You may know the work of Hector Guimard if you are familiar with his iconic Paris Metro signs and stations.
What you may not know is that the Musee d’Orsay has a fabulous collection of his furniture. The collection also includes outstanding furniture by other Art Nouveau artists.
Here is just a glimpse of some of the wonders I saw:
There was a wonderful exhibition on Edgar Degas at the Musee d’Orsay when I was there recently. Here are some of the works that caught my eye:
I had a copy of the print below hanging in my childhood bedroom. I know and love this beautiful work as well as I know my own hands.
Below, I wonder…little dreamers? And, if so, dreaming of being a ballerina or a painter?
I’ve got so many great pictures from my trip to Paris in January of 2020, and some of them don’t fit neat categories. So, here, at random, are some of them:
Shots taken from the terrace above the Galleries Lafayette
The Place de la Bastille:
These plaques are all around Paris, marking key places of WWII. I hope I am not the only person who stops to notice them.
A wallpaper store with absolutely gorgeous wallpapers!
The doorways, oh, the beautiful doorways of Paris…
But, I’ve never seen a boar as the key motif! Would love to know the genesis of this!
But, then again the motif below is a bat. Weird!
I love seeing the architects and sculptors signatures inscribed in the stone on the facades of beautiful buildings.
What the flower?
I’d never hear of the Bataclan until the hideous terrorist attack a few years back. It is quite a theater.
Winter is a great time to view the architecture.
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Another WWII plaque:
What a glorious place in Paris!
What a glorious winter afternoon! January 2020. So glad I came to Paris, despite the record breaking long strikes of the Metro system and other things.
What a glorious city!
The Gates of Hell:
The Burghers of Calais:
The Musée Rodin was opened in 1919, primarily dedicated to the works of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. It has two sites: the Hôtel Biron and surrounding grounds in central Paris, as well as just outside Paris at Rodin’s old home, the Villa des Brillants at Meudon, Hauts-de-Seine. The collection includes 6,600 sculptures, 8,000 drawings, 8,000 old photographs and 7,000 objets d’art. The museum receives 700,000 visitors annually.
From 1908, while living in the Villa des Brillants, Rodin used the Hôtel Biron as his workshop. He subsequently donated his entire collection of sculptures – along with paintings that he owned by Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir to the French State on the condition that they turn the buildings into a museum dedicated to his works.
The Musée Rodin contains most of Rodin’s significant creations. Many of his sculptures are displayed in the museum’s extensive garden. The museum includes a room dedicated to the works of Camille Claudel and one of her two castings of The Mature Age.
The gardens around the museum building contain many of the famous sculptures in natural settings. Behind the museum building are a small lake and casual restaurant. Additionally, the nearby Métro stop, Varenne, features some of Rodin’s sculptures on the platform.
Pictures of a random selection taken in one afternoon in the Rive Gauche:
The serpent above is my all-time favorite.
For a long time I have wanted to visit this small, but excellent museum. Last week I got my chance. I enjoyed it a lot and the lovely hidden garden was a delight to discover! This left bank artist home is well worth a visit.
When the outdoors are dressed up like a living room, it’s a sure sign something fun is up:
For more, see: https://www.architonic.com/en/fair-edition/pdo-paris-deco-off-pdo-paris-deco-off-2020/20076520
It’s a fine thing to view Paris in the winter. I love the views of the architecture through the bare tree branches.
Suddenly, the Flatiron building in New York doesn’t seem to be so unique!
I believe that this church is the first time I have seen a Biblical story played out in a sculptural neoclassical architectural pediment. It strikes me as funny.
Streets still decorated for Christmas. That’s a bonus!
Chinese New Year is also on view:
Oh, hello, you!
Above:
Mon intention du jour me féliciter, bravo, bravo, bravo, bravo.
My intention of the day congratulate myself. Bravo, bravo, bravo, bravo.
Below:
Mon intention du jour faire un truc plus grand que moi.
My intention of the day to do something bigger than me.
The Pierre below is not the one I grew up with!
The light on my first morning in Paris was stunning. So happy to be here!
Many churches still had their creche scenes on display.
The font below is very different from the marble fonts I see in all the churches in Italy.
The famous Dehillerin store:
And every neighborhood has a great floral shop:
And this landmark:
Every neighborhood also has its own boulangerie. Some have incredible architectural design:
La galette des rois est une galette traditionnellement élaborée et consommée dans une majeure partie de la France, au Québec, en Acadie, en Suisse, au Luxembourg, en Belgique et au Liban à l’occasion de l’Épiphanie, fête chrétienne qui célèbre la visite des rois mages à l’enfant Jésus, célébrée le 6 janvier de chaque année.
The best way I know to spend a Saturday afternoon on a spectacular sunny winter afternoon in Paris is to climb to the top of hill to visit the beautiful Sacré-Cœur Basilica and look out at the panoramic view of Paris. It’s a hike, but it’s well worth it!
Look at that sky!
A talented musician serenades the crowd:
The interior:
This church has figured out how to hold mass and let visitors circulate around the church at the same time. It feels right.
Although it isn’t obvious in my pictures, the statues of Mary and the other one of Jesus are both in silver. They remind me of the statue I saw in the Musee d-Orsay.
Even though it was well past Christmas and Epiphany, the creche scene was still on display. Very modern and simple rendition. I guess I’m very accustomed to the more elaborate Italian mode!
The mosaics are splendid. The Holy Trinity in one shot here:
Wait a second, for a minute I thought I was in the Vatican!
The French start training early for the enjoyment of the outdoor cafe life:
Many of the city’s grocery stores currently have these enticing cases of Little Moons Japanese mochi at the front. I never did try any. It is January, after all. Plus, my hands are almost always full. But, I am intrigued, see below the pix:
From the Little Moon website: https://www.littlemoons.co.uk
Brother and sister, Howard & Vivien Wong, launched Little Moons in 2010 on a mission to bring Japanese mochi with a delicious, modern twist to the masses.
Having grown up eating traditional mochi in their parent’s bakery they knew the potential these little balls had to deliver a moment of total happiness to whoever ate them.
It took them two years to master the mochi making process and perfect the ice cream recipes, working with top chefs and using quality ingredients to create the perfect flavour combinations.
With a Little Moons now eaten every second we felt the time was right to introduce our next bite sized adventure and so in 2019 we launched our Cookie Dough Ice Cream Bites.
Big Flavours, Little Moons.
What is mochi?
Mochi is a rice flour dough that has been steamed and pounded to give it its distinctive soft and chewy texture. We wrap a thin layer of mochi around our ice cream balls to make our Little Moons mochis.
It is so unique that in Asia the distinctive glutinous texture of mochi has its own name and is known as the Q texture.
Ok, back to Paris!
I swoon over the architecture:
The famous Folies Bergère. Art Deco all the way home.
Even the animals were dressed for winter:
You cannot help loving these Metro entrance markers by Hector Guimard, even if most of the (darn) stations were closed during my visit (for the longest strike in French history):
A shop dedicated to cat designs?
The classic French Galette Des Rois is for sale in almost every pâtisserie.
I love the aged patina on this gorgeous door below.
I never made it into the Louvre on this trip (a long story, told here), even though I had tickets for a special exhibition, but I did get to see the Louvre’s ultra modern subway station on the automated Metro Line #1:
Much more to come, probably for another month!
get back, lauretta! 
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