Yesterday, Sunday, a friend from Oregon arrived and is staying with me for three days. It's really nice to have someone to talk to and to jazz around with.
Monday, we went to a museum which is housed in part of the painter Eugene Delacroix's apartment and studio. He painted there in the mid and later 1800's. It was interesting, but the thing I liked the best is, of course, his studio. It's been so amazing to me, in my haunting of all these artist's studios....how they all either added or adapted large rooms, with walls of windows and high high sky lights to make studios for painting.....collecting all the light they could possibly glean from the open spaces around them. I can't imagine what it would cost today to add huge walls of windows and massive sky lights to your house or apartment. Maybe it cost a lot then too.....
In general, Delacroix isn't a painter whose style I'm drawn to. He was hugely popular, prolific and successful...one of the most famous painters of his time. Here are a couple of his paintings which were at this museum that I particularly liked. The first one is Mary Magdalen in the Wilderness and the second one is a watercolor of a Bouquet of Flowers
There was a lovely inner courtyard which was so quiet.... The picture below is of the studio...you can't see the sky light on the roof - but the huge windows are so beautiful inside and out.
After leaving this place we made our way up to the Bon Marche. Marylynd, my friend, wanted particularly to see the area of the Bon Marche where they sell all kinds of foods....it's really something, considering the Bon Marche is like a huge department store, to have this amazing food section. On the way, we came across some interesting sites... A very weird statue in the middle of the street....a perfect little park tucked between two buildings..................
....a massive cathedral - St. Augustin....
then....there was an open door from the street....so naturally we had to go in to see what was hidden back there....and it was a graceful stairway...sweeping up to...who knows what.....
We finally got to the Bon Marche. The first picture is of an art deco stairway... then a couple of food displays...
OK, this beer display is for a few guys I know....you know who you are.... they are not cold...but I had to stand there for a long time waiting for the guys to get out of the way, who kept stopping and standing there looking for long periods of time....so I figure it must be a pretty good selection.....
There was the most amazing display of pastas....in every shape and color you could imagine....fantastic!
Then we went up to the cafe and had lunch. My Asain noodle salad was served in such an interesting way. There was this metal frame which held the salad in it's glass cone, the dressing in it's test tube and there was a slot specifically for the petit bagette which was served with it. I've never seen anything quite like it.....Oh, and it was delicious!
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