I recently went to Paris for a few days, mainly to see the John Singer Sargent exhibit at Musée D’Orsay. The exhibit was amazing and Musée D’Orsay was most excellent! Although I was impressed by the collection of ninety John Singer Sargent artworks, many of which had never been exhibited in France before, I fell in love with the work of William Bouguereau, especially “Dante and Virgil” from 1850. His work is truly exceptional!
I stayed in the 13th Arrondissement, Place d’Italie, which is a very quiet neighborhood with a huge Vietnamese influence. It had recently snowed and it was very cold during my visit. I can now admit experiencing Paris in winter. Although I did putz around a bit, the bitter cold prevented me from wandering around too much and because of the weather, when it came time to depart Paris, many of the trains leaving Paris had been canceled, including my original option. I did eventually find a train out and made it back home to Pau last night.
Considering how much I love France, I’ve only been to Paris three times for substantial visits, including my inaugural visit over 25 years ago. Despite the weather putting a chill on my efforts to explore more, I have decided that when I visit Paris again the future, each time I’m going to choose a different arrondissement to get a different vibe. There is much to experience in Paris and I haven’t even scratched the surface, but I also feel that way about France in general, yet I’m quite content staying home in Pau continuing to explore my environs and developing my newly met friendships.
I will eventually find my balance between world traveler and old man with bad knees.
Check out my random photos from this adventure:
https://mctrohn.com/paris-2026
