Art, Sculpture, Ice Cream, Bi Bim Bap, Art

That pretty much sums up the day. We started in the Musee de l'Orangerie, which houses the famous installation of Monet's Water Lilies. We stayed there a long time, as everyone was suitably impressed, even moved, by both the huge canvases themselves as well as the dedication of an 80 year old, nearly blind man working for 12 years on this final, epic effort.






Then we wandered downstairs, where there was a model of the apartment of the art collector whose collection comprises the museum. I was going to do a little trick and say it was a shot of the interior of the place we're staying and then pull back to show you the scale...but I know you wouldn't fall for that.



After the Orangerie, we picnicked in the Tuileries gardens and then walked over to the Rodin Museum. It was nice to visit my favorite Rodin in the gardens there:

...and to rest for a while in the tranquil gardens out behind the museum. We all took a chair and just relaxed for a little while.



Next destination was to head back to Berthillon for our ice cream of the day. :) It was, once again, perfect. My salted butter caramel and Grand Marnier double scoop was so good, and others in the group got wild strawberry, blueberry, coconut, dark chocolate, mandarine....I can't remember what else. We headed home along the Seine, enjoying the late afternoon sunlight and looking around us at the endless parade of interesting people and shops. In order to pass the time, I've been giving Anna and now Kayla little photo scavenger hunt assignments and it's going pretty well. I'll publish the list of all the things she found near the end of our trip. We made a quick stop at the grocery store to buy some necessary items, one of which Kate proudly carried all the way home.

After a Bora-made dinner of bi bim bop at our apartment, the grown-ups headed back out to the Louvre, which was open late tonight. We visited some of our favorites from the other day, then rushed over to another wing to see the two Vermeers they have, right before closing. As we rushed, we realized with a bit of awe how much we'd missed - entire rooms and wings we hadn't even entered...yet. We keep saying we'll come back, and we might make it back before we leave, perhaps. But one of the great things about visiting a place like Paris is that before it's time to head home, you can already start compiling the list of things to do next time.