ARROW - 18. Chapter 18

Walking back to Madam Lavigne’s, we stopped for bread, pastries, and a bottle of wine. Madam Lavigne was glad to see us. She opened the wine and poured us a glass as she asked how we spent our day, and I told her about our meeting with students; she smiled.

Dinner was the same as we had at that French restaurant back home, and the difference was the chef. Collin took a bite and smiled, and he remembered as well. “Which tasted better?”

“This tastes better.” He was right, a small percentage was the atmosphere, but Madam Lavigne’s preparation was different enough to give this meal an edge over the French restaurant back home.

That evening in bed, we reminded each other we were married, a few times.

Morning came, and I didn’t want to get out of bed. We had only a few more days left in Paris, and I wanted to see a few more museums. Today we will be going to the Musee D’Orsay.

After a light breakfast, I told Madam Lavigne that we would be going to the Train Station. The Musee D’Orsay is in the old train station, and the locals refer to the Musee D'Orsay as the Train Station.

Walking to the museum, I told Colin about various types of painting. “This museum has a lot of paintings by Monet. He is considered the master of a style called impressionists. His painting titled ‘Impression, Sunrise’ is in this museum and is of the impressionist’s style. Monet is considered the first painter of this style.”

As I was telling this to Colin, I didn’t notice several people following me. “Sir, weren’t you at the Louvre yesterday?”

I turned, and there were two of the students whom I met yesterday. So now, four of us walked to the Train Station, Musee D’Orsay. We discussed the pros and cons of the impressionist styles of painting.

“The museum has quite a collection of other painters. I remember there are paintings by Degas, who is also a member of the impressionist movement. He is noted for his use of pastel colors. There are paintings by Van Gogh and Renoir. Van Gogh’s painting shows the brush strokes, and you will be able to see this in his painting titled The Starry Night. Colin, you remember when we went to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam.”

“Armand, how would you class your paintings?”

“I’ll point out some styles as we walk through this museum, and you can tell me what you think my style is.”

One of my entourage asked if I had a painting in this museum. I told him I wished, but I didn’t think so. Colin came to the rescue, “If he doesn’t, he should. Look at this.”

I didn’t realize that Colin had a photograph of his portrait and the one I did for the Cafe. The one he chose to show the young man who asked the question was his portrait.

The young man looked at the photo, and he told his friends in French, and they all had to look.

“You could have shown him Pete’s painting.” He just smiled.

We arrived at the museum about an hour after they opened. It appeared that some of our initial entourage had called their classmates as the crowd had grown by the time we entered the museum.

We stopped in front of the first painting, and then I knew we would be here all day. They asked me what I thought about the painting, and I thought back to my class at Yale when we would critique the various paintings. So for the rest of the day, I would ask questions about the paintings and offer my comments.

Walking back to Madam Lavigne, we had a small group with us, and I stopped and bought several bottles of wine and pastries. Arriving at Madam Lavigne’s home, I told her I had some students with me. We sat around the table, drinking our wine with our pastry. Besides the students, Colin and I, Madam Lavigne, joined us. She became an active participant. Unfortunately, the conversations were all in French. I told Colin I’d explain after. He volunteered to keep the wine glasses refilled.