Kaye stayed in bed on Thursday, while Vickie, Lisa and I headed to Musee d’Orsay. This museum is in the former Gare d’Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900 for the World’s Fair. It’s a gorgeous building. And, I have to agree with the people online who say they prefer this museum over the Louvre. It isn’t as crowded, and it’s light and modern.

You’ll recognize a number of the works at the d’Orsay.

The clocks are amazing here. You already saw the one in the entranceway. From this one, you can see a view of the city. Unfortunately, there were young people posing for pictures in front of it, so I couldn’t get the view I would have liked for a photo. I had to be quick to get one without someone in front of it.

(My photography wasn’t quite as good as with my earlier picture of the Monna Lisa. And, yes, that should be the correct spelling, because Mona is a vulgarity is some Italian dialects, or means monkey in the subject’s own dialect.)

I left at lunchtime, and picked up Kaye so we could go to our 1920s photoshoot. It was fun to be made up and spend that time learning about Paris in the 1920s. From there, we went to WHSmith, the English bookshop. We met up with Lisa and Vickie in Twinings Tea Shop, where author Cara Black was going to speak. Cara was leading a tour, and she was there to talk about her latest Aimee Leduc mystery, Murder in Saint-Germaine. We went to an author appearance and book signing in Paris! (And, the people at WHSmith were much nicer than the people at Shakespeare & Co.)

Cara Black

Part of the audience – Vickie Smith, Lisa Aiken Butler, Kaye Wilkinson Barley

Cara and Kaye

A book signing in Paris! But, wait. There was more excitement at WHSmith. Kaye had contacted WHSmith to say she had a book out called Whimsey. They said they’d buy five copies and carry it, so when Cara’s signing was over, I asked if they had Kaye Wilkinson Barley’s book, Whimsey. The clerk said it was in fiction on the first floor. So, we all went down to look for it, thinking we’d find it alphabetically under the B’s. One of us spotted it – on display under New Fiction Titles! There was Kaye’s book, right next to Salman Rushie’s latest novel. We couldn’t have been more excited for her. Whimsey in a bookstore in Paris!

So, to top off the day, I bought a copy of Whimsey, and had Kaye sign it for my friend, Donna. Now, Kaye can say she’s done a book signing in Paris.