April in Paris is a song written by a man who had never been to Paris and had no idea what the weather in April could be like.  It could be rainy and awful, which it was just after he wrote that song and which caused a lot of angry letters to be sent to him.  But right now, it is wonderful, warm and simply beautiful  Folks here are relieved as winter was exceptionally cold, with a lot of snow — unusual for Paris.  Our trip from Boston was not without incident.  First, water was detected in the fuel tanks of our aircraft  necessitating the emptying of the tanks and refueling (1 1/2 hours).  We were assured that we’d make our connection and sure enough — thanks to Icelandic Air and a relatively small airport — the flight to Paris waited.  We arrived on time, disembarked and made our way to the passport control area where we were directed.  (last trip there was no passport control coming from Iceland)  Well — it seems there was this time, but no control officers were present.  After about 20 minutes of waiting, our plane load of people started getting a bit agitated and simply decided to go through the gates.  That’s what we all did only to find that we couldn’t locate our luggage which was supposedly at conveyer #2.  Well — #2 was down, way way down the corridor, hidden behind closed doors which no one had thought to open.  Finally all worked out and we were in a cab on our way ‘home.’  One simply has to have a sense of humor when traveling.

The days since our arrival have been sleepy but active, too.  Shopping for food, getting settled, emailing friends, confirming dates and checking for exhibitions to visit.  I am on a email list for a prestigious gallery (don’t know how we got on it), and thus was sent an invite to Art in Paris, 20th anniversary held at the Grand Palais.  The week before we arrived I requested 4 tickets by email , and amazingly, the tickets were at the gate waiting for us and our neighbors with whom we went.

Below– I love these on board tv views following the aircraft’s progress.  Here we see the plane approaching Iceland.  The white mass on the left is Greenland.   When the two countries were named, those in charge of naming decided to fool people:  Greenland is all ice, and Iceland is all green (well — relatively so.)  

A shot of Les Invalides and the musée de l’Armée  en route to the Grand Palais .  Below we are taking a rest with our neighbors.  And yes, I’m wearing my Armenian Hermès scarf.

One of Paris’ magnificent structures, the Grand Palais  was built for exhibitions, art shows, and special events.  It was constructed between 1897 and 1900.  The Petit Palais faces this facade with the Ave. Winston Churchill between them. A vista of magnificent proportions is created with the Champs-Élysées bordering on the north.     

The inside of this part of the Grand Palais is massive. It was the site of the 1900 Universal Exhibition welcoming in the new century.  51 million people visited the exhibition.  This hall can be configured in many ways, as with the temporary walls of the exhibition or left wide open for exhibitions such as horse shows.  There is another exhibition space which is a more traditional museum type space.    

There weren’t many paintings that caught my fancy, but this one did!  Talk about commenting on modern life!

The gallery Taménaga invited us to the show.  This work, is by the Japanese artist Sugawara.  We love his work but he is out of range for us these days.  This is a photo of the Christmas card they sent us this year.  This painting was not in the show.  

On the way home, just at the corner of the Grand Palais and the Seine, we saw this man.  He posed for us and then moved.  I don’t know how these folks do this for hours, standing still most of the time.  They appear in various parts of the city where tourists frequent.  I’m sure you’ve seen them elsewhere.

The way chamber music was meant to be played — in relatively small, intimate rooms.  This one is ornate like the rooms we saw in Vienna, also used for recitals.  Brahms and Beethoven  were played magnificently to an admiring audience.  It as just luck that we saw the announcement on our way to the Grand Palais the day before.  When we left the concert room we saw the tomb of Napoleon, Les Invalides, lit up through the inner court yard of this complex.  And when we got outside we had a nice view of the Eiffel Tower sparkling.