Starry, starry night (Paris)

Ah, Don MacLean.  Today we saw the real thing in the Musee D'Orsay.

Paris: Musee D'Orsay and Jules Verne Restaurant

With only a few days left in Paris we are beginning the wind down.  Today, for the oldies, is a visit to Musee D'Orsay and dinner at Jules Verne Restaurant on level 2 of the Eiffel Tower.  The youngsters, Cait, Steph and Stuart left for Euro Disney shortly after 9 this morning.  I'm writing this between engagements and I anticipate that we'll end up at home around the same time this evening.

Once again, Jayne and I shunned the metro in favour of a 45 minute morning walk.  The museum is on the left bank opposite the Tuileries.  The building itself is an old railway station.  Sadly, no photography is permitted inside the building, so I can't show you the sculptures, the paintings, the period furniture, the stone roses on the ceiling or anything of interest.  Mind you, had I been a security guard there, I would have ejected a number of people once I had deleted the photos they had taken.

Photos were permitted outside. Nice view of Sacre Coeur.

While I understand the 'no photos' rule in areas where they have light sensitive paintings and fabrics, there is no reason, other than commerce, to continue with this ridiculous rule elsewhere.  Jayne recognised a sculpture that we saw at the Pantheon yesterday.  Actually, it was a plaster cast of the original sculpture.  Sorry, no photos here - which was OK, because I photographed the original at the Pantheon, no worries at all.  No, we didn't go to the gift shop at the end of the tour and buy the book with photos of all the exhibits.

The temporary Impressionists Exhibition was great, although they actually allowed guided tour groups through which caused considerable bouchon from time to time.  Otherwise, a most impressive exhibition with Monet, Manet, Degas, Latour, Gaugin, Renoir and Cezanne, to name a few of those on the walls.  And one lonely little Picasso, before the cubist period.

The permanent exhibition downstairs was just as impressive with van Gogh, Toulose-Lautrec, Gaugin, Suaret on the walls and Rodin's sculptures featuring elsewhere.  We managed to complete two and half of the three halls.  Another one to finish next time.  We spent almost 4 hours there, but could easily fill a day, particularly if we used an audio-guide.

And then as we  were whiling away the afternoon, lamenting the state of Australian cricket and waiting for Cadel to cross the line in Stage 19 of Le Tour, the usual raucous sounds from the PLace de la Republique got louder and louder.  Focused as I was on the Le Tour, I thought the music was commencing early tonight.  Once Costa had crossed the line, the noise began to reach a crescendo.  It was then I commented to Jayne that it wasn't music, but sounded like a protest.  Out onto the balcony so I could watch a very slow (read snail's pace to the disgust of the traffic) moving protest march.  They were only small in number but certainly made up for it in enthusiasm: chanting, cheering, singing, blaring horns and enthusiastic flag waving.  Although we had surmised the nationality of the protestors given current world events and the nature of the music they were playing, I consulted Dr Google for a flag check.  Yep, they were Egyptian.

The tale end of the protest march.

On a hot Paris Friday evening we boarded the train to travel to Le Tour Eiffel.  It was much less crowded at 6:30pm and the sky was much clearer as the morning haze that was everywhere both times we'd been to the tower had burned off.  In fact, for photography, it was probably the best time to be there.  It was certainly easier to walk on the street, particularly after a gendarme had been through and frightened away the hawkers.

Jules Verne has its own private lift, as you would expect.  We were slightly early, as were several other patrons.  I thought they'd show us to the bar.  Wrong.  We open at 7, so we all stood around for ten minutes waiting for the magical time when the restaurant officially commenced trading.  The lift was cosy, although much larger than the one at the apartment, and slow.

The restaurant is divided into 4 quadrants.  By mid-evening every table is our area had been filled.  Some people brought their kids for dinner.  They must be very, very wealthy because I didn't notice a children's option with chicken nuggets.  We had a table in the corner and had a glass of champagne while we decided whether we would order a la carte, or go for the degustation menu with wine.  The champagne was delightful and we soaked up the view.

Towards Sacre Coeur

Notre Dame in the background

The degustation consisted of 2 entrees, 2 mains and 2 desserts.  I can't remember exactly what they were, but half the courses were served with froth.  Interesting.  The food was overpriced, but lovely and the wine matched it well, but it doesn't come close to Tetsuya's in Sydney.  I guess you pay for the view and we got our money's worth as far as that went.  We left around 11pm so we did see the lights of Paris come on.  The tower itself is something else at night.  There was a laser show at one point during dinner.

All pretty and golden

Different to daytime brown

From across the bridge