Here's a "forgotten" blog which I found in my drafts! When Jen and Ben visited us in the winter, we took a day-trip to Figueres to see the Teatre-Museu Dali, which was pretty wild! Dali, born in 1904, lived over half of his adult life in Port Lligat, east of Figueres on the coast (see earlier blog). Between 1961 and 1974, Dali converted the former municipal theatre, ruined by a fire at the end of the civil war in 1939, into his own personal museum, a multidimensional trip through one of the most fertile imaginations of the 20th century. It is full of surprises, tricks, illusions not to mention many of his life's works in painting and sculptures. Definitely worth more than one visit in a lifetime! Below the facade of the building with Dali's trademark egg shapes.
Dali's final resting place
Memorable works of art...
The face of Abraham Lincoln made up of hundreds of separate panels, each a picture in its own right, dominates an interior room in the museum.
Interior garden area with statues using a fishing boat, old tires and an early Cadillac called "Taxi Plujos". Put a coin in the slot and water washed all over the interior of the car!
The famous melting clock motif
Next door is the Owen Cheatham collection of 37jewels, designed by Dali, including the Cor Reial (Royal Heart), which actually beats!
While in Paris, you have to go to the Louvre, even if you have been before! So I lined up with lots of other folks on a crispy sunny day waiting for the doors to open at 9 a.m.! How naive I was to think there would be no one there in the middle of the winter...Below are some of the highlights of my three hours spent there:
Napoleon's Throne Chair
View from the 2nd floor window of the opposite wing of the Louvre
The Eiffel Tower and Les Tuileries from the 2nd floor
The Last Supper by Frans II Pourbus 1618
L'Adoration des Bergers by Jusepe de Ribera 1650
L'Annonciation by Guido Reni ~1629
Le Repentir de Saint Joseph by Alessandro Tiarini 1617-19
Artist copying La Peche by Annibale Carracki 1585-88
Les Pelerins d'Emmaiis by Tiziano Vecellio (Titien) ~1530. Note the salt in the shape of a pyramid: "You are the salt of the earth". Jesus is shown here with Luke and Cleophas.
Wedding at Cana by Paola Caliari 1562-3
And of course...Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci...behind bullet-proof glass, on her own wall in the middle of the Salle des Etats about 20 feet+ back from the wooden railing...she appears to be smaller than ever!
Finally, Winged Victory (2nd Century B.C. marble statue of the Greek goddess Nike)
Friends of ours who live in Paris have a season's pass to the Louvre and are methodically checking off their favourite rooms. It's estimated that it would take at least nine months to even just glance at every piece of artwork in the world's largest museum! Bonne chance!
I've sort of lost count of the number of times I have had the wonderful occasion to spend time in Paris, more than 4, but probably less than 8, however I never tire of it. There is something magical about the city, its beautiful buildings and grand boulevards, the Seine meandering along with houseboats tied up along the banks, the outdoor cafes (full even on a cold winter's day!), the art, the statues, the window-shopping and oh! the food!
Pat and I left Barcelona on Saturday, January 23rd on a morning flight to Charles de Gaulle airport and checked into the Hotel de Noailles near the Opera, an area that I didn't know very well, but which I found to be central and close to the Metro. The hotel is just down the street from Coty's head office. After an expensive (and not so very good) lunch at the famous Cafe de la Paix, we spent an hour at the Musee de L'Orangerie to see Claude Monet's renowned "Waterlilies".
The following morning we attended mass at Notre Dame Cathedral at 11:30 a.m., spending time afterwards exploring the Church.
The Christmas Creche
After Church, a delicious lunch at the Brasserie de St. Louis (2 pictures below) on the adjacent island. We walked along the main street to get ice cream at the famous Berthillon ice cream shop (despite the gray damp 3 degree temperature) then caught a taxi to bring us up to the Dali Espece Museum at Montmartre. Living in Spain near "Dali Country", we were keen to see what was there! Definitely a worthwhile visit if you like Dali's quirky art and sculptures!
One afternoon while Pat was in meetings, I toured the beautiful Opera House. Our guide was excellent and gave an entertaining 1 1/2 hour tour with some good stories. Definitely a "must-see"! Because of on-going rehearsals in the main theatre, we were unable to peek inside on that afternoon, however, our tickets were good to return the following day, which I did.
The Palais Garnier
The main staircase inside the Opera
Inside the theatre
The beautiful ceiling
And afterwards, tea at the famous and very posh "foodie" shop, Hediard, on Place de la Madeleine, behind the Church. (14.50 Euros for a pot of tea and a fancy pastry!)
The next day I spent the morning touring the mid-19th century Jacquemart-Andre House with its collection of antiques and art (Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Bernini, Botticelli and Donatello among others) as collected by Edouard Andre and his portraitist wife, Nellie Jacquemart. Lunch afterwards in the popular tearoom was a delight and full of local Parisiens (shh! don't tell the tourists!). After dinner I made my way out to the airport to meet Pat for our flight overseas to New Orleans and on to Fredericton to check on our lakehouse construction. Thankfully, it was considerably warmer in NOLA than in Paris!
