Ensoleillé (Sunny)

The weather forecast on Sunday night showed sun for the entire week but I've lived in Paris too long to trust that kind of magical thinking.  And yet, yesterday, the sun came out in the morning and stayed out all day.  It was astonishing and rare and really the only thing anyone could talk about.  I went for a visit at the Louvre and when I should have been listening to what the guide was saying about 17th century French paintings, I was busy snapping pictures out the window.  After all, I can read up on Poussin, Le Nain, La Tour, and Valentin de Boulogne any old time.  But see the sun in February in Paris?  Better enjoy it while you can.

For the first time ever, a piece of art work is gracing this pillar directly under I.M. Peil's pyramid at the Louvre.  This sculpture, by British artist Tony Cragg, is part of a temporary show of his work.  Earlier suggestions for permanent installations were rejected -- the Winged Victory of Samothrace was judged too large and too fragile; Rodin's Thinker got the gong because no works of Rodin are on exhibit in the Louvre.



You need sun for shadow. So nice to see a world with contrasts.



The sun on the fountain in the Cour Carrée was blinding.