Walk: from apartment to Le Musee de l'Orangerie and back, 5 miles
Accommodation: Cozy 27m2 studio in the Marais (Airbnb)
When Meghan and I were in Paris in 2002, Musee de l'Orangerie was closed for renovation and we were not able to see Monet's Water Lilies panoramas.
That is the one thing I really wanted to see during this stay, if we had time. And we did have time.
The weather was sunny with a crisp feel of fall, the city was bustling with people speaking every possible language and dressed in every possible style. Ken and I had a lovely, relaxed stroll over to the museum, passing the Louvre and the Palais Royal and the Tuileries on our way.
We soaked up the quiet beauty of the Monet gallery and then made our way down to the lower level galleries with exhibits featuring works by Picasso, Matisse, Renoir, Derain, Cezanne, Modigliani, Rousseau, Soutin, Gaugin... The Orangerie is wonderfully small, simple, calm, meditative.
Happily filled with soul-satisfying images, we wandered back to the apartment, stopping for lunch at a noodle shop.
I love Paris and would happily return and spend more days like today. Ken is tired of France and not a fan of big cities, even Paris. Luckily, we don't mind traveling separately to meet needs and desires that we don't necessarily share.
And also luckily, we both enjoy long days of biking in the countryside, meeting new people and seeing old things together. Our journey through France was another good trip.
Ken is ready to fly to Minneapolis tomorrow. I'm ready to fly to Nuremberg and meet my buddies for a week of biking and barging on the Main River. We are both ready to get back to home, family, and friends.
