Paris Day 2
Sunday 17th September
Today was a museum day. Just the one – Musee d’Orsay. It’s housed in a former railway station. The station was purpose built for the World Fair in 1900. It operated as a train station through until 1939. It remained unused for decades then a massive refurbishment took place, reopening the building in 1986. The collection covers the period from 1848 to 1914. Some of the collections include works by Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Gauguin and Cezanne.
While we waited for the museum to open we took in the sights on and beside the Seine. The River was alive with man and woman powered craft. Along the pedestrian ways the rest of the population seemed to be out running and exercising.
We finished off the day with an ice cream in the Tuileries Garden, where Parisians come to promenade.
Whilst waiting for the No. 72 bus I enjoyed the passing (speeding) parade of cyclists, motor bikes, scooters, taxis and cars. Then came the rollerblade brigade – there must have been hundreds of them, taking part in a special event.
The other very noticeable presence are the police. They are everywhere, all the time. On bicycles with whistles blowing constantly, on motorcycles always in a hurry to get somewhere, then there’s the emergency situations where not one, but more likely to be four police vehicles in hot pursuit of each other with sirens blaring, lights flashing traveling at high speeds, going who know where!
