I dream of painting and then I paint my dream. Vincent Van Gogh

Rain, rain, rain. Add a cold wind and a long walk and you have two surly folks attempting to flag a parisian cab. Until now, we rarely use cabs. It is expensive and the walks are usually part of the experience. Today, not the case. However, we would not let the rain keep us crammed in this teeny tiny apartment. Today was Orsay day and there was no stopping us. We trudged through the wind and rain flagging and failing to find a cab until...SUCCESS. Oh wait, then we had to wait in line where we loaned one of our umbrellas to a nice Australian couple behind us in line. It seems like a good deed but the umbrella we gave them was the lesser of two and kept going all Mary Poppins on them. Because we did not want to find food elsewhere we decided to bite the bullet and pay to eat at Le Restaurant in the Orsay. When the waitress brought me my dish I literally thought she was mistaken. There was no way three noodles, a small piece of salmon, and some broth cost 16 euro!? Well, good thing they are generous with the bread around here.

The Orsay was exhausting and amazing. As I write, I wish I had a better way of describing the things we saw. Amazing, awesome, and rad are losing their luster. How do you describe the experience of seeing Van Gogh's self portrait or a landscape by Monet? In addition to Cezanne, Manet, and an entire exhibit of Gerome, Although, it is hard to compare something like the Mona Lisa and Louvre to the collection at the Orsay we agreed that we appreciated the art at the Orsay much more than the Louvre. Again, they did not allow photos in the museum so you will have to take our word. There is nothing like looking at some of the best art ever to make you feel kind of dumb. I took a few humanties classes here and there but never developed a language around art. I felt compelled to say "look at the brush strokes" and "I don't appreciate gothic art" without really knowing what I was talking about. Much like at the Dali museum, I like some stuff and not other stuff. Not sure why, I just do.

I think we are going to take a pause on museums for a few days. Not sure what tomorrow will bring. Hopefully, the markets will reopen (they close here for veterans day) and we can pick up some more essentials. For now, we found a movie in English on our French television. This is a treat, even though it's My Best Friend's Wedding.