Fine art and Cheez Waffles: A Parisian Odyssey by foot

I woke up this morning here in lovely Paris and the CNN ticker had an article that said People Who Eat More Dairy Fat Have Lower Risk of Heart Disease and I knew there was a breakfast buffet full of cheese and buttery croissants awaiting me downstairs and I felt a sense of immense health/cardiac joy. But all of that is just a way to pop the above picture onto my site. That’s MacBeth, my best friend’s dog – a shelter rescue who arrived from Hawaii, having been abused, who bounced back from a rough start in life to reveal one of the cheeriest and inquisitive dog personalities ever and I just wanted you all to see him. I don’t know if he understands what he’s looking at here, but he’s solidly interested nonetheless and I try to embrace that same dogma (Witty!) when I’m out on the road.

We set out to l’Orangerie and it turned out to be my kind of museum due to its small size and stellar Japanese-style heated seat toilets. (Aside: I am not in the habit of “relaxing” in public bathrooms so I didn’t take advantage of all the offered features but they were so special that even Ron came out of his stall impressed) But wait, there are also some Monet murals at l’Orangerie:

You couldn’t get me out of the mural rooms – I did them once and declared I needed to go through again to feel their immersive peace and Ron apparently felt that was the time to finally get out a map of Paris and see what there is to do here:

After l’Orangerie, we had nothing on the agenda until this evening and so we wandered off onto the side streets of the Right Bank. We were in search of two things: one cool new department store building and a last minute add-on visit to the new museum in the Bourse de commerce building owned by French billionaire businessman Francois Pinault. He had a commodity exchange building renovated and turned into a showplace for his 1.2 billion dollar art collection. Here’s the main exhibition gallery with the first installation, which is a collection of statuary and everyday theatre chairs (not sure what the connection is between these two items) and they’re all made of wax, currently on fire, and falling apart through melting v-e-r-y slowly as you stand there.

Here’s a chair. Look closely and you can see the small flames that are melting it:

Here’s an arm off the big statue. There’s body parts and bones all over the room and you just walk amongst it all.

When I was young, my siblings and I used to eat a product called Cheez Waffles by Old London Foods. There is no cheese and no waffles in these things and they’re probably held together by genetically altered hydrogenated fat. But I loved them to the point that – until they disappeared – I once talked my way into a wholesale case order from Old London Foods. At some point during our walk Ron let me go into a small convenience store to get some coffee for the room and I made a quick dash over to the snack foods, did my quick and thorough scan of the products, and spied an item that looked a bit like an Old London Cheez Waffle. They are the real deal, people! Can anyone see if I can order these in the US or should I throw out parts of my luggage contents to get them home?

At any rate, overjoyed and happily eating my French Cheez Waffles, we continued on with our walk, ambled into a church right in the middle of a funeral and then found a Mercedes hearse outside – I didn’t even know Mercedes made a hearse:

Here’s a few more pictures from our strolling. The top one is Saint-Eustache church. We just turned a corner on some street and there it was. Ron changed course to get a look, saw the Bourse de commerce building we had just exited, drew my attention to it and said it looked awesome, never once realizing that he had just walked out of that very place.

Below is the Samaritaine Department store that was reopened in 2021 and houses 90 ultra high end boutiques in an Art Deco building. I did not tell them I do much of my clothing shopping at the Fred Meyer on 19th and so I was allowed to walk right in. We used the bathroom here too and I felt l’Orangerie offered a better toileting experience. Here’s a look up at the gorgeous ceiling as I entered and then Ron, mulling over an handbag purchase.

We finished off our touring day with my favorite stained glass at St. Chapelle. We had the place nearly to ourselves, which is just a huge contrast to all prior visits – it’s usually shoulder to shoulder in there. I can’t account for the emptiness – Paris itself feels bustling and busy. There’s no capturing St. Chapelle in pictures so I’ll throw this in – just for a place holder for you. Come to Paris, see this for yourself, and bring me back some Cheez Waffles.