Adrenalin Rush up Eiffel Tower

The glowing landmark of Paris

After visiting the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay I didn't expect to have much energy left, but I must have had a major infusion of adrenalin to go to the Eiffel Tower.

When I arrived there was a notice saying due to technical problems, only one lift was working and there was a massive line for those who did not reserve a ticket.

However on the other side at the bottom of the tower was a relatively shorter line and for 5 euros you could climb up the stairs up to the second stage.

Why not?

Around 9pm it was still daylight with a good view of the city

And as long as you kept a steady pace it wasn't too difficult, but you did work up a bit of a sweat. In the end it was worth the climb. From the first stage, it was great to be able to see Paris from above and the guide of faded photographs at different points indicated what you were seeing.

And then I climbed up further to the second stage, and the distance wasn't as long as the first. The view was marginally better – the Arc de Triomphe stuck out more whereas it was just visible above the other buildings earlier.

Just as I was taking a picture a guy tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "Are you wearing Lululemon?"

I turned around to see a Persian guy with long wavy hair and long nose. When I affirmed that I was wearing the Vancouver brand of yoga gear, he further asked where I was from and was thrilled to meet someone he could speak English with.

Ominous clouds threaten to cover Paris as night falls

He seemed overexcited which was disconcerting, but I quickly warmed up to his eagerness to connect. Turns out Bijan was starting a job in a law firm in September and was now traveling the world.

I looked down at his feet and he was wearing brown Vibrams that looked soaked.

"Aren't your feet wet?" I asked.

"Yeah but I don't care. I'm in Paris!" he exclaimed.

I helped him take some pictures and he took some for me too.

While he said his plan was to travel western and eastern Europe and Israel, he was keen to hit Hong Kong too.

Hong Kong without going to China, I asked?

The 33 year old then said it was a possibility if he had enough money, but stated Hong Kong was one city he wanted to check out.

I gave him my business card just in case he did fly over, as he made his flight plans two days in advance.

The sun finally sets just before 10pm

We parted ways but not before he told me the flashing lights on the Eiffel Tower would light up at 11pm and that gave me the idea of waiting around until dark. By now it was just past 9pm but still very bright outside.

I hung around, waiting inside and ate a horrible croque monsieur that was bland and goopy than cheesy and tasty with the thinnest slice of ham. To kill more time I bought a souvenir mug.

Then around 10pm people outside hollered, signaling that the tower was now lit up. So I took a few more shots and now very tired, walked down the stairs to the bottom. It wasn't too difficult though I knew I'd be hurting the next day.

Then from below looking up at the tower, it did look magnifique – a glowing golden colour.

Impressionable Works and Lives

Next on the Paris to-list was a visit to Musee d'Orsay.

Cheval a la herse by Pierre-Louis Rouillard at the entrance

My last trip in the mid-80s coincided when the museum first opened in 1986 and at that time it was refreshing to see a train station converted into a gallery, and it was airy and full of light thanks to the high ceilings.

Sculptures were placed around us as if they were in a garden and it was wonderful seeing them in their own space and not crammed together.

This time around though it was pretty crowded as it's understandable the museum has acquired a number of art works since then. The museum also underwent a recent revamp to organize the collection and crowd flow a bit better, even spilling upwards to the second and then fifth floors.

Alfred Jaquemart's Rhinoceros in front of Musee d'Orsay

What is also great for the most part is that major introductions to the themed galleries were presented in French, English and Spanish so that visitors could learn more about the works they were looking at; these were placed at both ends of the long darkened rooms so that everyone was on the same page regardless of where they started from.

Here the art works are carefully taken care of -- no natural light is shining on the paintings unlike some in the Louvre and staff were vigilant about making sure no one  took pictures. It was an environment respectful of the art and in turn educated visitors about enjoying the overall experience through memory rather than photographs.

In my case I learned a lot about the post-Impressionists called the Niubis who rejected naturalism and impressionism. The word comes from the Hebrew nevi'im or "prophets" where this group of artists regarded themselves as the messengers of a new art form based on interpretation of Paul Gaguin's ideas.

He had spearheaded this movement, expounding his theory to Paul Serusier who then influenced these Nubis and their works were demonstrated from 1888 to 1900.

An interior shot of the main hall in Musee d'Orsay

They were more focused on introspection, exploring the twists and turns of the human soul including death. Their work is characterized by simple forms and flat areas of colour. They also preferred more popular media, such as posters, panels, tapestries and even fans and theatre costumes. They liked putting symbols and dreams in their works and were influenced by Japanese prints.

Some of these artists included Franz von Stuck, Frederick Watts, Marianne Stokes, Edgard Maxence and Rene Menard.

The museum also has an amazing collection of furniture from the early 20th century in the Art Deco style. They seem keen to break away from the flourishes of the past centuries like Rococo and Baroque and instead creating organic yet elegant lines. This was evident in large bedroom pieces, desks and chairs.

