The weather forecast for today was rain every hour but I was lucky enough to miss it in the morning. My plan was to go to the Musee de L'Orangerie so I walked there except I ended up at Jeu de Paume (oh come on, they're right across from each other). I don't know that museum and don't carry a guide book but I noticed they had a Weiwei exhibit that is closing tomorrow. There was a long line so I walked over to L'Orangerie. That had a long line too but it moved fairly quickly. I certainly can see why people buy tickets in advance; you just walk into all the museums. L'Orangerie is a delightful museum--it has three round rooms full of Monet's Water Lilies. Not his best ones which are in New York, but some ok ones. Also a lot of Renoir, Cezanne, Rousseau, etc. Because I had energy, I walked back to Jeu de Paume where there was no line, and got a 3,5 Euro discount for being old. The Weiwei was incredible--pictures from when he was in New York in 1987, video installations, some of his Twitter collection which he started when his blog was taken down. The other photographer on display was Berenice Abbott who I didn't know but people who know photography do, I'm sure. There were great pictures of New York in the 20s and 30s--my understanding is she was a famous architectural photographer.
I also found out today that where I live is depicted in a Toulouse-Lautrec painting called "Salon de la rue des Moulins" which was at 6 Rue des Moulins (I'm at 8).. Just like my landlady said, my room was part of that brothel, called The White Flower, before it was closed. So if you ever see that painting, you can say, "I know someone who stayed there."
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