It's not Paris

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Day 1 – This isn’t Paris

Because our flight to Paris was rescheduled multiple times we ended up on a flight to JFK that left Boston and 10:30 with our flight to Paris at 9 PM. We decided to use the layover productively and get in practice for visiting museums. With 3 exhibits that sounded interesting we went to the Met. Exhibit #1, the history of the nude in photography, was a B-. Small and not very interesting. Exhibit #3, Jewish art in the Middle Ages was so small, we had a hard time finding it even when we were in the right room. Exhibit #2, the Stein Collection, was a winner. Gertrude Stein, her brother Leo, her brother Michael and his wife Sarah were upper middle class Jews who moved from San Francisco at the turn of the century. They didn’t have a lot of money, but pooled their resources and assembled an amazing art collection, hence the name of the exhibit. They only bought paintings from artists they liked and had the largest collection of works by Matisse in the world. They also were fast friends with Picasso and had a major collection of his work. The audio tour that blended discussion of art, history and a fascinating family story kept us enthralled for 2 hours. We kept looking at the signs on the art that said that the Steins owned many of the works until 1937. At that point, Leo & Michael and his wife had the good sense to leave Paris for the US. Gertrude and Alice B. Toklas stayed through the occupation and were saved by a collaborator who admired Gertrude’s writing. The collection was dissipated through war and a grandson with gambling problems and when the prices for Picassos and Matisses went well about the $100 price point that the Steins could afford.

After being turned down by 3 cab drivers, we found someone who reluctantly agreed to take us to JFK. About 7 Josh and Madeline arrived and we sat around eating nibbling on snacks until boarding.

Traveling business class is really a pleasure. Big seats that fold down, tablecloths & wine. I opted for the quick-serve cold plate and was done with dinner and asleep before Jack was served his main dish. I slept until breakfast was served. We landed 40 minutes early, but since we were too early we had to hang out for 30 minutes for the gate to free up. Paris is very respectful of pregnant women as you can see in the photo of Madeline in the pregnant lady seat. Jess and Matt arrived after a wait that was long enough for us to get coffee and we headed into Paris.

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