On the fifth floor the museum is having an interesting exhibition not on an artist or a particular movement -- but on a woman who was the muse and patron for many painters.

Entitled "Misia, Queen of Paris", the show follows the life and times of Marie Sophie Olga Zenaide Godebska, known as Misia who had a turbulent love life that included three husbands.

The exhibition is a collection of paintings and photographs of her as well as a taste of the period in which she lived in.

Vincent van Gogh -- in the metro station, but is in the museum

She was born in St Petersburg in 1872 into a family of musicians and she learned to play piano, quite well but never made it her career. However she would play for friends privately and there are some paintings of her sitting by the piano.

Her first husband was Thadee Natanson, who, with his brothers, founded a cultural and artistic publication called La Revue Blanche (1889-1903) for its white cover, in Belgium.

The magazine was a magnet for writers and innovative artists of the period and it covered political, social and artistic issues.

While Misia didn't directly participate in this, she spent time with many of her husband's contributors -- Edouard Vuillard, Pierre Bonnard, Felix Vallotton and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who were all purportedly all in love with her.

She the married again to Alfred Edwards in 1905, but soon after he cheats on her and she starts having an affair with Catalan painter Jose Marie Sert. It was he who introduced her to Serge de Daghilev and she became committed to helping the impressario, resulting in her becoming the "godmother" of the Ballets Russes.

A poster of the temporary exhibition on Misia

One of her girlfriends at the time was the inimitable Coco Chanel, who called Misia "Madame Verdurinska" for being an arbiter of taste and fashion. The exhibition has several pictures of the two together at gatherings.

However things went downhill a few years after she married Sert in 1920. He takes a mistress, a Georgian sculptress named Isabelle Roussadana Mdivani known as Roussy, and even lives with the couple in the Hotel Meurice.

Misia divorces Sert in 1927 and he marries his mistress. It seems Misia never got over being abandoned by him and her health begins to decline, suffering from severe eye problems that leave her almost blind. She also starts getting addicted to morphine and eventually dies in 1950.

It's a sad end, but she did live quite an amazing life at the time. And her influence is forever immortalized in the artists who loved her.

Misia, Queen of Paris
June 12 to September 9
Musee d'Orsay
1, rue de la Legion-d'Honneur
75007 Paris
+33 (0) 1 40 49 48 00
www.musee-orsay.fr

Something Old, Something New

The glass pyramid at the Louvre

Ah Paris. Why has it taken so long for me to revisit you again?

The last time I was in the City of Lights was when the glass pyramid was being built at the Louvre in the mid 1980s.

It was definitely time for an update.

Venus de Milo

My first order of business was to go to the Louvre and see as much as I could -- my first visit was one of those family trips to Europe where you see several countries in 20 days on a bus.

That meant we spent about half an hour in the revered museum -- where we of course saw the Mona Lisa, the headless Winged Victory of Samothrace and perhaps the large paintings by Eugene Delacoix, such as Liberty Leading the People and Theodore Gericault's Raft of Medusa.

So this time I had no specific deadlines and hoped that I could see as much as possible without my eyes blurring over and overall I think I did a pretty good job.

However the layout of the Louvre can be confusing and at times I felt like I was in a maze and could not get out; sometimes back tracking was the only way to do this as some gallery sections were closed.

I arrived relatively early and since I came from the metro, I was able to buy an admission ticket from downstairs and walk in right away. So to beat the crowds outside -- well sort off -- I headed off to see La Jaconda or Mona Lisa.

The signs pointing to Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece were very clear and within minutes I was in the room with many other people crowding around this small painting behind bullet-proof glass.

Detail of Josephine and Napoleon with their Chaumet crowns

We were all craning our necks trying to take pictures of her, but it was useless since there was severe reflection from the glass. Nevertheless she still is smiling perhaps with a hint of mischievousness, pleased that no one can catch her true likeness.

On the same first floor, I also managed to see The Winged Victor of Samothrace again as well as Delacroix and Gericault's works as well as the massive painting called The Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I by Jean-Louis David.

It's a dramatic and highly detailed work, portraying Napoleon starting a new kind of royalty. In it, the crowns were created especially for the French power couple by the French jewellery house Chaumet. That commission led the company to become the official jeweller to Napoleon and needless to say Chaumet continues to market its connection with the diminutive leader to this day. Pedigree is a selling point.

19th century Congolese sculpture of a bull

On the ground floor there's Aphrodite, or Venus de Milo, a lovely female torso that's sadly lost her arms. There's also a massive Egyptian section filled with the numerous coffins Egypt's kins were buried in. One wonders how they were transported way back when. There are also massive stone statues like Ramses II and the Code of Hammurabi, a giant black stone with laws carved into it for eternity.

I also saw the new wing dedicated to the arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. My favourite piece was that of bull from the 19th century from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The simple lines and the beautiful wood makes it so simple, refreshing and modern.

