Courbet at the Grand Palais

Yesterday, in spite of the fact that I have a cold, and we weren't sure how the metro was running because of the strike, we decided to go see the Courbet show. We took the metro from St. Paul so we wouldn't have to change trains. The train came quickly but was very crowded, we squeezed on, and six stops later were at the Champs-Elysees right in front of the Grand Palais. The line, which wasn't very long, was not for tickets,. but rather for security inspection of bags and going through the detector like at an airport. The poster for the show is of a self-portrait done in 1843-45 and one of our friends said it looked like a crazy Johnnie Depp.




The show was very extensive, with 120 paintings, 30 graphic works, and 60 photographs. There were lots of people viewing the exhibit which always amazes us when we come here. People really do go to art exhibits. Children, too. It was time for a chocolate chaud(hot chocolate) when we finished so we crossed over to the Petit Palais for their cafe, snagging a couple more of those Phillipe Starck cup and plate sets for our collection. The museum was closing early, at 4:30 they said, because of the strike! We didn't get the connection but there it was.

We strolled down the Champs-Elysees towards the Place de la Concorde. It was crazy with cars as usual, but I caught this bicyclist seemingly alone for a moment.