Modern Art with the Masses

We spent the day at the Pompidou Center. Not many photos, as it was hot and full of people (mostly speaking French, though there were lots of tourists). Happily, the huge space could handle it all. The exterior escalators gave me a bit of vertigo. I couldn't look at the skyline until we were stationary. (The heat didn't help; the habitrail-like enclosure was like a greenhouse. But the interior was air-conditioned.)

Mom and I toured half the modern art museum, then took a much-needed break for lunch. We splurged on the rooftop restaurant. The food was good, if a little arty (the photo is my desert; an eclair filled with chocolate mousse), but the views were wonderful. We ate outside under large umbrellas, and there was a lovely breeze. I meant to take a photo, but we lingered and then felt guilty about not seeing the rest of the museum, so I forgot as we headed back to the museum.

After another few hours including a bookstore and shops (they have a wonderful bookstore, but the art books are too heavy to carry home, and in French besides), we headed back to the Metro around 6:30 pm. I'm getting pretty good at navigating the system, though we seem to go somewhere different every day so I haven't memorized anything. Tomorrow we take the Metro to a different train system (via Gare Montparnasse) to the suburbs. A volunteer from the Aalto house will meet us at the station. After we return from that tour, we may take a boat tour. We are tired of walking (I have blisters to prove it), so a passive tour sounds good.