Paris Day 4 - Pompidou Center - Museum of Modern Art

Pompidou Center - Museum of Modern Art

Thursday was day 4 of our whirlwind 9 day Paris Trip. I recently said I was having jet lag from our trip. My friend Charlie Depuy replied - it is old age not jet lag. I look at it from that perspective now. It hit home this morning when I got up for a normal early breakfast and my grandson Max said - this is the first time you were up to see me off to school. We all laughed. That my friends is old age jet lag. 

I am writing this on Friday morning with a beautiful sunny day outside my window. I still marvel that all my friends are still in bed at home in the USA. Lulu was up late - at 2 am she was listening to the FSU women's basketball game that we lost to Missouri State. Just like that - both FSU basketball seasons are over now. No national champions I guess :-)

Thursday we took a bus to the Pompidou Center - Museum of Modern Art. It is the second largest in the world next to the New York one. Pompidou was president here when the building was designed in the early 1970s. I remember the controversy it caused then. The building is turned inside out - all the plumbing - electrical - structural - ventilation systems are on the outside for all to see. Inside are the typical white rooms for art - but structure is exposed like an erector set. Just like the Eiffel Tower the French hated when it was first built. A few years later - Richard Rogers was given a Pulitzer Prize for its design. It is really different. 

If you are coming to Paris - and your time is short - go to the Louvre instead. To me - it is the best art museum in the world. It is gigantic and is housed in a giant classic historic palace - similar to Versaille. 

I am not a big fan of Modern Art. I feel if art has to be explained to me - it is not doing what it is supposed to do - entertain. That's just me. I like plain beautiful things like the Parthenon - the Washington Monument - a Saint Louis Arch. KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid. 

I will post a few pictures of the art inside and the structure. It is also a nice platform from where you can photograph other things. We had lunch at a little red cafe - and went back into the museum for another round. When you are older - it is always nice to find a good place to sit - collect your thoughts - have something to eat and drink. 

About 4 PM - we started back to the apartment. We took the subway - it is much faster than the bus. You use the same card to get on either one. At home - Lulu made a nice dinner - plain and simple - meatballs and gravy - mashed potatoes - broccoli. She has found a nice sweet peach wine that I can tolerate. I sneak in a 20 cent container of Flam - I bought a load of it at Aldi. It is simple egg cream custard with a sticky brown sweet carmel topping. Natures perfect food. :-) We stayed up and watched a few of the NCAA early playoff games. 

I will post a ton of pictures unedited. I am sure either Facebook or Google will cut out some because of nudity. 

We had lunch at the red cafe

Day 3 - Wednesday in Paris

We are using the RER - regional express rail to get 
around Paris. It is a double decker underground train.
Very colorful and empty.

We left our Florida home Monday at noon. We arrived in Paris at 8 am Tuesday. Wednesday morning we woke up at the proper time to go out and tour around. 

We never visited the French National Library before - so we took the train from our apartment up the Seine River to the library. It is a giant steel and glass complex - not a hint of tradition in the building structure.

We didn't do any research - just enjoyed this celebration of education. 

After that we went to Aldi Market to shop for groceries. The prices were very good and it was only a three block walk to the apartment. Lulu brought a cloth shopping bag to carry the stuff home. One of my favorites was Flam. It can be quite expensive in restaurants. It is a pudding similar to yellow egg custard. They put a little Carmel on it for an icing. They had little plastic containers of it - 8 dishes to a packet for 1.6 euros - about 20 cents each! I could not believe it. I stocked up on them. They also had chocolate pudding there for a similar price. The French do not mess around with desserts. It is excellent. 

We played with the kids after school. We stayed up until 10 pm - hoping to get a regular night's sleeps. I am now typing this before bed. Lulu is already sacked out. 

Over the weekend we are all taking a little side trip to Chantilly. It is a world famous little town with a chateau about 30 miles north of Paris.  There are things there for the kids to do. But we have things to do Thursday and Friday first. 

Weather is good for Paris which is 48 degrees north - a full 9 degrees farther north than Tamaqua Pa. Today reached 60. 

We are having lots of fun - adjusting well to the time zone. It is so good seeing the kids - and see them thrive. 

I like these student seats in the national library.

The new modern library

This escalator was closed.

I always love big globes - a 20 footer here

Very nice urinals.

Lulu always gets a picture in front of libraries, 
Note her library purse. 

Putin spent $140 million of his own money to renovate this Russian Orthodox Church. Wanna bet it is a spy chamber - and those domes are full of antennas?

This is the Fiat window sticker.

Fiat 500E electric car

Old Fiat 500 from the 1960s. 

Eiffel Tower Theater by our apartment

another theater nearby

That is an iron lattice work. 

Just around the corner from us. 

The Doctor is in. Dr Melanie Turrano made the big jump today.

I am proud to announce that one of my former students defended her dissertation today. She can now wear the moniker - Doctor. She is presently a professor at Lehigh Carbon Community College. Ironically - they knocked down my old high school in Tamaqua to built the new community college. Melanie was in my science class at Panther Valley Middle School in 1978. 

Success has a million fathers. A lot of the help goes to her husband Ben Turrano - he was also one of my students. Failure is an orphan. 

This is a day of joy.