And I was also pleased to see some pieces from Canada, including a pillar made of cedar from the Kwakiatul nation and a mask of a bird from the Tsimshian.

Up on the second floor there were many Dutch paintings, such as The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin by Jan van Eyck, but also an interesting comparison of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres' works.

CY Twombly's The Ceiling adds modernity to antiquities

In 1808 he painted a large canvas of The Bather. But the same figure appears again in 1828 in another work called The Small Bather, Interior of the Harem, and then again in 1862 in another painting featuring other women called The Turkish Bath.

Some artists really do recycle their ideas.

It was interesting going up to Napoleon III's apartments up a flight of wooden stairs into a series of rooms oozing with opulence that was completely over the top. There were enormous chandeliers dripping with crystal pieces, lavish velvet couches furniture, doors lined with gold, and rich thick silk brocade curtains.

However amongst all this ostentatious furniture were curious pieces mixed in, such as Deux Bacchantes (Clockwise) in one of the hallways. It looked like two silver nymphs dancing together, but their faces and figures are warped as if they were stretched and twisted.

Two literally twisted figures by Wim Delvoye

They are the work of Wim Delvoye, a Belgian artist whose work seems to shock people, but here the pieces seemed to blend in too well into the background and I wondered if people noticed these works were new. Visitors pointed out his other pieces, fabric pigs, but did they notice these silver-coloured sculptures as not quite fitting in?

And then I noticed some other things that stood out.

One of them is a fantastic ceiling in one of the Greek antiquities room painted by CY Twombly who died last year. Called The Ceiling, it features a number of yellow and almost black spheres floating around a blue sky, with some ancient Greek writing. The work was painted on canvas and then mounted on the ceiling, perhaps one of his last few works as it was completed in 2009.

And then I found this painting very amusing. Done by Jean-Simeon Chardin in 1779, it shows a monkey dressed up holding a brush and sitting by a canvas with brush in hand. This one called The Monkey Painter perhaps made fun of other artists who paint their own self portraits in a similar setting.

The Monkey Painter by Jean-Simeon Chardin

So instead of looking at the usual masterpieces, it was fun to try to find things that looked different to bring a new perspective to an old school museum.

Alsatian Ambassador

Guy Dopff sampling some wines

In the last few days I was in Alsace visiting some vineyards and tasting wines.

We even had a helicopter tour of the area and from above you could see little villages relatively close together and surrounded by vineyards or cornfields, the other major crop in Alsace.

But perhaps most memorable was meeting Guy Dopff yesterday, whose father started Dopff & Irion.

The Dopff family has been involved in the wine industry since 1584 and so it seemed natural for Guy to be part of it too. He worked for the company from 1958 and was president from 1975 until he retired in 1985.

However, Dopff is still very active and was a pleasure to talk to. The charming gentleman had no problems switching from French to fluent English and always had something light hearted to say.

On top of that he didn't seem to worry about his health, tucking into a slab of foie gras pate, followed by sausages, ham, sauerkraut and potatoes, as well as cheese and blueberry pie. Oh yes he also had his glasses of wine too.

I asked him is secret to his health and sharp mind. "A zest for life," he replied.

When he was young, he was in the army and learned how to fly planes. Afterwards in 1971 he raced a cessna, a small plane from London to Vancouver.

"We had to refuel, take a pee, and get coffee in less than half an hour to get a credit," he recalled. The longest leg was from London to Halifax where flying took all day.

In the end they didn't come in first, but they finished the race.

Then later on in 1980, he was invited to China as a wine expert.

The Chinese were interested in starting up a vineyard in Harbin, but when Dopff found out how cold it was in winter, he said, "No way!"

He remembers being entertained by his guests at a big banquet and he had to drink Chinese spirits. He managed to keep up with his hosts with all the ganbei or cheers around the table.

At one point his translator, a government-issued one, didn't translate something that was said.

He insisted that she tell him what they said and she shyly said, "You must enjoy good health", insinuating that he had a very good alcohol tolerance level.

While he didn't intend to go there selling wines, Dopff brought some from his winery for people to sample, but they didn't like it much. I assured him that wine is becoming more popular with young people, not just the uber rich.

Now in his 80s, Dopff still travels once a year to Vancouver to visit one of his daughters and his grandchildren. Last year he went to his daughter's cabin and wrote his memoirs, where he said he saw orcas, seals and eagles.

While he seems to live a very comfortable life, Dopff is humble, saying in the wine-making field, "You live poor, but die rich", meaning that others are willing to help you and you are able to meet all kinds of people.

It seems people of Dopff's generation, those who experienced war really have a zest for life; after surviving what may have been the end of the world, any obstacle that comes their way is nothing that can't be dealt with.

That generation is also very resourceful and quick on their feet, entrepreneurial and willing to take risks, also from their wartime experience.

And now they are living out their golden years and enjoying every moment.

Sante!