Musée d'Orsay and the Petit and Grand Palais

We caught the Metro from Cadet to the Louvre station and walked to the Orsay via the Tuileries and the Pont de Solférino, where lovers affirm their devotion by attaching little padlocks, inscribed with romantic inscriptions, onto the bridge's railings:

The Musée d'Orsay is a converted railway station and another hugely impressive structure, on the left bank of the Seine, more or less opposite the Louvre:

The queues weren't as bad as the Louvre's but still fairly substantial:

The Orsay has some staggering artworks and if you're into Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, it's a must-see - eyeball pleasers everywhere. Just after the entrance you're met with some gorgeous Manets and the breathtaking Le Moulin de la Galette by Renoir. After all the dark drama and academicism of many of the Louvre's masterpieces, the joie de vivre and saturated colours of these mainly Parisian artists is a breath of fresh air:

No reproductions can capture the sheer lushness and beauty of those colours. There are many wonderful Degas paintings and pastels and some superb Van Goghs and Gauguins. The highlights for us were the two Manet masterpieces, Olympia and one of my all-time faves, Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe:

Once again, no reproduction can fully capture the beauty of those colours. And Manet's brushstrokes are sui generis. He inspired the Impressionists, who begged him to join them, which he always politely refused. Renoir, Degas and Pissarro have their lovely dabs, and Van Gogh has his emotional swirls and thickly-applied paint, but you can't match Manet's wrist-action. You have to get up close to appreciate these techniques and, fortunately, I was able to do this with all the paintings, leaning in with glasses affixed and peering intently for ages.
The interior of the building is fantastic and, like the art it contains, full of light and space, unlike the labyrinthine Louvre.
We decided to explore the surrounding areas, once again via the Tuileries - where we saw this young woman sunning herself

- and the Champs-Élysées, until we came across the Petit-Palais and Grand-Palais. There's nothing petit about the former: it's a huge building which looks older in style than its 110 years:

It houses the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Paris, admission is free and there are some amazing paintings inside, including Courbet's Young Ladies on the Banks of the Seine. It has a lovely, contemplative-inducing courtyard:

Let's face it, Parisians are spoiled rotten!
We crossed over to the Grand Palais, which, as its name implies, is even bigger than the Petit, but it was closed. There are gigantic bronze horses and riders on the roof:

We came across a rather snobby fellow:

Had we finally encountered the archetypal obnoxious Frenchman we've heard so much about but not yet experienced? Or was he just reacting to an unpleasant smell that had yet to reach our nostrils? We weren't sure, but the neighbourhood kids seemed charming enough:

Another long walk back to the Metro and the 9th arrondissement. I calculate we've logged around 40 ks on foot so far.
Tomorrow, dinner on the Eiffel Tower and a cruise on the Seine. If we fall in, we'll both be insane!