One discovery on this trip is that I much prefer new experiences than re-living the so-called good old times. I search for something new to do in Paris--a bit difficult on my 15th visit.
I hoof my way past Cardinal Richelieu's tomb at the Sorbonne to Jardin du Luxembourg's Medici fountain. I have spent many a lunch hour sitting in its shadow between classes. I laze while Parisians jog around me. A lineup: it’s the Lucas Cranach exhibit at Musee du Luxembourg. This will be something new. A woman sells me her extra ticket--I bypass the long queue. I see evolution of Cranach’s style along with his contemporaries. This gives me much more insight into his elongated idealized forms of Eve. This 15th century renaissance man is ahead of his time: he paints of "woman power", albeit in a different context.
I continue my wanderings to Musee Rodin’s gardens. A long queue forms for the Henry Moore exhibit. I will give this one a miss. After all, Toronto holds the largest Moore collection in the world. Bonus: the gardens are free today. I head to my favourite piece, the Bughurs of Calais, depicting a moving story when six city officials opted to sacrifice their lives to spare the people of Calais.
I continue on past Mansart’s grand dome housing Napoleon’s tomb. I get up close with the Eiffel Tower, then over the Seine to Trocadero. I rest my blistered feet on the metro to La Défénse just outside of Paris. It’s Grande Arche is slightly off axis with the Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, the Tuileries, and the Pyramids of the Louvre. The modern whites play contrast to Belle Epoque Paris.
My legs are giving out. My trip ends none too soon.
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