Paris 3 Days trip December 2011
Popped over to Paris escorting a very nice group of teachers and students from the Midlands for a three-day cultural tour. Paris was busy, as ever, with visitors, and plenty going on with Christmas markets on the Champs Elysees and the Trocadero, a Big Wheel on the Place de la Concorde, etc. My first visit to the Musee d'Orsay, where highlights for me included Rodin's beautiful sculpture "La Pensee", Gustave Caillebotte's "Raboteurs de Parquet" and Emile Friant's "La Toussaint". The Galeries Lafayette was hell on wheels - like Oxford Street Christmas shopping, and more - I fled to a nearby cafe for a latte! We also visited the Louvre, and I had time to closely study Veronese's large painting "Supper at Emmaus". When we moved on to the Palace of Versailles I was fascinated to see a copy there, and how even a largely successful copy does not capture the life and soul of the master's work it emulates... On our last day we had a guided tour of the Opera Garnier, which made me want to re-read those 19th century French novels I enjoyed in my twenties! The auditorum domed ceiling by Chagall was a wonderful surprise.