A Little Love for the d'Orsay

I am embarrassed to admit that I have lived in Paris for eight months and have only just made my way to the Musée d'Orsay (almost as bad as having lived in DC for three years and never having made it to the White House).  Visitors are the best motivation for such a cultural rendezvous and luckily for me the d'Orsay is a fan favorite.  Thanks to the Grands, the Mr. and I spent a lovely, long overdue afternoon getting reacquainted with old train station turned musée. (To be clear, I am using the word reacquainted quite loosely.  My last visit to the d'Orsay was in college with four of my girlfriends after what I'm sure was a late night out at Le Cab {a restaurant/cabaret/club, depending on the time of night}. I think it's safe to to say this time around may as well have been my first). 

Edgar Degas - Dance Class at the Opera

I especially loved the Degas'.  There is something so stunningly beautiful about ballerinas.

Degas, Little Dancer

A few fun facts courtesy of the always reliable yet never completely credible Wikipedia:  Edgar Degas was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist. A superb draughtsman {new word of the day - a person who practices or is qualified in mechanical drawing} he was especially identified with the subject of the dance, and over half his works depict dancers. These display his mastery in the depiction of movement). 

Juxtaposed with his work is an exhibit on the Opéra de Paris, Palais Garnier which was equally captivating. (Picture courtesy of Google images.  Hopefully, I will have my own picture of the Opera soon. Still trying to figure out how to lure the Mr. into taking me to one).

I loved reading about all of the mechanics that go into this work of architectural genius and seeing the small doll house sized model.  (Did you know there really is a body of water underneath Palais Garnier as alluded to in the great Phantom of the Opera? Fun fact number two for today).

And so concludes the d'Orsay for now.  I thoroughly enjoyed my trip back to the museum and look forward to more love to come!

Ralph's

Speaking of new found loves, O M G....Ralph's!  I've been dying to try this posh little restaurant on Boulevard Saint Germain and finally got the chance to dine on the chic little patio for lunch this week with le Grands.   The courtyard is seriously fab.  The Grand Mme. and I couldn't quit oooing and ahhing over every single little detail.  (The restaurant is next the the Ralph Lauren store and serves American, Nantucket-esque food).  From the flower baskets on every table to the gorgeous wrought iron bistro tables, Mr. Lauren scores excellently in every category.  How was the food you ask? Well, who really goes to Ralph's for the food?

The M.'s

Finally, we capped off the week with dinner at L'Atelier Matire Albert, a Guy Savoy restaurant near the Grands' pied-a-terre in the 5th.  The atmosphere was on cue and the service impeccable but we had mixed reviews on the food. Ordering sea bass at a rotisserie restaurant probably wasn't the smartest move, but overall I would probably go back and recommend it as a safe bet in the Latin Quarter.

Image courtesy of the EDM superBlog

As for our dinner at HAND (acronyming "Have A Nice Day") unfortunately I can't say as much.  Let's just say, I won't be eating hamburgers anymore in France (and the Mr. is out for the count for the next couple of days).  Good try, Paris but from now on, I'm going to recommend leaving the burgers to us.

And a happy belated birthday to the Grand M.  At least you'll always have Amorino!

Au revoir mes amis.