永遠的異鄉人－－The Eternal Outsider

(Sunny維持我一貫save the best to the last的習慣，最後寫橘園)

位於杜樂利花園裡的橘園美術館，館藏許多印象派及後印象派的畫作。在所有藏品中，最重要的要數莫內的大幅睡蓮及楊柳畫作。

The Musée de l'Orangerie, situated in the Tuileries Palace, is an art gallery dedicated to the Impressionism and the Post Impressionism paintings. Among the collections, the most important, stunning, amazing ones are, no doubt, the large scale water-lily and willow paintings of Monet.

橘園在一樓建構了兩個橢圓形展覽室，專門用來展出這幾幅莫內畫作，每間房間各展出四幅。莫內在生前將這幾幅畫捐贈給法國政府，並特別指明這幾幅畫作應在這種橢圓形展覽室中展出，因此橘園的橢圓形展覽室是為展出這些作品而特別依此要求設計的。

The ground floor of the Musée de l'Orangerie consists two oval shaped rooms, each showcases four Monet paintings. Monet donated those paintings to the French state before he died and specifically requested such paintings be exhibited in such oval-shaped rooms. Thus, the Musée de l'Orangerie was built under such specification.

進入橘園後，就不難理解莫內何以要求這樣的展出方式了。坐在展覽室中央的長椅上，直感覺自己被這些畫作所包圍環繞，彷彿自己置身在莫內的花園裡，感受那陽光、那微風、那池塘、那寧靜與平和。內心的某一處被打動了，凝視著畫，有種激昂的情緒湧上。

By paying the visit to the museum, it is not hard to understand why Monet would so request. When sitting on the bench right at the heart of each room, I was surrounded by the paintings. For a while, it almost feels like I was sitting in Monet's garden feeling the sun, the breeze, the pond, the quietness and the peace. It was a very touching moment for me. Sitting there, I could feel my eyes getting moist.

麻煩先生因為覺得這趟旅行逛了夠多美術館了，而決定去榮軍院看武器博物館，我一個人，浸淫在莫內的世界裡，安靜地聆聽導覽說明。

While Mr. T explored the Army Museum at the Invalides, I took my time to immerse myself in this Monet-esque moment, sitting quietly listening to the audio guide.

館內的工作人員細心地發現我是唯一一個隻身造訪的遊客，因此主動幫我拍了張和畫的合照。

The gentleman working at the museum was so attentive to find that I was the only person strolling around the museum alone, and offered to help me take a photo with the paintings. 

除了莫內的畫作外，橘園還收藏了包括雷諾瓦、塞尚、畢卡索、馬蒂斯及其他印象派與後印象派畫家的作品。

Other than Monet's paintings, the museum also exhibits an huge collection of the Impressionism and Post Impressionism paintings, including artworks of Renoir, Cézanne, Picasso, Matisse and others.

（雷諾瓦的《彈鋼琴的少女》●這個構圖，雷諾瓦畫了許多幅。橘園所收藏的這幅是未完全完成的畫作，較為人熟知的成品畫作則收藏在奧賽美術館。）

(Renoir's Young Girls at the Piano. He painted this same image over and over. The one at the Musée de l'Orangerie is an unfinished copy. The well-known finished version is own by the Musée d'Orsay.)

（塞尚繪製的其妻肖像圖）

(Cézanne's painting of his wife)

儘管不是最有名最為人稱道的，橘園可說是此趟巴黎行，我個人最最喜歡的一處了。即便是數個月後的今日，我仍然記得自己親眼看到莫內這些畫作時，內心激動的感覺。

The Musée de l'Orangerie is definitely the highlight of my trip to Paris. Even until now, I could still feel how deeply moved I was when seeing Monet's paintings there.

當晚我做了惡夢。在夢中，我不是我自己，而是一個白人女孩，經歷了母親的離世。夢裡的我在整個歷程中，甚至在葬禮上，都沒有掉下一滴眼淚。直到事後某天我看到一幅莫內的畫，竟然就哭了，然後領悟在此之前的自己只是拒絕面對事實。

我哭著醒來，在黑暗中感受無邊的悲傷，不可自抑，無法止住淚水。

事後麻煩先生開玩笑，說或許我前世是個法國女孩，而我只是夢見自己的前世罷了。當然我自己的解讀，則有點靈異恐怖了...還是不談為妙...

Later that night, I had a nightmare, in which I was not myself, but a Caucasian girl experiencing the death of the mother. Through out the whole time, even at the funeral, I did not shred a tear until I ran into a painting of Monet's. Then I started to cry and realized that the reason I hadn't cried earlier was because I had been in denial.

I remember waking up in tears, I kept sobbing and sobbing, feeling this enormous sorrow at heart and just could stop myself from crying. 

Later, Mr. T joked that maybe I was a French girl in my previous life and I was just dreaming about it. But I had a more gruesome theory to it which I'd rather not to further illustrate...