Today, we visited the home and museum of Gustave Moreau. Being a "dandy," his artwork was very different from the impressionists of the time.
Gustave Moreau's Triomphe D'Alexandre Le Grand
This, and many of his other paintings were very interesting as in many of them he painted them without sharpness, but then added fine lines to outline the details to the buildings and figures. The above image, once again, does not capture anything even close to the real image.. It had a really mathematical crossed with artsy look, something I had yet to see in the Louvre or the Musee d'Orsay. It was obvious that Gustave Moreau was a perfectionist, as many of his works remained unfinished. Apparently some of the works took over ten years for him to complete, because he continually added fine details to complete the painting and fill up the entire canvas, which was very obvious that he thought about nearly everything possible he could. The contrasts he displays in his stormy clouds are some of the most moving I've been able to see thus far.
We then ventured over to the Bastille area as a few of our friends live over there any were eager to return to the "best restaurant they've eaten at in Paris." Let me just note that I've definitely had better food on the corner of any street, specifically anywhere in the Jewish district. The potato and four fromage (cheese) casserole we ordered was definitely delicious as the potatoes were roasted and seasoned to perfection and the cheese was melted perfectly and were robust enough to satiate our palate, but not strong enough to detract from the potatoes. It was definitely the best casserole I've had thus far in Paris, but not the best meal whatsoever. I thought it was weird that the entire time I've been ordering cafes, and expecting the straight shots of espresso, as that's what a cafe is here. Today, the waiter was speaking in English after realizing we were speaking it to each other and he asked us if we knew what a cafe was in France. Yes, we know it's a shot of espresso and yes, it comes in the tiny little glass. We were kind of offended as we've been here for nearly two and a half weeks, but we can't blame him as he must serve many foreigners that are confused by the tiny espresso shot when trying to order a coffee.
We then ventured off to the Jewish district to pick up some things we had our eyes on. I found three scarves for ten euros and a small satchel for five euros at a vintage store. We worked on our hunt for the perfect macaron, yet still haven't been able to top the Early Grey macaron I was fortunate enough to start off my macaron experience with.
Today was really enjoyable strolling through the streets of Paris with my roommates on our way to the museum and then strolling around in search of a little Parisian boutique. It was actually quite a struggle to find stores unique to Paris where no English is spoken as Zara, H & M, and numerous other international stores seemed to have made their way over to Paris and many Americans and English shoppers seem to flock to the stores. I heard way more English from the customers than French today. Lots of moms yelling across the store inquiring their daughters opinions on various dresses and linen outfits. A few of them haven't been in Paris long enough to notice the black clothes spread out on the streets. Anyone wearing an article of clothing that's white is definitely a tourist. If it's cream, you could possibly be Parisian, but if its at least khaki colored, you'll fit right in. They also haven't been in Paris to notice the downpours the past few days and to examine the weather forecast for the next few days. The storm clouds are definitely making up for the drought that was happening for at least two months before we came here.
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