Soaring Moments
Well. This day rates, hands-down, the highest on the satisfaction scale. I had a very full day and nearly all of it was successful; the low point was probably the $38.00 lunch at the Louvre restaurant. The best part of that was the cover of the menu. The waiter was one of those who started to speak English as soon as he heard my accent. I had ordered a glass of wine on the menu, but he said, "We dun hov zees one. We hov zees one... zees one... or zees one." I took ze chippest one. I also ordered the chippest lunch, which was penne pasta in a tomato/basil sauce. How can you go wrong with that, but the sauce was watery and flavorless. The only other thing I liked, besides the menu, was the salt and pepper dishes: one salt, one pepper and one mixed, with a little spoon for sprinkling it on your food. Unfortunately, it didn't improve my pasta, just made it salty. Anyway, I digress. The rest of the day made up for the lunch, and at least the lunch gave me time to rest.
I started out this morning by taking the RER to the Paris Nord train station to buy my ticket to Brugge and back to the CDG airport. It was another one of those "Me Tarzan, you Jane" moments, but the girl was very nice, very helpful with advice and suggestions, and didn't start to speak English. So - that went well. I'm all set to leave for Belgium on Sept. 30.
Then I went to the Decorative Arts wing of the Louvre, which has been remodeled and reopened just recently. That I enjoyed very much! It included exhibits of commercial posters and t.v. commercials from different eras and different countries; furniture throughout periods from medieval to today; clothing styles and accessories, and toys and games. Everything was fascinating, and I was surprised to find myself most interested in furniture styles from the 30's, 40's and 50's. I've always loved Art Nouveau and Art Deco, but these were decades I didn't know very much about. It was interesting to see the progression from intricately hand-carved wood pieces of the Middle Ages through the furniture of the 17th and 18th centuries that were so richly ornamented and made of materials like marble, highly lacquered inlaid wood, and gilded bronze; even the Art Nouveau furniture was intricate and sinuous in its own way. But then came Art Deco, and after that, form and design became more and more simplified to the point of being austere (not to mention uncomfortable-looking!) Form seemed to overcome function to the point of almost being sculpture. It makes me wonder what caused this inexorable movement toward simplicity. Did the industrial revolution have something to do with it? And if so, what? Was design inspired by the industrial revolution as art was, or did mass production make hand-made pieces too expensive to own?
In one area you could actually sit in one of a variety of chairs of different styles and watch movie clips from previous decades in which this furniture was used in the set decoration. Great fun!
The toy exhibit was fascinating - one display held tin and plush-covered wind-up toys from I'm not sure when - even before my time! A video showed the toys in action after they were wound up - it was very cleverly done.
Just one more word on the Decorative Arts exhibit: there were two familiar personalities represented - Dale Chihuly and Barbie. :)
In the evening I went to a piano concert in the oldest church in Paris, Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre; the smallest, too, I think. The pianist's name was Nicolas Boyer, and he played a Chopin recital. I had the third best seat in the house :), where I could see his right hand and the reflection in the piano of both hands. He was superb! Music is truly a gift from God, and it sounds most heavenly when it's played in a cathedral. It was so beautiful at times it nearly brought tears to my eyes, other times I felt like melting in my seat, and occasionally I just felt so filled to capacity that I would burst - one of Julie's soaring moments that just raises you right up out of your seat!
Someday (before I leave here, I hope): I'm going to find that mouthwatering French food I'm always raving about!
