Paris Sunday 27 April, Day 4

We woke up at first light this morning to clear skies.  It looked like a beautiful day so after breakfast we launched off towards the Musee D'Orsay without raincoats or umbrella, and got a good dousing as it rained steadily the whole way. But lovely little streets and  a very quiet early Sunday feeling.

We got to the Musee before opening time, and queued up in the rain, exchanging shrugs of Gallic resignation with fellow queue-es, contemplating the marvellously florid allegorical statues of the six continents, each represented by a well endowed lassie.

Once inside first stop was the Van Gogh exhibition, "Van Gogh/Artaud The Man Suicided by Society".  Not entirely sure that the accompanying texts added a huge amount of value to the paintings. Lovely collection of his drawings and a letter to Theo with a drawing incorporated.

I like the building of the Musee D'Orsay - very like the huge mouldering factories on the outskirts of Paris that you see on the train coming in from Charles de Gaul. Art on an industrial scale.

We spent the rest of the morning working our way industriously through the impressionists and post impressíonist galleries. A group of French wunderkinds - maybe about 8 years old - came through while we were up on the 5th floor - incredibly excited and enthusiastic about the paintings.

Being Sunday many places were shut. Close by the Musee we passed an epicerie where Anne suggested we buy some lunch provisions. I foolishly said we should wait till closer to the hotel and of course everything close to the hotel seemed to be shut. The rain set in and we retreated indoors a bit tired, damp and lunch-less.  Anne launched out after a while in an equally fruitless search and returned empty handed. We decided to make one last effort, headed out the door and just about bumped into a charming young waitress bearing menus for the tables set up in the open space outside the Odeon Theatre - so we had a lovely lunch and glass of wine right on our doorstep. The sun came out and the sky cleared to a brilliant blue while we ate, then as if on cue darkened again and began to rain just as we finished, so we trotted the twenty paces back to the hotel, and settled down for a siesta.

When I was in Japan earlier this year I seemed to often eat in Italian restaurants. To even the karmic balance, now I am in France I will eat in Japanese restaurants. And when I go to Italy I can eat in French restaurants. Maybe not. But there are a bunch of nice looking Japanese restaurants up Rue de Monsieur Le Prince nearby, and we had a very pleasant meal and a Demi bottle of Sancerre in one of them tonight. After dinner we went for a stroll over past the Pantheon, and discovered L'eglise Saint-Etienne du Mont, a wonderfully eclectic building with an extraordinary history. Here is a not very good photo of the façade

We will have to go back when it is open.