Tag: clock

Orsay Museum (Exterior)

We did another walk with our friend on yet another beautiful morning. This time we met at the Orsay Museum just for a change of scene. I sure hope it opens soon. It’s really a great museum.

I saw this gorgeous building as I near the Orsay.
There are a series of iron sculptures of wild animals such as this rhino in the front of the museum.
And this row of figures that were once on another building each representing different areas in the world.
I wonder if we will be able to see this exhibition when it opens?
The Orsay was once a train station that wasn’t large enough when the trains got longer and there are two clocks on it. Inside you can look out and see Paris views. They almost tore the building down but, luckily, someone got the idea eventually to make it a museum.

Two Museums

I took friends to both the Louvre and the Orsay. It’s always enjoyable.

If you get to the underground mall at the Louvre before the 9 am opening, you can get some great shots. That’s the inverted pyramid there down at the end.

A closeup of the inverted pyramid without any people posing in front of it!

A statue of Mercury at the Louvre.

Some funny Chinese men were posing in front of the Discus Thrower.

You can see the Louvre Museum from behind the clock at the Orsay.

A Search for Flowers

Every year I make a trek out to the Eiffel Tower to get photos of flowering bushes or trees in front of the Eiffel Tower. I don’t know if I was too early or too late or if it’s just an off year but I found very little. I was leaving for the States the next day and wanted to find some beautiful flowers. (After arriving in the States I saw all sorts of photos of pink flowering trees in Paris so I guess I was too early.)

I only found one magnolia or tulip tree and it was a bit puny.

A bit of a flowering bush.

It had rained the day before leaving puddles here and there and I found a reflection of the Eiffel Tower.

So I headed towards Notre Dame where there were flowers last year passing the Conciergerie on the way, once used as a prison.

I passed this clock to created in 1370 and still working!

Last year this restaurant was covered with wisteria blooms. Not this year. They had some pretty potted flowers though.

Views and Paintings

It’s hard to beat a stroll through the Orsay Museum, once a train station that they had to foresight to preserve and use.

A look down at the main gallery from up above. You can see that it was once a train station.

You can see Sacre Coeur on top of Montmartre from various windows.

I love the color of the dresses on these dancer by Degas.

Lots of sculptures to see.

That beautiful clock.

 

The Orsay

One of my favorite museums is the Orsay. I especially love Impressionism and you can find just about every famous artist represented here. Part of the art is the museum itself as it is an old renovated train station full of interesting details.

img_1793 At the opposite end of the entrance is this cutaway of the Garnier Opera House. It shows how small the concert hall is compared to the rest of the building. I’d love to get a behind the scenes tours there one of these days.

img_1799 There are two huge clocks showing the time from outside but you can also get this incredible look at it from behind along with a view of Paris outside.

img_1803 Happily, they allow photography inside once more. This is by Cezanne.

Degas. It was considered very controversial when first exhibited.

img_1806 This was controversial too, I guess because it showed common workers without shirts working. I just love the light. Note the wine bottle next to the worker on the right.

A look at the restaurant in the museum.