Musee Marmottan Monet

Sunday, April 22, 2012

The sun was shining most of the day…but we got caught in one rainstorm!  Our morning was busy at the local Laundromat…we did three loads of wash in preparation for our move tomorrow.  That took most of the morning; but Jim stayed with me and we both read our books so the time went pretty fast.  The place was very busy with locals and tourists doing their weekly laundry.  We’ve been washing things out daily but needed a real laundry day before starting the next part of our adventure.

At noon we caught the Metro to the 16^th arrondissement to visit the Musee Marmottan Monet.  The Marmottan family was wealthy and collected enough art to create a museum out of their home.  Monet’s son donated all of his collection that he’d inherited from his father to the museum and it became one of the greatest single collections of Monet paintings.

When we arrived we discovered that we had an additional bonus in store; there was a special exhibition of Berthe Morisot’s work.  She was one of the first of the female Impressionist artists.  They had collected her works from major museum all over the world for this exhibition.  We spent nearly two hours viewing the works of two major impressionist artists.  

We walked through the park to the Metro station and headed back to the apartment to find some lunch.  We’ve been trying to use everything before we leave so have decided to purchase something pre-cooked.  Oops…it’s after 2 pm and since it is Sunday…everything is already closed.  So we picked up our computers and headed for McDonalds.  Had some sandwiches but the Internet is still not working for us.  So, when we finished we walked to our park and just as we were connecting…the rainstorm hit!  We rushed out of the park with everyone else and headed home with our umbrellas pinging as the hail bounced off of them.

About 4:30 pm we again set out for the Metro; this time to Les Halles and St. Eustache; arriving just before 5:30 pm when the Organ recital began.  We enjoyed a wonderful half hour of Mozart played by the organist on the huge church organ.

At 6 pm…the concert was over, more than half of the people left and we stayed for the 6 pm high Mass.  There were six priests celebrating the Mass; the wonderful organ and a cantor that brought tears to your eyes he was so good.  A wonderful experience completed after Mass with another five minutes of “rifs” ….improvisions… by the organist.