There and Back Again, Part 3

Wednesday, October 25

As I recall, no morning alarms were set Tuesday evening, and we got up had some coffee and got ourselves together for a visit to the Picasso museum, which was just a couple blocks east of the apartment.

We ate just inside the corner window, across from the park

There was a little bistro (Le Saint-Gervais) on a corner near the museum, so we stopped in there and had lunch before doing any touring. I recall fettuccine in a lovely mushroom sauce on my plate.

We lost David for a time (this was to become normal), and after an initial panic, I realized that he's a mature adult fully capable of getting around on his own and he has a mobile phone if he needs to text for help. This time, he had found a restaurant just across the street from Le Saint-Gervais. It's California surfer motif had caught David's eye. It was called the Pink Flamingo (are we in the gay section of Paris or what?)

After we ate, and while we were waiting for David to return, we stopped in a pocket park behind and museum and I had a cigarette.

Midget star trooper for a cereal restaurant.

Now, originally, I had planned to quit smoking during the trip. I had brought nicotine gum and a week's worth of patches. But with my back screwing up and the other stressors of travel, it was decided between David, Kittie and myself that perhaps purchasing a pack of cigarettes for the duration was not a bad idea. It did allow me daily time to sit and rest, stretch and continue on.

So after the pause in the park, we went to the museum. On the way, we passed this brilliant idea of a restaurant called Cerealiste. The sign in the photo says, "Choose your size! Choose your cereal! Choose your milk! Choose your accompaniments/(sides)! Choose your topping. In our bowls!"

I didn't write down the names of the paintings.
It's usually nude lady reclining or nude lady sitting.

The museum was just around the corner from the cereal restaurant. We bought tickets for the Picasso for that day, and bought two-day museum passes to use Thursday and Friday at the d'Orsay and the Louvre (where crowds would be much bigger).

Once again, we started out in the wrong place, hitting the featured exhibit, Picasso '32, Année Érotique, which had a fairly substantial grouping of his more important pieces from that period. It also leant some insight into how he was developing his visual techniques and choices.

Study of a grouping

Kittie kept promoting the idea that we all just kind of split up and go our separate ways and meet back at a certain time. The only problem with that is one almost always bumps into the other folks while you're looking around, and there's a nascent urge to start hanging out with them.

One of the sections I enjoyed the most was Picasso's private collection, where he purchased or swapped or was gifted artwork by his contemporaries: pieces by the masters whose works sit in the d'Orsay, here on display because they hung in Picasso's home.

Nude woman at a mirror

We did fairly well at the Picasso with this task of independence. One of the upsides for me was being able to sit down and stretch the leg whenever I wanted without feeling like I was dragging down Kittie and David's time. That never really became a problem. Whenever I had to retreat back to the apartment (and a hot bath), Kittie and David were now comfortable enough to have their own adventures. And to be honest, time without me was probably their best times in Paris.

Still life

My memories of Wednesday evening are of sitting back and watching BBC World News. It was a different feed than we get in the U.S.A., and it was interesting to see what the rest of the world thought was important. I noticed there was a lot of coverage of Africa and the political problems there. Trump was covered as a sort of crazy American footnote to what had happened in the world that day.

When David and Kittie returned to the apartment, they brought back some food, which I was more than thankful for. It was from a ready-to-eat place, all microwavable and fairly palatable for what it was.

Another evening was upon us. My back had eased up quite a bit with prolonged rest, and we went to bed with the d'Orsay museum as the focus of tomorrow's adventure.

David's Slideshow

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