59/8 Come into the Garden

Thursday 12th
First - two observations.
There are no flies in Paris. Really! We’ve been here a week tomorrow and we haven’t seen a single fly. Of course it’s possible that they have all packed and gone to Provence for their holidays and are even now visiting relatives in Uzes.
Second observation - for someone so complicated my husband is a very simple man. He has adopted the French flag which hangs on a diagonal flagpole on the building across the street- The Ecole Maternelles. The flag is mostly wound around it’s flag pole, but when a breeze blows it starts to unwind itself. Every morning beloved offers it words of encouragement…”C’mon little flag…you can do it…you can be free and flutter.” Sometimes the little flag hears and tries to unwind…sometimes it doesn’t - but I love my crazy man for talking to a flag!

Today it’s The Orsay museum and the Tuileries. We catch the metro from St Paul down to concorde, as we know there will be plenty of walking to do when we get there. It’s still quite cool but at least the sun is shining - which might account for the queue that is several hundred metres long at The Orsay. It’s incredible. People who wouldn’t think of going to an art museum in their own home town will queue for hours to do it in Paris. We sit at a nearby café and sip a beer, waiting for the crowds to die away, watching them as they leave the building. None seem overwhelmed or enhanced by what they have seen - no-one is transmogrified ( love that word) by the experience - and I wonder how many go just so they can say they have been….a bit like going to church to be seen!
It’s a stunningly beautiful building filled with an amazing collection of artworks. Paris is full of stunning buildings and amazing art. It’s actually overwhelming.
The Tuileries are beautiful in summer, although the chestnuts are already forming on the chestnut trees - a sure sign that autumn is just around the corner. But there are flowers everywhere in shades of pink, white and purple. The fountain in the huge pond is filled with ducks and seagulls performing their ablutions, and all the chairs around the perimeter of the pond are full of people sunbaking or reading. We sit and enjoy the sun and look at the trees and the statues, awestruck yet again by the sheer size of the open spaces and the formal gardens. Everything is in such exquisite taste; but just to remind us that this is the 21st century and it’s a crass old world, the big ferris, to the left of The Louvre, is doing its thing - and almost as many people are trying to get on as there were trying to get into the Musee D’Orsay! Go figure.