Today we went to the Musee de l'Orangerie (mews-ayyy duh lore-on-jury) which houses a lot of Monet waterlily paintings and they're HUGE. We were able to cut the line and get in for free with our art history student IDs. This was after we'd already seen the unofficial national statue of Paris (named so by me) which is two people engaging in crazy PDA.
First of all pictures aren't allowed so just know what a big deal it is that I snuck this picture of Monet's waterlilies for you guys (mostly for my mom who I know likes Monet). These paintings are so beautiful in person that it's surreal. The amount of colors he uses is breathtaking and the sheer size of these is overwhelming. We also saw a lot of Picasso, Modigliani, Renoir, and a few others who I only know because of stuff I learned in class (how cool is that? I'm actually learning things). I actually saw a Modigliani painting and knew it was Modigliani without seeing the sign (any art fans won't be impressed but maybe the rest of us dummies can exchange a high five). I also still can't get over how many field trips there are at these museums. It's amazing! There are always tons of kids in these museums and I think its so great to get little Parisian children educated on the art. However, maybe its the East Coast in me, I don't get how these teachers are like "yup this here is a naked woman, see the shading in her hands, and those are nipples but see the way he juxtaposes light and dark." Picture at bottom to show an example of this actually happening.
In weather news I woke up this morning to torrential rain and thunder and lightning like I've never seen in a city. It's weird experiencing a storm in a city because I wasn't really sure if the buildings were going to get split in half. But somehow while we were in class this apocalyptic storm cleared up and it was a beautiful day which allowed us to appreciate the gardens outside the museum.
As far as my argument with a very weird OCD bathroom attendant, it's a pretty funny story if you remember the whole time that it's happening in french. So I got a nosebleed in the museum which is really inconvenient because there's always huge lines for the toilettes at museums. But I cut the line and asked the lady in front if it was okay for me to just grab some papier (paper) because there were only hand dryers (darn environmentalists!). She said it was fine and so we waited for a bathroom stall to become available. When one did a man wearing a surgical mask with a broom swept it out because it was weirdly really dirty and I went to sneak in after he was done to grab some toilet paper for my nose and he stopped me and yelled no and pointed outside the bathroom. Thinking he was afraid I was cutting line I explained to him that I needed toilet paper for my nose. He yelled back that toilet paper was not for noses and I began to get irritated (like a true Parisian). Since there is no part of a French textbook for arguing with an OCD bathroom attendant I had to use my limited skills to tell him that there was blood in my nose and I needed the paper in order to clean it and if he didn't have tissues then what did he suppose I do with the blood. He then proceeded to kick me out of the bathroom and make me wait, with blood coming out of my nose outside of the supply closet while he found me a packet of Kleenex tissues. I grabbed the pack and thanked him briskly and left the bathroom watching the hoard of older female tourists who were looking on with admiration at the American girl who had managed to hold her own in a public french argument. Another Parisian accomplishment I like to think.
Anyway, by the time we left the museum and got back to the hotel it started to pour again so I did what any over tired student in Paris would do and took a quick cat nap. Now I will return to the magical slam poetry bar and camp out hoping for another celebrity sighting. A demain (ah de-man).
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