Easter Monday

For us, the Monday after Easter is just another work day. In France, Easter Monday is a national holiday. That made finding things to do last year on my trip to France a bit tricky; lots of things were closed. I did my homework, however, and found an event that both Marie and I wanted to attend...the Lalique exhibition at the Musee de Luxembourg. I even bought tickets online before I left for France. The exhibition did not disappoint. From my travel journal...."after a leisurely breakfast, Mickey and I went to the Petit Luxembourg Palace for the Lalique exhibit. It's all his early jewelry which he made before changing to glass. He was very into medieval bestiary & made many pieces that incorporated dragons, butterflies, insects, fish, etc. into the design. His early pieces that had nudes in them were initially shocking, but quickly became accepted. He's considered the originator of modern jewelry. Made many dog collars! and very large pieces favored by eccentric, flamboyant women. Sarah Bernhardt was one of his early clients. Natalie Barney was as well; she bought Lalique's jewlery to give to her women lovers in exchange for their favors." Oh-la-la...tres French!


The next stop on our Easter Monday adventures was L'Orangerie. It was closed the other times I'd been in Paris, but was open this day...with a line to prove it! Very worth the wait, however. Monet's "Waterlilies" paintings are on display upstairs in the marvelous room devoted just to these huge paintings. The Paul Guillaume collection downstairs really captured my interest, even more so than the Monet paintings. It featured many paintings by Picasso, Derain, Renoir, and my personal favorite, Modigliani.

Another event that I had on my to-do list was an evening concert at St. Germain-des-Pres. The church was directly across the boulevard from our hotel; my travel companions, Marie, Susan, and Stephen, all decided that they wanted to attend as well, so I bought tickets for us all. We entered the oldest church in Paris and found seats on the hard wooden chairs set up facing an orchestra and choir risers centered under the almost three-story dome of the church. The orchestra entered, the lights were dimmed, and the music began. As I noted afterward in my journal, it was "wonderful, wonderful! It brought tears to my eyes, and I could see all the angels, saints, and cherubs hovering in the dome above swaying, dancing, and lifting hearts & wings to the music. The sound simply filled the church and rained down on us from Heaven with glorious melody." The orchestra played Bach, Vivaldi and Telemand; after a brief intermission, the choir entered and sang the Mozart Mass, Messe du Couronnement.

What memories we made that night!