You know you have arrived. . . .

You know when you have arrived at a certain place in your life when a 40s Something woman gets up from her seat on the Metro Train and offers her seat to you! Now, Duane does not know exactly how to react to this act of kindness (But he started off by NOT taking the seat) and spent the rest of the train ride contemplating life. . . Concensus: Life is good and one should take the seat if you want. Paula took it!

The next wonderful thing that happened was that a young woman (Well, younger than Duane) climbed aboard the train with her music machine and portable PA Station and proceeded to sing her heart out. As it turned out, she was very good and she stayed with us until we got off. Both Paula and I were going to remember the songs she sang, but that was 9 hours ago and we can't even remember our own names now. She was a treat! I hope she makes it big. 

We got off at the Arc de Triomphe, snapped some photos (Well, lots of photos) and headed on down.

The Champs Élysées is a fabulous street. Tree lined and miraculous in it's simplicity and style. it is also famous for high end shopping. Paula was headed for this store, but Duane was quick and diverted her. 

There is just NO reason whatsoever to go into a Cartier store before 3:00 O'Clock in the Afternoon. We moved along to the most wonderful museum in the world . . . Musee de' O'rsay. All I'm going to say about this museum is this. . . Pack everything away, board the dog, send the kids off to special school, drain the plumbing and go buy tickets to Paris and THIS Museum. You will thank me in the morning! You can do the research, of course, so I won't bore you with the history (It was once a train Station). It is the perfect size to make it manageable and nearly everything you've ever wanted to see of an Art Nature is right in here. Paintings galore (All the good ones, including many by Van Gogh and Monet), sculpture, furniture, carvings, and a few things made out of all the above. But wait! Before we even went in we had lunch in the fabulous restaurant on the East end . . . It was perfect!

Paula is setting just off to the left talking to our new friends from New Brunswick, Canada. It is always fun to discover new friends. 

One thing Duane always notices is the artists of old painted lots and lots of nude people. Girls and boys, children, women and men and in every combination. Duane thinks it was more about tricking people into taking all their clothes off rather than about Art, but he could be wrong. Whatever the plan, the result is particularly winsome and Duane believes that a little nakedness (Or a Lot) should be apart of everyone's life. I have no nudes to show you. You know where to get your own. Here's a shot of the famous clock that kept track of the train schedules long before this was a museum:

And a closer look. . . 

Now if that isn't enough to make you want to sell the farm and move to Paris just think about all the nude paintings, sculptures and "Situations." No, seriously, there is some outrageously great art in here!