Thursday, September 25, 2008

L'Orangerie & Tuileries

Monday was museum day.  

(P.S.  In SSG's universe, she would make EVERY DAY museum day.)

This is the Musee de l'Orangerie.  L'Orangerie used to be the royal greenhouse for kings that lived in what is now the Louvre.  More specifically, they'd keep the palace's citrus trees here during the winter.  If I die, I'd like to come back as a royal citrus tree in Paris, okay?  Thanks.



This "greenhouse" now holds some different garden items.  


When SSG was in college, she went through a MONET phase.  She had a "Water Lilies" comforter and Monet prints EVERYWHERE.  The year before she had gone through a sunflower phase, but we won't talk about that because Spleen (her dorm roommate) has spent a lot of years trying to forget that era.  Spleen likes to call that period  "Sunflower Barfed Over Dorm Room."

Where was I again?  

Oh yeah.  MONET.  

L'Orangerie houses the largest collection of Claude Monet's Water Lilies series.

And they were LOVELY.  A lot of people had told SSG how BIG they were.  That SSG would NOT be prepared for how HUGE the paintings were.  SSG scoffed.  She knew exactly how big the paintings were, she used to have a college dorm room that Monet had barfed all over. 

Let me tell you something.  SSG was NOT prepared for how BIG the canvases were.


The slightly curved walls of L'Orangerie, it's crisp white floors, arched doorways and sun pouring in through skylights made SSG very, very happy.

That is until she couldn't get her camera to focus.  She took this shot OVER and OVER again before realizing ... 


OH YEAH.  It's a MONET.

It was time for a drink.

This was a charming little cafe in the gardens that are adjacent to the L'Orangerie.  And this was the charming little cafe where the waiter was NOT so charming.  And where a soda cost EIGHT EURO, but a glass of wine only cost TWO.  

On second thought, maybe this was SSG's favorite place.  Like ever.


The Jardin des Tuileries was beautiful.  We strolled on vast gravel pathways, walking past fountains ...


And pretty benches ... 

Side note:  SSG is a firm believer in having LOTS of pretty places to sit and rest her feet and is glad Paris agrees.


And artists selling their paintings ... 


And while all of that was amazing, it was nothing compared to this place ...

Up next ... THE LOUVRE. 

Snapshot of Coco:

Here Comes the Sun (Nina Simone)
Into the Mystic (Van Morrison)
Strawberry Fields (Ben Harper)
Anticipation (Carly Simon)
These Are Days (10,000 Maniacs)

11 comments:

Bella Della said...

So beautiful! Those Monet's are huge! I can't imagine them in person. I have to confess that I also went through a sunflower phase in college and it may have spilled into my first apartment's kitchen. Scary! Sunflowers are good in moderation.

You have mentioned- how was the shoe situation going in Paris? Glad there were lots of benches, huh?

(Sometimes!) Serendipitous Girl said...

The shoes were great! It was just the feet IN them that hadn't been used to that much action. I brought two pairs of flats and they were comfy, no blisters, etc we just walked EVERYWHERE, so after a few hours it was nice to pause for a few minutes and take a look at our beautiful surroundings!

Big Hair Envy said...

I just read Coco's first two songs and got chill bumps! I'm totally in love with her.

I'm still in my impressionist phase. Is that wrong?

When did you say WE were going to Paris?

Adventure girl said...

I am confused,as usual, are you there right now?
I love Monet, the wrap around was devine. Can't wait to see more!

Anonymous said...

OMG! Coco is sooooo HOT! 10,000 Maniacs was a member of the lets sing to Wah-Dah-Tay in Paris crowd when I was galavanting around over there! As if the memories were not enough, now the soundtrack pops up! FABULOUS!!!

So, did the Hot crawl out of his sleeping back totally naked and asking for me? Jeeze, that happens all the time. Sorry about that.

I know all about the size of the paintings too! Ginormous! It is so difficult to explain to people how incredibly large those things are. However, it also explains why some of the greatest artists of all time are a little across the line on the sanity meter. Thank goodness for that!

Speaking of Ginormous, lets go back to the Hot Italian guy crawling naked out of the sleeping bag.....(just kidding!)

Anonymous said...

Side note: Notice how I tied yesterdays blog in with today's for the associative use of the large paintings. Now that is skill!!! I think I am on to something here, maybe I should start a seedy romance blog. Hmmmm, what would I call it? Something Phalyc?

(Sometimes!) Serendipitous Girl said...

@ BHE - Say the word and I'm on a flight with you@

@ Adventure Girl - No, sadly I came back on the 16th and am just forcing everyone to relive EVERY single second of my trip!

@ Wah-dah-tay - Nice tie in! And YES, you need a blog. In fact, I'm not making you another lemon drop until you start one! Not that I ever DO make you lemon drops, but you get what I'm saying.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tour.

HalfAsstic.com said...

Well I'm glad I made it back on the grid in time to see what all you've been doing! Sounds like a blast!
I'm surprised they let you take pictures of the Monet paintings... But I can't really think why not.

Lys said...

Those paintings are beyond impressive.

I concur with the withholding of lemon drops until Wade starts a blog!

(Sometimes!) Serendipitous Girl said...

@ Carolyn - You're welcome! Thanks for stopping by!

@ HalfAsstic - WELCOME BACK from the hurricane, lady! I'm so glad you're safe and sound.

@ Lys - The only problem with my logic is that I NEVER make him lemon drops. Damn him and Jimmy for taking such good care of me ... it gives me NO leverage.