France – Day 4

Today was a big day. It was our trip to the Musée d’Orsay. I have wanted to visit the Musée d’Orsay for 20 years, and it was only reinforced when I saw Vincent and the Doctor in 2010. This museum has the most incredible collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces worldwide. I mean, it is here that I can see Van Gogh’s self-portrait, Manet’s The Luncheon on the Grass, or Monet’s London Parliament.

Dear reader, the Musée d’Orsay was indeed one of my cliche bucket list items, and I was very excited to see it. However, I hate to report I did not love my time at it. It swarms with tourists, making the famous art nearly impossible to enjoy. First, you fight the crowds; then, you fight the people taking a selfie with Courbet’s L’Origine du Monde. It’s a chaotic madhouse where no one is enjoying the art.

Funny, I mention Courbet because I wrote: “I love Coubet” (no ‘r’) in my travel notes for this blog. As far as I know, there is no artist named Coubet. I have no memory of falling for a Courbet painting while there. I do like Le désespéré and L’Atelier du peintre, but I have no idea what the note means. It could simply be an autocorrect of something else; who knows? I stumbled upon a painting titled The Enigma by Gustave Doré that I found captivating because it juxtaposed modernity and ancient myth (much like this trip) set in the aftermath of chaos and all in monochrome. It’s really special and entirely heart-wrenching.

We did not dedicate a lot of time to Musée d’Orsay. Maybe only 2-3 hours, and I will return to it someday, but I was tired and annoyed by all of it. Additionally, the French barely air condition anything, so even though we are not suffering through the Parisian summer, it’s still thick with warm recycled air. 

That afternoon, we had a small appointment. One of Samer’s high school friends is a dentist in Paris, so we stopped by his office so that they could catch up. We had a coffee with him, and they got to see each other for the first time in many years.

Afterward, we strolled to the Eiffel Tower to get some requisite photos and took the bus back to the house. Samer made us a dinner reservation at Pouliche. The chef is Amandine Chaignot, and we were purposefully trying to try chefs who were not stuffy old white French men, so when Sam found this place owned by a female chef getting rave reviews, we were excited to try it.

Have you ever been to one of those restaurants where the food and the restaurant look amazing? Things seem hip, and the food appears interesting, but the food is completely and utterly dull. This was my experience at Pouliche. It started with this fascinating beans, blackberry, and avocado ice cream dish. Then, everything else was semi-flavourless, including the duck breast that needed salt. I did not love the server, which I found to be unhelpful. He offered no suggestions on wine, and because I wanted to try unfamiliar things, I ordered the Sous Voile Savagnin 2018 from Domaine Daniel Dugois. I did not like it. It was very alcoholic, bordering on a port, and horrendous for dining. We ordered the bottle, so I asked for a cork to take home when the meal was over, and half of it remained. This is a major faux pas in France because permission from Madame Chaignot had to be sought, but it was granted, and I took the bottle home. And this bottle served as my night cape for the remaining trip.

Next: France – Day 5 (Chantilly)