Day 85 With a little more digging

We have used many sources to seek out the lesser-known places in the cities we have visited and Daniele, the owner of the apartment we have rented became a great source of information about Paris. We had previously visited the Louvre and this time we were planning to visit at least one of the other famous art galleries in Paris, The Musee d’ Orsay. Our local expert was able to mark on a map another lesser known gallery where we could find a really remarkable exhibition of impressionist art; a gallery called the Musee de l’Orangerie.

Because the weather was again a little cool and bleak we were pleased to arrive at the gallery right on opening time and avoid a long wait in the rain. The building was originally part of the palace gardens but has since been renovated to display Monet’s eight huge canvases called Les Nympheas which follow a common theme; waterlilies. The paintings line the rounded walls of two rooms that form a double ellipse. The largest of these paintings is over 18 metres long. Without the crowds of the major galleries we were able to enjoy Monet’s greatest works in relative peace. We were also able to appreciate these wonderful works all the more because we had actually been standing in Monet’s garden the previous day.

Speaking of maps we probably need to confess that there have been several wonderful places that we have missed because in spite of a trusty tourist map we just could not find them. Sometimes the maps are a slightly inaccurate. Often middle-aged eyes miss the odd detail. Occasionally we pay the penalty for holding the map upside down and then sometimes we write down the address incorrectly which does not help. On Day 82 we had failed in our jaunt through the Latin Quarter to find a famous English bookshop called Shakespeare and Company. On Day 84 we again went looking for this Paris landmark, we almost missed it again but eventually we found this real treasure. This bookshop is over 60 years old and has a quirky and fascinating collection of old and new books in a tiny shop quite close to the River Seine. The shop looks like an old house and it contains almost twice as many books as it really has room to hold. But the atmosphere, the clientele, the books, and in short the ‘vibe’ of this place made it a real find.

Paris is a city that is filled with treasures. Many of these are clearly evident for everyone to see, but with a little digging and a degree of perseverance, rarer finds can be made, which are even more precious.