Paris...the fourth installment

Okay. I'm back for one last kick at the blogger can before I pack the computer. At the moment, the next couple of weeks are a little up in the air, quasi Limbo-esque, so please be patient.

Today's theme is Art & Life.

Metro and I visited L'espace Dali in Montmartre. If you get the chance...well, to be in Paris...go to this museum (even though it's not on the Museum Pass).

To the right is a piece of Dali's mirror art. Very cool.

The best thing to spend your money on in Paris, besides the cheese and wine, is the Museum Pass. Anecdotal evidence of its fabulousness:

• During my first visit to Paris, I had a leisurely lunch around the corner from Musee d'Orsay, then wandered past the 40-minute lineup to enter at the gift shop entrance.
• I discovered my favourite museum (the oft-mentioned Museum of the Middle Ages) in Paris by toodling past, checking it on the list ("Yup, it's included!") and going in.
  
• I visited the Louvre on Easter weekend, this time bypassing a lineup that meandered around the pyramid, and into the next courtyard -- at least a 2-hour definition of hell -- by popping into the side entrance on the Richelieu side (in the underpass from Rue de Rivoli). Visit the Louvre on a couple of different days, and relieve the pressure of trying to see it all at once.
• On this visit, I was able to slip into the Sainte-Chapelle an extra time to sit and watch the looks of wonder appear on people's faces as they climbed out of that medieval stairwell.
• Climb the towers of Notre Dame. See the archeaological dig under the Notre Dame plaza. Climb l'Arc de Triomphe.
• Don't wait in line at Versailles.

And we of course visited the musee d'Orsay -- the mecca for lovers of Impressionists and Post-Impressionists (on the Museum Pass).

Some art-lovers in the larval stage.







My "Name the Toulouse Lautrec Painting" Contest -- Which painting features this wacky detail?









And if you go to Paris and do not visit the Rodin Museum, you have missed one of the most amazing experiences of your life. And, as an added bonus, it's included on the Museum Pass. (Have I mentioned the Museum Pass?)

Here is his infamous statue of Balzac (apologies for the lighting). And here, a detail from his Gates of Hell.



















Next is not really Art -- or is it? The Pantheon is a wonderful building...full of pomp, history, and dead famous people. And home to Foucault's Pendulum.

Not worth the price of admission though, really...unless of course you have the Museum Pass, then it's utterly cool.







And, what you've all been waiting for, Metro himself, in what I think is a brilliant tourist shot of the awe inspired by la Sainte-Chapelle:
He's reading the card provided that tries to tell you about the stained glass -- "in the third lancet, on the eight level...."




What? You can't quite see his face? Okay, here is Mr. Cowfish himself, as we walk up our street towards the Seine, and our apartment.

Here is what he notices -- a picture he took of truck parking (the sign & the reality).


And my favourite tourist shot of all...me, buying a book from a vending machine. How cool is that?!?











Whew! Well, I don't know when I'll be blogging again, but it shouldn't be too long of a wait. Leave comments, and maybe I'll be inspired to come back sooner!

On to our new life in Penticton!

Talk to you soon.

Lori