Because my regular camera ran out of batteries, I took the pictures in
the latter half of the day with my cell phone camera. This explains the
varying quality of the images.
Click on images below to enlarge:
|
 |
| Louvre: Inside (continued)
|
|
|
|
|
| Cour Marly has a nice sequence of terraces. The funky sculpture is by
Tony Cragg and made in 2008. He has a few sculptures in the court, all
meant to converse with the other sculptures. I think he was successful.
| Its upper terrace.
| Looking down into a similar courtyard, though with a slightly
different layout.
| Hey, he's holding a church.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| The lamassus (ancient Assyrian art) here are better preserved than those
in the British Museum (the uniform lettering is crisp and clear) and
better presented (good natural light).
| A column-top from a temple in Iran. Can you believe the temple had
nearly a hundred such columns? Impressive.
| Proof of the number of such columns in the temple.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Great stained glass! I took this picture in high-resolution so that
the individual scenes are visible. The stained glass is even better
than how it looks because, in addition, it promotes eduction (women in
science, printing press, etc.). It's a nice change from all the
stained glass of saints.
| A room with enormous tapestries of stag hunts.
| | I like Peder Balke's landscape scenes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| A piece by Cornelis de Baellieur for my collection of paintings of
paintings.
| | And another, this one by Atelier de Frans II Francken. I almost didn't
notice this was a painting of paintings because there was so much other
stuff going on. Di Yin pointed it out to me.
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| See, I like some Claude Lauren paintings such as this one: Port de
mer au soleil couchant (Seaport at Sunset). I mention this
because it was surprising given my generally negative reaction to the
special exhibit on him that I saw earlier in the day. Sorry I have no
pictures of that.
| |
For completeness, I should mention they had some Canalettos. I like
him.
| The museum also has a number of Hendrick van Steenwijck the Younger who
I like for his architectural paintings.
|
|
| Dinner at Le Hangar
|
|
|
|
|
| We ate dinner at the bustling Le Hangar, a block or two from our
apartment.
| Le Hangar is located around a bend in a quiet alley. The restaurant is not
visible from the street.
I actually took this picture the previous day. (We walked by the
restaurant and I thought we may end up going there at some point in the
future.)
| Inside, looking back toward the entrance.
| Di Yin showing off how all the spoons have a strange dent in them on the
left side. I wonder why.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Our free starter: toasted bread with olive tapenade. "What's not to
like?" asked Di Yin.
| Our appetizer: "ravioles de Romans, creme d'aubergines" (Roman ravioli
with eggplant cream sauce). Good. Filled with cheese? We appreciated
that the cream sauce didn't overwhelm the pasta.
| One main course: "croustillant de saumon, emulsion de tomate a l'huile
d'olive, puree de carottes" (crispy salmon, tomato emulsion and olive
oil, and pureed carrots). Good, buttery salmon, nicely crusted, with
mashed carrots.
| Our other main course: "risotto aux asperges, jambon San Daniele"
(asparagus risotto accompanied by San Daniele ham). A good risotto that
works especially well with the ham. Also, combining it with greens
(visible under the ham) improves everything, bringing out the wine in
the risotto. Di Yin thinks the reason for this is the lemon in the
greens' dressing.
|
|
|
| A complementary dessert after Di Yin already ate one piece: meringue
that melts in one's mouth, butter cookies that almost do the same, and
something else.
|
