the old ballroom in the gare d'orsay

metalwork

signage

a few bits of old stained glass

blue stuff

what's the french for wurzel gummidge ?

red stuff, green stuff

what should a discerning librarianette nibble whilst watching all four episodes of lost in austen for the third time ?

some of the astonishing rubens series commissioned by marie de medici to celebrate and legitimize her regency of the french throne

... after her husband's unfortunate assassination

http://www.louvre.fr/llv/oeuvres/detail_notice.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673225634&CURRENT_LLV_NOTICE%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673225634&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696500812&bmLocale=en

in the louvre ... the big (next?) version of the national gallery's picture by the anonymous master of the saint bartholomew altarpiece

!!! not ingres but gericault !!! predicting/preceding balthus

http://cartelen.louvre.fr/cartelen/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=15358

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gericault

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balthus

and here's a sharper image of the strange little painting from the louvre's website ...

insouciance

the social whirl in the sculpture courts of the louvre

evidently a librarian ... and here's a polar bear passing by another librarian who is clearly unable to remember where she's left her books

toujours la politesse

standing on the corner, watching all the girls go by ... tiddly-pom tiddly-tiddly-pom

in our room there were loads of lovely old books ...

... and we found big volumes of profusely illustrated victor hugo novels ... the hunchback ...