Paris October-November 2022

 4.11 Friday - Last day. Musée d'archéologie nationale (2nd time), la Défense and Le Petit-Palais and train journey back René wanted to go back to the Musée d'Archéologie Nationale to complete his information. See other post .  Tamara walked in the mean time around Saint-Germain-En-Lays. We then took the RER (train) to La Défense. Amazing architectures of high rise buildings.  We went into the CNIT For lunch we stopped at the local sushi bar.(Matsuri-CNIT). Excellent, dishes served  on a conveyor belt (we did not notice bowl and other dishes that were available on order). We then had a look at the Arc de Triomphe and went to the Grand-Palais. It was under heavy renovation and thus we visited the Petit-Palais , nice architecture and many hallways dedicated to art exhibits. We did not visit the paying exhibits. We then crossed the Alexandre III bridge, exuberant Art Nouveau says Wikipedia. After that we went back to the hotel, collected our luggage and went to catch ou...

René wanted to take some better pictures and to complete the informations about early homo (Erectus, Neandertal and Sapiens). The collection is very rich, with a focus on paleontological art. The choice of illustrations to include here is extremely difficult. Lower paleolithic (3 million - 300'000) Tautavel Man refers to the archaic humans which—from approximately 550,000 to 400,000 years ago—inhabited the Caune de l’Arago , a limestone cave in Tautavel , France. They are generally grouped as part of a long and highly variable lineage of transitional morphs which inhabited the Middle Pleistocene of Europe, and would eventually evolve into the Neanderthals ( Homo neanderthalensis or H. sapiens neanderthalensis ). They have been variably assigned to either H. (s.?) heidelbergensis , or as a European subspecies of H. erectus as H. e. tautavelensis . The skull is reconstructed based on the specimens Arago 21 and 47 (probably male), and it is, to a degree, more characteristic...

Tour de l'Horloge (Gare de Lyon) and our Hotel   Musée d'Orsay Beautiful museum which should have been destroyed. It has been renovated as a museum. We spent many hours looking at the art works. Difficult to make a selection. There was a temporary show by Munch (3 works below). And a few beautiful Van Gogh (I am not too fan of Monet, Manet and other classic painters). L'Origine du Monde de Courbet  (beware, can be shocking) was on display, it seems it doesn't upset nobody no more. Musée d'art moderne We found the displayed work average. The Arlequin sculpture by Picasso did stand out. On the way today Our hotel From the Musée d'Orsay

We took the metro (subway) to Castelet and walked to the Palais de Justice and visited the Sainte-Chapelle (10 minutes wait - we have the Museum Pass which has priority). Very nice, so tall and light. A must see. Then we went to la Place de la Bastille, had a coffee and walked along the Canal St-Martin, very nice and romantic, and back. Metro to la Place de l'Opera.  Metro station La Bastille over the Canal Saint-Martin Place de la Bastille, with the Colonne de Juillet . At the top is the golden Génie de la Liberté (better click on the link for a good view). On the way, we had a peek at the  Place de la République  (with the Marianne on top) Since the Auditorium was closed, we did not visit the Opera, but had a beer across the street from it.  We then took the metro to Saint-Germain-des-Prés. A rich quarter with its old abbey (sorry in French)  (X and XII, that I liked very much, it is a historical transition architecture building). On the way back to the hote...

Picasso museum is mostly interesting for the description of his life and his relationships with his kids (mostly Maya). The major works are in other museum or in the hands or safe of other poor people. There were a few films on display about his life and his creation abilities. Picasso is a prolific genie ( yes, you can quote me on this :-)   ) Banksy is another genius, with a critical political and sarcastic (yes, very sarcastic) view of our society (World of Banksy, really worth the visit). and many more ( online examples (many not in the exhibition) ) We had lunch at Les Pâtes Vivantes (46 Rue du Faubourg Montmartre) just next to World of Banksy. I had a wok of beef green curry. Then we returned to the hotel and changed to the "Tenue exigée" (the only indication I found on the Internet was for *** restaurants. It turned out that we were quite well dressed (Re had a jaquet while many male had a polo or just a shirt). Marsan par Hélène Darroze has ** according to Michelin. W...