Back in Paris

Well I'm back in Paris and things continue to go well. My apartment is great and well placed in Les Gobelins (weavers, not the little fairy guys). I went to the Louvre and L'Orangerie today. No waiting because I got a museum pass and I arrived at the Louvre at 8.50am and just had to wait for the 9.00am opening. I saw so many masters' works that I am in danger of not appreciating them enough. L'Orangerie had the Monet water lily series (amazing in scope and scale) and then works by Picasso, Manet, Pisarro, Matisse, Renoir, Gaugin, Modigliani, Cezanne etc (what's not to like).

Tomorrow I am planning to go to Musee D'Orsay if the strikes don't interfere; Versailles on Wednesday and then off to Scotland on Thursday, as long as the air traffic controllers and fuel people only take it out on Air France and not other airlines. We shall see.

I am back to being on my own. It's OK: I miss some of the company that I had on the trip but at least I can do things in my own time.

On Saturday I went to Giverney to see the Monet house and gardens. We were there early and the weather was beautiful. The water lily pond was like glass and there were lots of flowers out. What a magical place this is. The house and studio were good to see with its yellow dining room and blue kitchen. What is also amazing is that towards the end of his life, Monet could not recognise colours and in a sense had to translate colours from memory to his work.

I know I am using a lot of superlatives in my blog but I am seeing so many things that I had only read about before and it is truly wonderful to see them in real life. In this sense it has been a really wonderful trip.

I am receiving emails but cannot send a reply for some reason. I hope to rectify that when I find the cause. Sorry if you are relying on emails to communicate.