Ah Paris, a wonderful month. We visited a number of museums, Rodin, Pomp (which was 5 blocks from our apartment), Picasso and Louvre (twice, as one can only do by staying longer than a week in Paris). We also visited the Van Gogh and the "little" Rijks in Amsterdam.

Of them all I think I liked the Rijks the best. We had been to the Louvre before and then returned after visiting Amsterdam and having seen how wonderfully the Rijks looks (the big building is under renovation until 2009 or something and so they only showed the best of the best in a smaller building) I can only say that the Louvre is lit like a barn. Too many works all piled up. Specifically, too many lovely still lifes too high up on the wall to get a good look at.

The Van Gogh had a wonderful exhibition of John Everett Millais' work including Ophelia



as well as pretty much every work listed in the Wikipedia entry about him. Incredible. And, of course, impossible to recreate on a screen. We spent so much time at that exhibit that we literally saw about 15 min. of the Van Gogh collection. The museum also had some great works that spilled over from the Rijks in an ante-area just off from where you purchase tickets.

Also, we saw some wonderful new work from Patrick Cornillet at the Galerie Susan Nielsen.



We loved the look of this piece (more can be seen at breathing space). His earlier work is interesting as well as it looks as if painted from a moving car.



Shout outs to
-Otis, the chef, and the gang at Le Taxi Jaune for the best (and best priced) lunch in Paris. Seek out his restaurant (weekdays only) for excellent food and Fisher on tap
-The folks at Ambassade d'Auvergne for your excellent duck, Aligot and crazy good chocolate mousse.
-The crepe cart at the SGdP metro station for the freshest crepes (made while you wait) in the city.
-Le Baron Rouge for great wine



-Bread and Roses for the makings of an excellent picnic



-and of course the Luxembourg Garden for being the best picnic spot on earth