Today was quite a full day, with a variety of activities. I left the hotel around 9:30 and took the metro to the Jardin du Luxembourg. It was lovely and peaceful. There were runners that run the exterior and inside the park there were those strolling, parents with young children, and quite a few doing Tai Chi. There were pony rides and in a small section tennis courts. After strolling through the park, I took a walk up the street to the Pantheon and visited my favorite painting of St. Genevieve. From there, I walked through the left bank to the Seine. I love that part of town, it is full of energy and life.
Strolling along the Seine was delightful, passing by all the book and art vendors. I went back to the Louvre to catch the rest of the Flemish and Dutch painters. From there, I walked through the Jardin du Tuilleries and took time to just take it all in. As the weather was lovely and sunny, the Tuilleries was packed with sun-worshipers on the chairs surrounding the fountains. I walked to the Place de Concorde and started up the Champs Elysee to the Grand Palais. I had seen it from afar and had to check it out. It is a beautiful building. I'm not sure what the purpose is, although I think there's a museum. Since the entrance fee was 20euro, not covered by the museum pass and I wasn't sure what was inside, I decided not to enter. I did walk across the street to the Petit Palais, it contained some wonderful art as well as furniture and tapestry from Louis 15th. There was a large painting of the Good Samaritan that was very moving. It showed the man helped by the good Samaritan as naked and weak, riding the good Samaritan's donkey. The Good Samaritan is supporting him and looks labored. I always think of the Good Samaritan like a Sunday School flannelgraph, yet this is probably closer to the truth.
After the Petit Palais, I walked back to the Tuilleries to visit the L'Orangerie. This museum contains a lot of impressionism, but also Picasso, Matisse and Modigliani. On the first floor are two rooms that are probably 50 - 60 feet long and oval. Each of the walls contains Monet water lily paintings that are the length of the wall. Stunning. Down stairs were the other paintings. All that I have to say about Matisse (based on the pictures displayed there) is that he probably would have received a failing grade in art class. The Picasso's that were there actually looked like people.
I returned to the hotel about 4pm for the tour orientation. There are 24 of us on the tour, they normally have 40. This evening, I took the optional event of going back into town, eating near the Arc de Triomphe and then taking a cruise on the Seine. After eating dinner, I walked to the Arc, there was a procession of veterans with French flags marching up the Champs Elysee to the Arc, while a marching band played.
The river cruise was beautiful, of course Paris is beautiful at night. The Eiffel Tower is lit blue at night and when we pulled in, it also had twinkle lights going up and down the tower. What a spectacular conclusion to an already wonderful day.
Since this is the Lord's day, I'll finish with what I am reading. I'm catching up on my One Year Bible - the way I was going, it was going to be the One Year and a Quarter Bible. I've been in the book of Kings and what I've noticed is that David might have been a man after God's own heart, but he was a mess. Not only did he sleep with Bathsheba and have Uriah killed, but he was a terrible father. One of his sons rapes one of his daughters and he does nothing about it. One of his sons chases him out of the city and into exhile, and the list goes on. Yet, this is someone that God wanted Jesus to be a descendent of. Isaiah says that God's thoughts are not our thoughts or his ways our ways, that's for sure. But how reassuring to know that God loves us even when we are lame or failures.
Tomorrow starts the tour. In a way, I'm looking forward to taking it easy, we'll see how long that lasts. :)
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