Paris When it Sizzles

The day after Julia left to go back to the United States, Meg and I hopped on a train heading to Paris. The first day we got to Paris we didn't do anything "touristy" we went out had and had a fantastic time roaming around the city just for fun. I can't show you because those pictures were all on my now stolen iphone :( So let's move on to Day 2.

We went with our new friend Jennifer from our hostel to the Musee de L'Orangerie. We originally went to go see Monet's collection of Water Lilies, which were fantastic I definitely recommend a trip. But once again we were not allowed to take pictures. After we finished adoring the Water Lilies we went downstairs to The Jean Walter & Paul Guillaume Collection, which held a wide selection from several different artists including: Renoir, Cezanne, Modigliani, Matisse, Picasso, Derain, and Soutine just to name a few.

Paul Guillaume was a well known art dealer and collector, so the first stop downstairs were the Replica Interiors.

Next we walked through a long hallway filled only with Renior's

 

 

I always love all the fruits and veggies.

Next up was Cezanne

Then my favorite Pablo Picasso

And Matisse

And a female artist I was unfamiliar with, Marie Laurencin.

This is the "Arlequin et Pierrot" by Andre Derain circa 1923

Enter the room of Rousseau

^ Soutine

The collection was an interesting group mostly representing art from modern Classicism and Impressionism. It was really inspiring.

After Musee de L'Orangerie we made our way over to the Petit Palais.

And passed the Eiffel tower along the way... I could never have enough pictures of this.

I was cornered by Gypsies on the way there which was a little nerve rattling but luckily they didn't get anything. If I thought I were going to be robbed I definitely would've guessed it would be in Paris, not in Cannes...

Tada we made it! It isn't so Petit looking to me...and thankfully there was no wait!

Meg and I decided to skip the permanent collection, for now, and go to the current exhibit they were having of Paris in the 1900's. Instead of offering an audio guide they offered a free phone app "Paris 1900" that gave you all the information you could want! You can download it even if you don't go to the museum. I was going to make this a separate post but since we did both of these Museums in one day I figured why not lump it all together.  See how touristy and cultural we are! 

Welcome to Paris in the 1900's

The original design for the Metro entrances.

I love the old timey French posters, they remind of the posters my grandparents used to have hanging in their house.

I loved this case of trinkets

But my favorite part always ends up being the clothes. I love seeing them and trying to imagine myself ever wearing something like it.

I would totally rock this jacket today, so fashionable.

Everybody needs a good cape

I definitely can't imagine wearing any of the shoes. They look extremely uncomfortable.

Paris by night in the 1900's

There was a bit of a racy alcove that included this sex chair. The little room was filled with pictures and things depicting what the Prostitution life was like for Parisians in the 1900's. It was mostly naked pictures of prostitutes which I didn't really take many pictures of. I didn't want to be offensive. 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec poster

Marcelle Lender Dancing the Bolero in "Chilpéric" by Toulouse-Lautrec. This painting is on loan from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. So now I've seen it in DC and in Paris. ;)

I love a good headdress, who doesn't?

We originally planned to go through the permanent collection after the Paris 1900's exhibit but we were exhausted.

We met our friend Jennifer outside in the Petit Palais Courtyard, she went through the permanent collection instead, and decided to head back to the hostel. 
 

It was an exhausting but fantastic day. We were whipped out from all the cultural and educational intake so we went back to the hostel for a pre-dinner nap. We were staying at the Louvre hostel which was in the perfect location, but was sorely lacking in its amenities. It did not have air conditioning so it was deathly hot in our rooms.  Jennifer and I had to resort to napping on the cold marble floor just to get a little relief.