Water Lilies

Yesterday morning, I went to The Musée de l'Orangerie, which is home to some of Monet's famous Water lilies.

It is hidden in a corner of the The Tuileries Garden right along the bank of the Seine. It was a very interesting musuem, somewhat spaceship-like.

It was a wonderful place, however, they were out of english maps and english audio guides so I didn't know where I was or what I was looking at.

After I managed to find my way out of the museum, I wandered up the Champs-Elysses (but not too far up) then back down along the river, stopping to watch painters creating scenes of the Seine.

Day of the Dead

It was a beautiful, sunny summer day in the city of love. As I awoke that morning with the happy sun streaming through my windows, I thought to myself, what can I do that would capture the loveliness of this Parisian day? A walk down the Seine? A stroll through the Luxembourg Gardens? A bistro meal at an outdoor cafe?

...A trip to the Cemetery?

While the French are known for their "Joie de vivre," they certianly take good care of their dead.

I went to the Père-Lachaise cemetary to find the graves of famous icons buiried in the best city to live (and die in).

I had a map, but was able to find the graves easily by looking for the hordes of people, except at lonley Gertruide Stiens grave.

It was interesting to see the graves of famous icons, but it was even more interesting to see how previous passers-by had payed their respects.

Oscar Wilde's grave was covered in red lips and thank-yous, amists and ignored sign to respect the grave and not deface it.

Jim Morrison's grave, behind a barracade and surrounded by tattered tee wearing teens making their pilgramage, was filled with empty beer cans.

In contrast, Gertruide Steins grave was immaculate and plain, and although her partener, Alice Toklas is buired beside her, her name is carved on the back like a hidden afterthought.

The cemetary was also home to many heartbreaking Holocaust memorials, graphically depicting the pain that the Jewish had felt durning the occupation and the war.

Edith Piaf is laid in a nondescript black family grave, surrounded by a bunch of frenchies singing "La Vie en rose"

Finally I visited the famous composer, Fredrick Chopin's grave and thanked him for the soundtrack to my childhood.

It was the most famous people I'd ever seen in a single day...does that count?

GUERNICA

The sun baked streets of Barcelona had lured my professor in so, in a move only fit for a true Suffolk professor, he cancelled class. So today, I decided to culturally educate myself and went to the Renia Sophia Museum that sits, a little out of place in all of it's modern glory, just across the tree lined street from the famed Prado.

The museum, much bigger than I imagine, was a web of modern glass structures that seamlessly meshed into the old stone facade. I spent awhile wandering around, looking at the different installations and collections. It was an interesting mix of old school and modern art. I then spent a much longer while circling around the different floors, gladly taking the glass elevator to see elevated views of the city, to find Picasso's famous war protesting painting, The Guernica. For such a famous painting, it was hidden far in the depths of the museum.

I eventually found it, though, by following the sound of the dull murmur that emitted from the people who had better luck finding it than I. It was a shock to come around a nondescript corner after thirty minutes of lapping the building and be face to face with this gigantic black and white painting that seemed to scream at you.

It was the only painting in the stark white room, and dozens of onlookers were crammed together looking at it, and studying it, almost anticipating movement, it seemed like.

Two security guards sat on each side of the painting, dwarfed by the canvas and looking wholly unenthused. However, I thought it must be an interesting job. To be able, to actually have to observe the reactions of the hoards of people upon seeing this monstrous, emotional, world famous painting for the first time.

It's a very interesting painting, it's messy and busy and one can't help but become completely immersed in it. A common theme in the Renia Sophia apparently is that everything is bigger than you anticipate. The huge painting in all of its black and white glory took up the entire wall of the room.

The Renia Sophia is a great place to get lost in, and to get out of the midday Spanish heat