Impressions

Impressions are tenuous at best. You don’t know whether or not to trust someone’s impression as true because, well, it’s their take on things. And for some impressionists, I guess accuracy is not the point. They would argue that the value is in the telling.

A quest for perfect representation in the artist’s work was not what painters like Renoir, Cezanne and Monet were after and their contemporaries squawked at their blatant deviation from the realistic. Now, each year millions of visitors flock to D’Orsay Musee to catch a glimpse of history’s premier Impressionists. I have an overwhelming urge to pull out my water colours and paint brush when I stand alongside their works. Not only that but their pieces evoke some surprisingly strong emotion in me, much like music does for others.

And now on to artistry of an engineering sort; my husband is mad about trains so we decided to catch a preview of Gare du Lyon where we plan to make tracks to Nice on Friday. Le Train Bleu, the train station restaurant was recommended if we ever needed a spot of lunch so we popped in for a salad and a cafe Viennoise. The building itself is tremendous and the food? Typically french-alicious!

After touring the station, another architectural wonder, and purchasing our tickets, we headed back to our quaint neighbourhood for a stroll along Rue Cler with its fromagerie, charcuterie, bologerie, patisserie and chocolaterie. Feasts for the eyes, each one!

We are taking a 2 hour night tour of Paris in a funny French convertible called a 2CV in 30 minutes so I had better don sweater, gloves and toque in preparation. It’s sure to make an impression.