| Paris Encore 2006 NEW YEAR'S EVE 12/31/2006 |
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TRAVEL |
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NO PICTURES TONIGHT
| The day started with the traditional
bread and stuff and coffee, and we realized that it was the LAST DAY on our
6 Day Museum Pass. SO we went to have Lunch at the Orsay. A
couple of important issues here for anyone ever visiting Paris. Get
the MUSEUM PASS! You do NOT have to wait in the REALLY long lines to
get in. Get the pass at some "also ran" museum that has little or no
line to get tickets, then the majors like the Louvre and the Orsay are a cake
walk for the Privileged Class, "Off with their heads" indeed!
Second issue. If you are in Paris with someone you love and sleep with...and other stuff... you will probably have a favorite moment that does not involve being horizontal. Somehow, Lunch at the Orsay is our special thing. It is a great Museum. Damn, it is a phenomenal museum. They got art. Not crap masquerading as art. They got the real thing. They have new stuff and old stuff. tried and true stuff and some experimental stuff. Statues with mammaries and johnsons, and what I can only imagine is the first T.V. tray for eating dinner in front of the television. They also have my ideal computer desk on display. But these necessities are nothing like "Lunch at the Orsay". My bride and I have done it every time we come to Paris. We had already been to the museum with the kids. They did not show interest in the ART that is "Lunch at the Orsay" so we decided that we would do it when the little suckers went home. After all, there are some things that young eyes are not ready to witness. They have changed the furniture to something that is more Corian and bent-painted-wood than wicker and oak. You still should have a fat wallet and a thin ass to do it comfortably. I had a great seafood casserole with rice pilaf that has seen better decades. Marsha had meat and potatoes, quel surprise! We did order a bottle of Riesling, that the waiter went through the motions of opening with a flourish and then smelling the cork....I think the guy BUYING it is supposed to get to sniff the cork. I commented on the "Show Biz" aspect of it and he grinned. The required "short pour" for the monsieur to smell and taste was done for me. WE APPROVED! We drank, we ate, we enjoyed the grandeur of eating lunch in one of the Grand Ball Rooms of some Palace. This is always our "special time". The world sort of stops for us. It lets us forget that there are lunatics and anxieties waiting back in Michigan. We forget that the Social Security system will have us on Little Friskies and well water when AND if we hit the age of 75. We forget that there will be days when I miss the driveway and get stuck in a snow bank. We forget that we have Fundamental Differences on how a taco shell should be served. We become le Roi et la Riene of our universe and the prince et princesse are home waiting for our return. It is a mental game of make believe, and the excitement is ephemeral. It is too good to last. Gilded painted frescoed ceilings, floor to ceiling mirrors and doors. Opulence that is so far out of date that it is almost obscene, but not quite. I understand Holly Golightly, and the magic of Breakfast at Tiffany's. As John Sebastian said before...Its like trying to tell a stranger 'bout rock 'n roll! We got back to the apartment and somehow napped. Dinner posed a dilemma. We went to a Chinese/Thai restaurant that we had gone to last week. Good food, easy walk, and God knows, we are starting to NEED our easy walks. We did get home to plan for the Midnight Welcoming Of The New Year. We figure that we can see the Eiffel Tour from the square (Kilometre Zero) at Notre Dame Cathedral. I decided to video tape as there should be fireworks. There was a lot of wind and that limited the fireworks, at the tower, but not at the square. Bottles of Champagne were everywhere. A young man ran up to kiss Marsha and wish her "bonne année". I have tons of video, some of it may get up here some day. It was a young crowd. We enjoyed their joy and optimism, battled as it might be, but these occasions offer hope. To be able to wish total strangers a "bonne année" implies that there are no real differences. We eat, we breathe, we love, we live, we die. Maybe we make a difference along the way. Happy New Year! 12/31/2006 |