I got up early on Thursday morning, my last day in Paris, to see a few things before my afternoon tour of Monet's house at Giverny. First up was a walk through the Tuileries.
It's a wonderful garden spot right in the middle of the city.
It's beautiful, but like the National Mall in Washington, the walkways are awfully dusty.
Of all the sights I enjoyed in Paris on my previous visit, the Gare D'Orsay stands out in my memory as the highlight of my visit. Now known as the Musée d'Orsay , the building was originally a train station, but it fell into disuse and was eventually abandoned. But in 1986 it was rededicated as a museum of 19th and 20th century art, and it now contains some of the world's greatest art treasures.
There it is, on the Left Bank of the Seine.
Here's the grand interior space. It still looks like a train station, but now there's so much more to see.
The galleries on the left and right contain masterpieces of modern art.
The building itself is now a work of art.
There are five levels of galleries.
On both sides of the main hall.
Here's a work by Monet. It's rather large, and painted in sections.
Each piece could be displayed independently, and not all the pieces of this work are on display at the Orsay. The painting on the right, "Women in the Garden," is so large -- about eight feet tall -- that in order to paint it all outside, Monet had his workmen dig a trench into which the painting could be lowered by pulleys.
I found a veranda on the upper level of the Orsay that gave me a wonderful view of the city.
There's the Louvre.
And there's Sacré-Coeur on Montmartre.
Here's the veranda.
Montmartre and the Louvre, all in one shot.
Here's a work by Van Gogh.
Van Gogh's self portrait.
Renoir
Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette, Montmartre
Whistler's Mother -- A Study in Gray and Black
A ballerina by Degas. I found a marvelous children's book about this sculpture, in which the author speculated about the model, "Marie," who wanted to become the world's most famous ballet dancer. But she was poor and couldn't afford all the lessons necessary. Then, one day, this gruff artist named Edgar Degas asked her to pose for him, and since she needed the money, she reluctantly agreed. After days of torture posing for the unpleasant old man, she came to realize that he had almost lost his sight and was sculpting her because he couldn't see to paint. After her final session, the poor girl gave Degas the ribbon she wore in her hair. Later she discovered that Degas had placed the ribbon on the sculpture, an unheard-of thing to do, and had even dressed the statue in a tutu. Because of the great artist, the little girl had become the most famous ballerina in the world.
I could see Sacré-Coeur through the clock. But you can't. Ha ha.
There it is, once a train station and now a fabulous art museum. Hooray for Paris!