This was a day of walking, mostly! After a substantial breakfast at another cafe on the Place, we headed toward the Arc de Triomphe to begin today's journey. Today we used our maps to get around and had a fairly easy time finding our destinations. At the Place de l'Etoile we ogled the confusion, , the crowds and the ever frenetic traffic! Fortunately there's an underground passage to get to the Arc! We easily found Avenue Friedland which turned into Avenue Haussmann and from there strolled to #158 the Jacquemart-Andre Museum. I read about this Museum mansion in PARIS in LOVE, a memoir by Eloisa James, a professeur of English at Fordham, who lived on sabbatical. for a year in Paris with her husband and children. This museum was her favorite!
This was actually the lavish home of a wealthy, art-loving 19th century couple, Edouard Andre and Nelie Jacquemart. They spent their lives and their fortune (he was from a family of successful Protestant bankers, she was a daughter-after portrait painter) designing, building and decorating this mansion. During their travels, they bought paintings by Rembrandt, Botticelli, Uccello, Fragonard, Van Dyck and others. Other beautiful purchases included tapestries, exotic curios and ceiling paintings.
They entertained up to 1,000 people at a time in the Antechamber with chandeliers, red velvet walls and gilded trim. The Grand Salon was the central focus for their parties. The Music Room contains balconies above the room where the band played. Beyond is the Winter Room with skylights and exotic plants and then the Smoking Room. Up either of two marble, curving stairways are the art galleries and Nelie's studio. Downstairs are the couple's Private Apartments, separate bedrooms with a room in between for breakfast! WOW!
Next stop was the department store Printemps where we were treated to a view of the city from the ninth floor terrace. There is a stunning overlook of the old Opera district and an unobstructed view of Montmartre. A good place to "chill" for a bit!
Our next stop was unexpected....on our way to the Orangerie Museum, we found ourselves at the Place de la Madeleine, where the Madeleine church dominates the center with its 52 65-foot Corinthian columns. Then we were on to the Place de la Concorde, the Oblisk and the Orangerie at the end of the Tuileries Garden.
At the Orangerie we were mesmerized by the complete series of Monet's Water Liles paintings displayed in oval rooms with a tall skylight overhead drenching the Water Lilies in natural light. These 8 mammoth canvases are 6 feet tall each featuring different parts of the pond at Giverny, at different angles, and times of day. It took Monet 12 years while suffering from cataracts to complete the series between the ages of 73 and 85. The rest of the museum included paintings by Renoir, Cezanne, Picasso, Matisse, Derain, Modigliani and Utrillo. Peter really appreciated all of the chairs and benches in the museum!
We Ubered back to the apartment, got ready to go out and then took the Metro to the Gare de l'Est and walked to meet a friend, Jeff Sautin, brother-in- law of John Giorgio. He and his wife, Sarah, Mary's sister, have an apartment in Paris. Unfortunately, Sarah was in the south of France so we were not able to see her. After wine and appetizers, we walked to Brasserie Flo, a favorite of Jeff's, for dinner and more conversation. Excellent dinner AND conversation. We Ubered home and fell into bed at 11!!
Today we walked 8 plus miles for the second day in a row!
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