47 Years Later

Finally Alan has been forgiven for not taking me to visit the Louvre in 1964 when we visited Paris on our honeymoon trip.  Today he has really excelled himself in being patient and understanding - even giving up lunch without a wimper so I could visit both the Louvre and the Musee D'Orsay and feast on all the Masterpieces I have dreamed of seeing since Mr. McCann my High School Art Teacher introduced me to art.

The thing that leaves us speechless is the way tourists turn up in their hordes to visit the attractions of Paris despite the appauling treatment meted out to them by the people who run these places.  There seems to be a conspiracy to ensure the poor tourist has no idea of the way things work, where they have to go, or what they have to do to enjoy the attraction for which they have paid.  Then if the poor tourist dares to ask what is required after he has been studiously ignored, he is treated with absolute derision! 

However we did see all the "Great Masterpieces" including the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory and the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, yet watching the frenzy of people all pushing to the front to hold up their camera just so they could say they had seen Mona was in the end a spectacle not to be missed.  What an insight into the behaviour of a crowd of people who have been programmed to believe that something is really good and really important.  I wondered how many of these people would have stopped to give a second glance without that programming of their minds.  Oh how I wished I could have a commoddity the world believed in in this way!

With the Impressionist Gallery to visit at The Musee D'Orsay there just wasn't time for lunch so off we went.  It ocurred to me that for Alan who has never painted, or studied art this must have been about as exciting as a motor museum is for me.  Although I suppose he was able to appreciate many of the paintings in the superficial way I enjoy the novelty of vintage cars.

It was definately a "pinch me" kind of experience to walk slowly past so many of the world famous masterpieces by such people as Van Gough, Monet, Renior and Degas.  My back was in agony from all the slow walking and standing and when Alan gave me a discreet back massage there were a few strange looks.  Nobody in Paris seems to have a sense of humour, or enjoy having any kind of social interaction with other people they meet - if you smile at someone who walks into a room or crosses your path they just look right through you almost always.

We found a nice place to have dinner and it was very good and most welcome for Alan.  He was surprised that as he paid the bill I managed to make two new "best friends".  As I stood up from the table I noticed a lady taking a photo of her husband sitting at the table and asked if she would like me to take a picture of the two of them.  They were American and he turned out to be a Pastor in a Pentecostal Church in Louisanna.  I think the waiter and the barman thought we were insane as we ended up almost having a party we were both so glad to find people who spoke English and were friendly.  The looks on their faces when we started taking photos of each other was funny, but you should have seen them when the American lady took about four pictures of their goldfish swimming in a bowl on the bar.

Finding the Metro Station to come home proved to be quite an adventure in itself before we began the fun of discovering that putting the ticket in the barrier doesn't actually open the barrier - you still need to give it and the gate beyond a firm push.  We were very glad to arrive home and have a nice hot drink and come up to our haven at last after a LONG day.