Wednesday, 2 November, 2022 – 100 days! I know, he’s been away for more than than that at school but there’s something poetic about his spending the last day in Europe on his 100th day in Europe. Tomorrow, he flies to Bangkok. It is 8:30am in Paris right now, so he is probably up and headed to the train. He said the train takes about an hour to get to the airport.
It sounds like he had a really nice last day in Paris. He spent a big portion of the day getting to, and visiting, the Musée d’Orsay. I have heard the name of the museum, though I never paid much attention to anything else about it. According Wikipedia, it holds French art from roughly 1848 to 1914. It has different sorts of art, including paintings, sculptures, and photography. I looked at the current exhibitions and the museum has not kept strictly to the 1848-1914 time period because there is a Kehinde Wiley exhibition, alongside Edward Munch and others.
From the map, it looks like the museum sits near the Seine, though the museum’s website does not show off the location. Google has over 350,000 (!) images to offer up when I searched the museum name. Without browsing too long, I found a couple that give a sense of how huge the museum is, and how closely it sits along the river.
He said he really enjoyed the museum. Or, more precisely, he enjoyed seeing the artwork and did not love the crowds. He had his Middle Eastern dinner delivered to his hostel this evening, which sounds sort of fancy for Elias. But no, he said the restaurant had free delivery and offered a discount for placing a delivery order. Is that unusual, or is it just me?
After Elias called for just a few minutes today, it occurred to me that he knew I wanted to talk briefly before he got on the plane. He knew I would cry, saying goodbye, but he called anyway.