Drawings and Donkeys

20 April 2008

Another nice day today and we set out to the Musee de Marmottan-Claude Monet. This is located on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne in the 16th Arrondissement, a very nice area indeed. The museum was not particularly well known until 1966 when Claude Monet's son, Michel, was killed in a car accident leaving a (then) ten million dollar bequest of his father's art to the little museum. In all there were about 130 works of art left to the museum. The bequest was one of the greatest ever known in France and consisted of truly magnificent works. Just about every major impressionist is represtented in this delightful collection.

Neither Virginia nor I realised that Monet had drawn caricatures of individuals and type of individuals. The museum has a small number of these and they are both amusing and exquisite. In addition there are a number of the well known works such as House of Parliament and Monet's "impression: sunrise" from which the impressionist movement got its name.

It was a delightful morning and as we left the museum we were suddenly caught in a rainstorm. Since it was lunch time we took shelter in a very upmarket bistro where we had lunch. The French "do" Sunday lunch in style. Grown children arrive with Maman et Papa for the long and quite heavy lunch. Regulars are greeted by handshakes as soon as they enter and shown to "priority" tables in the windows. Surprisingly prices are not significantly higher in these upmarket restaurants that are not directly in the tourist areas.

The children of the 16th do not appear to ride on carousel animals as is so often the case in the less well-off suburbs. Instead they have real donkeys with donkey carts. After lunch we wandered through the district admiring the buildings and the shops before starting home for the day.

On the way, as we passed through the Place de la Concorde, I bought one of the Gaufre (waffle) which like Crepes are sold from small stalls. Crisp and with chocolate sauce I enjoyed it despite looks of disapproval from Virginia who was making rude comments about cholesterol and calories. I, being a gentleman, did not bother to point out that her post-dinner snack of Roquefort Cheese and Crisps might well have had a few calories to say nothing of cholesterol. Anyway, there will be more than enough time to worry about that next week when we are back in Hobart.