May 24: Le Petit Palais, farewell to Paris

I've been watching downloaded news podcasts in French for a couple of years,  and it was pure serendipity that I saw an item about a temporary exhibit of Slovenian Impressionist painters at Le Petit Palais.  We love Impressionist paintings but had no idea there was a group of them in Slovenia.

The museum, as its name implies is housed in a former palace, and much of it still has the high, gilded ceilings with paintings at the very top.  It's built around a pretty courtyard with a garden.  After the chaos and lines of the Louvre and the Musee D'Orsay, this was a breath of fresh air.    No lines, no waiting, and an admission charge only for the temporary exhibit, which we were happy to pay.  There was plenty of peace and space to contemplate the paintings- up close to see the brush strokes, then backing up so you could watch the picture emerge.  We loved this museum.

"The Sower" by Ivan Grohar

Same painting, close-up of brush strokes

Relaxing in one of the permanent exhibition areas.

At 2 PM, we started on the long trek to our next destination- the Hilton at Charles DeGaulle Airport.   We took the Metro to the Marriott, where we'd checked out in the AM, got our bags, then  took the Metro to the station where we caught the suburban line to the airport.  We were 3 hours in transit, but we'd expected that, and saved ourselves about $70 over the cost of a taxi to CDG.  Ron relaxed in the room and I went for a swim in the pool, then we both enjoyed drinks and hors d'oeuvres in the Executive Lounge.