…extraordinary. Seeing in the flesh those Gauguins, Renoirs, Van Goghs, Sisleys, Seurats, Monets, Toulouse-Lautrecs, Degas and Cezannes rendered me almost insensible. And all this in an old railway station! If you go, though, don’t start humming Don Maclean’s ‘Starry Starry Night’ to yourself. You won’t be able to stop.

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One response to “Sunset at the Louvre”

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    Life without Tom – Part IILight rain showers this morning of the type that make you think they’ve stopped, but as soon as you unwind the cable extension and get your strimmer out of the shed they start again.I did mean to cut the grass for the last time before winter – honest. Too wet, yes that would be a satisfactory excuse.The hallway decoration beckons but without the good ship Morton to offer music and banter to sooth me through the afternoon’s application of paint. I decide that I should tidy up my iTunes collection and play that this afternoon, this is a job I had been meaning to do for a good long while but had never had the time.I find that I have 26 tracks called ‘Track 1’ along with 26 tracks called ‘Track 2’ and so on. I remember now as to why I stalled this job, the worst part is I haven’t a clue as to what at least half the material is. I can’t blame the rest of the family as they have returned to CDs after the famous computer crash of 06 (2006) when after hours of feeding their music CDs into the computer, naming all the artists and tracks (Boring work), I made the announcement some months later that our iTunes library was no more and I didn’t have a back up (Another job I had promised to do). I have yet to be forgiven.I did manage to listen to and rename everything up to the ‘Track 9’s’ when I decided the delete button was called for.Now, should I make up a selection to accompany this afternoon’s work or just allow the computer to make the decision? I decide that an element of mystery might help the paint go on quicker so I let the machine take over.

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