Visiting Friends and Museums in Paris

I spent the last couple days visiting a friend Aline and her family (Sylvain, Vincent (4 yrs old) and Oriane (20 months) in a Paris suburb. I know Aline because she and my brother Kevin did an exchange for a summer when we were living near San Francisco when we were 17 years old.

I had a nice visit and I appreciated the opportunity to stay with 'real' french people for a little while. I also got to catch up on some sleep too!

Practicing my french speaking and listening skills has increased my confidence. I had to listen carefully because I would often forget that "Shune" (pronounced like tune) is my named pronounced with a French accent.

Aline also had a bunch of pictures of my family and her that I had not seen for a long time. It was strange to be here in Paris - 17 years later - to see a picture of our old dalmation Reena and her.

Yesterday I went and visited the palace at Versailles and got lots of ideas for when I become king. The rooms at Versailles were a bit smaller, but taller than I expected actually - so I'd have wider rooms. Also when I become king I need to build a big hall of mirrors, create separate entrances depending on how I rank my guests, have a huge huge garden and commission some paintings which show me re-enacting Greek mythology scenes where I am featured as Apollo.

I also visited the Musee D'Orsay which I had heard was a great museum and it really is. I was surprised how excited I was to see some of the Monet's and Van Gogh's close up. I saw two Monets, which I thought were the ones that I have prints of at home - so that was cool.

So I got a picture of myself next to the one I thought I had... "Regatta a Argenteuil (1874)" However when I went to the book store, I recognized that actually I have a print of the 1872 Regatta!! Rats! Turns out that the museum has lent mine to "Brescia Museo Della Citta" in Italy until March. I may try and track it down - so I can take another goofy picture next to it!

As far as art goes, I have decided that I also like Van Gogh now. I was impressed by his paintings in the Amsterdam museum and again I liked the ones I saw in the Musee D'Orsay. Amsterdam had the bright wheatfield ones and Musee D'Orsay has his quirky bedroom and another quirky house.

I like the visual abstraction and style used by the impressionists. I like Monet paintings the same way I like my cities ... greenspace and water scenes. Also anything with a sailboat is cool. Van Gogh's paintings are more exciting and have incredible colour.

If the whole king thing doesn't work out I think I am going to paint like Van Gogh when feeling emotional and Monet when relaxed.