the origin of the world and other eye openers

I spent about 4 hours in the Musee d'Orsay today, and it wasn't enough. I definitely prefer this museum to the Louvre - I find the Louvre to be completely exhausting (yes I know you need to break it up into multiple visits) and I just prefer the art that is housed in the Musee d'Orsay.

One of my favourites (which unfortunately they didn't have postcards of) was Hesiode et la Muse (Gustave Moreau, 1891)
You can't tell from the linked image but the colours are really incredible.

I also really liked the paintings by Maurice Denis, whose work I had never seen before.

Unfortunately I started on the bottom floor and spent a long long time down there. By the time I got up to the top floor which has most of the impressionist paintings (and the Van Gogh stuff I was really excited about seeing again) it was 5:15 and the museum was starting to close the galleries in 15 minutes. So I had to march through the rooms looking for the Van Goghs. I finally found them, and they were beautiful but the one painting I was really excited about seeing again (Starry Night) - I'm pretty sure it wasn't there. However the others were still amazing, I love the self portraits.

Finally there's always L'Origine du Monde by Gustave Courbet. You can see it here, but I warn you now, it's a painting of a vagina. Don't click if you can't handle it (or if your employers are particularly lame). Anyway, I always love turning a corner in the museum and coming face to face with it. At first you're like....uh....woah...it's very in your face. After a while you get used to it however and by the time you hit the museum postcard store you can flip past it without even batting an eye.

After the museum we went for a great dinner at Bouillon Racine where I had an egg poached in red wine sauce with mushrooms and fresh croutons (it was incredible, I could eat it 4 times a week), cod back with tapenade and whipped potatoes with tomato, and mi cuit au chocolate (chocolate cake with a molten chocolate center - incredibly rich and incredibly delicious).

Finally we went to this jazz club called Le Bilboquet which featured two very attractive male staff members....most bars in Paris have at least one hot bartender or waiter but this place is special. The door guy will do things like tell you it's full and then when your friend pulls out the blackberry to show him the email she sent to his manager to make a reservation say, "well then.....theengs have just changed" and then go inside and fetch the rather charming manager who will usher you inside to wait for a table.
And while you wait you will look around at the red and black decor which looks pretty good at midnight in the candlelight but which apparently is a little tacky in the daylight, and the manager will give you a drinks menu to peruse, and you will fight the urge to scream and run out the door when you see that a beer costs 18 Euros ($27 CAD), and a scotch is 20 Euros ($30 CAD) and a non alcoholic beverage like Coca-Cola is (I think, but to be honest this menu sort of blew part of my mind) 15 Euros ($22 CAD). And no, we are not talking about a pitcher of beer or a bottle of scotch or a liter of Coke.
Finally you will be seated in the sunken lounge part of the club, right in front of the stage where, it must be said, the band is pretty great tonight. You notice that there are a lot of people speaking english in this bar and assume it must be written up in some guidebook somewhere - you are seated next to two women from Florida on their first trip to Paris; one of them is even wearing a beret and seamed stockings but you really can't mock her since you're wearing fishnets yourself.

At the end of the night you walk home, hoping you don't get mistaken for a hooker because your dress is made of a lacy fabric and the lining keeps riding up, way waaaay up, giving everyone (you fear) a great view of your underpants.

Happily the walk is uneventful and you make plans to invest in a slip.
The end.