We have been slacking off a little. In my opinion a vacation should allow for days where you are not on the run. Lazing around for a whole day is really therapeutic. After a leisurely morning of catching up on things, lunch at the apartment we set off to meet Mark and Carol. The plan was to visit Musee de l'Orangerie. We set up a meeting time of 2:00pm at the little Arc in front of the Louvre. Mark was down near the Museum and we were up near the Louvre. Apparently we weren't all on the same page, so it took some texting to get us all together. What would we do without modern technology? 
On our way though the Jardin des Tuleries we passed by gardens of lavendar and holly hocks. The color was really stricking.
Musee L'Orangerie
The L'Orangerie museum has a nice collection of impressionist artwork. It includes works by Guillaume, Renoir, Cezanne, Rousseau, Picasso, Matisse, Derain, Utrillo, Modigliani and Soutine.
Renoir
The museum is small, which makes it really doable. You don't get the usual lead legs from walking and standing for hours. We were through the entire museum in about an hour.
Monet
The second floor of the museum features 8 huge works by Monet. These paintings were donated by Claude Monet to the State. He envisioned them hung in a circular room. It is really 
impressive to see. Two large oval rooms, 360 degrees of Monet water lily paintings. Sitting on the benches in the middle allows you to be completely surrounded by his masterpieces. This is a site that must be seen.Baubles for Paula
After the museum it was still early. Keith had noticed a concert at La Madeleine and we were close by. Along the way we passed several high end shops. I noticed a perfect set for my friend Paula, who is watching our cats at home. Unfortunately, the set costs more than our house. So Paula, you will have to wait awhile for these baubles.Mark, Carol and Keith in front of La Madeleine
The concert at La Madeleine was of the North Central College Women's Chorale. I am usually do not prefer all women groups, but these ladies were good. They sang mostly sacred music and they were extremely expressive. I was particularly impressed by a commissioned work by Gwyneth Walker entitled "Breath of God". The only less than stellar part of the concert was their soloist. She is a professor from the college and had a vibrato that you could drive a Mack truck through. This was their first tour and they were scheduled to sing in Notre Dame in Paris, KollegienKriche in Slazburg and in Karlskirche in Vienna. After the concert Carol, Keith and I went back to Carol's apartment and put together food for a picnic. We gather up our stuff and took the subway up to the Pont des Arts. My keen sense of map reading left us a significant distance from our destination. After a long walk we arrived and set up our feast. The bridge was packed with people all enjoying a late afternoon/early evening picnic. We had plenty of food and a couple bottles of wine. After awhile the police came by and there is a new rule that does not allow alcohol on the bridge after 4pm. They told us to hide our wine, so we slipped it into the backpack. They stepped up there activities later and told everyone who had alcohol to leave. By then we had finished our wine and were ready to move on.
A shot from the Galway
We ending the evening at the Galway. We probably stayed a little late and paided for it the next day....
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