A Van Gogh–themed day

*This appears to be the most "boring" of my four days in Paris—no shenanigans today.  ;)

I didn’t buy an advance ticket for the Musée d'Orsay, because this was something I was going to shift around to different days if needed.  To beat the long line, I set an alarm so I could walk there before it opened at 9:30am.  It worked out great—I got in right away and spent a solid two hours walking around, looking at some spectacular artwork.

Van Gogh's self portrait had quite the crowd!

I tried not book too much today, since my feet are really sore (I’ve walked an average of 8 miles per day, which is a lot for someone who sits in a cubicle five days a week) and the temperature continues to rise in Paris.  The heat index was 92 before noon—the air is so thick that your clothes instantly stick to you.  I decided to head back to the hotel (which has air conditioning) and grabbed some lunch along the way.

Hibiscus frappe and salmon avocado toast

My next activity wasn’t until 4:30pm, so I relaxed for an hour, then headed out around 3:00pm to give the Metro system a try.  All of the signs in the stations were very clear, and I found my way easily—even after transferring trains. 

A colleague from PATH highly recommended L'Atelier des Lumières, which is showing a Van Gogh feature this year.  L'Atelier des Lumières is an old factory that has been converted to a light-show display that animates artist’s paintings and has accompanying music.  It’s hard to describe, so here is a video.

(I'm having technical difficulties getting the other video up.)

The show was one hour: 30 minutes of Van Gogh, 15 minutes of art from Japan, and a 5-minute original animation of the universe.  I stayed to two Van Gogh showings.  :)

Afterwards, I debated taking the Metro back to the hotel, but since it’s my last night here, I decided for one final walk through Paris.  I’ll will definitely be coming back (when there’s no chance for a record heat wave).