Friday, September 24, 2004

Count de Monet

So here I am in Paris. Been here all week, actually, but haven't been able to go online very much. And let's face it: it's hard to write a travel blog when you don't have internet access. Tonight, though, I'm in geek heaven. My hotel offers wifi access. So here's a brief update of the week.

All in all, I'm having a good time. It's my second visit in recent months, so I know my way around the city pretty well and have been bouncing from place to place. I've even got a sidekick this time. I'm here with a coworker, Cedric. He's new to the company and this is his first visit to Paris, so I've kinda been showing him the ropes, so to speak. And I haven't gotten us lost once :)

I visited the Musee D'Orsay today. I've decided it's my favorite museum. It's not so overwhelming as the Louvre. The galleries are smaller and more intimate, with a handful of pieces in each room. In contrast, the Louvre has these huge halls of paintings stacked floor to ceiling. The overall effect is that the artwork is more accessible. It's all right at eye level and you can literally reach out and touch it (they sorta frown on that, naturally).

One piece in particular caught my attention today. It's a winter landscape, and therefore dominated by the white and grey of the snow and clouds. But upon closer inspection, I was amazed at how much color was actually used throughout it - even in the seemingly "white" spaces. He used color to add texture to the ground, and a sense of depth to the field and trees beyond the gate. It gave me, someone who's largely ignorant of art, a small iota of understanding about impressionism.

Not bad for a friday.

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