Day 4 - Paris

My feet feel better today after a good soak, but I'm taking it easy by only visiting museums.  Yes, there's a lot of walking at the Louvre, but it's easier that what I would have done by walking the neighborhoods and I also have more opportunities to sit down.  Not that I did, at least not as much as I should have.  This is my second time to the Louvre and Musee D'Orsay, some of it was familiar, but some of it was new or at least forgotten.  It was fun to see some favorites from the last time, such as Bottecelli murals and Peter and John going to the tomb Easter morning, but sad that my favorite room in the Louvre with Etruscan art was closed.  There were some other favorites that I couldn't find.  There are some new favorites, like the painting of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.  It's the most realistic painting of them I've seen,  Jesus looks like a real baby, and isn't laying on his back with his arms and legs in the air like those baby dolls that don't have knee or elbow joints, Mary looks like a teenager and Joseph, well, he looks a little old, but they don't glow as if they were on "Touched by an Angel."  I finally saw the Egyptian exhibit and the French and Northern European paintings.  There were 2 rooms of Corot.  Napoleon wasn't a bad looking guy before he went with the goofy hairdo.  They also displayed Napoleon the III's apartments.  Talk about excess, the Grand Salon makes Rock Hudson's apartment at the end of Pillow Talk look tasteful.  I'm amazed at the painting of the wedding at Cana, it is about 20 feet hight and has wonderful perspective, the faces are lifelike.

Afterward, I went to the Galleries LaFayette and bought some new shoes, moderately ugly, but very comfortable.  That store is quite a show.  The floors have names like "Creative Apparel", "Contemporary Apparel", and "Seductive Apparel".  That last floor was obviously lingerie.

The French continue to display graciousness towards me, from the woman that helped me find the bathroom after only working at the store for 2 hours, to the young woman on the metro that allowed me to lean against a seat, even though she had been on the train longer, to the man that held the door, motioned to me and helped me squeeze into an already overcrowded metro.

Let's talk about the Metros.  I have ridden trains in Tokyo, which are noted for being crowded, and they are, but they are nothing like the metro in Paris.  Oh my goodness.  There are times when I think we couldn't fit in another body, people were literally hanging out the door, but the doors would close, we would crush in closer together and the train would proceed.  Surprisingly, no one gets testy, it's just the way it is.  I also have a theory that the reason they smell isn't because they don't bathe, but because they sweat so much while riding the metro.  

Looking forward to tomorrow.  Hope that you all are enjoying life.