Item 04: Walter Bruce Rainsford diary, 3 January 1917-31 December 1917 - Page 90

[Page 90]

and visited Mr Clegg in the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne. Dined near the Place de l'Opera and at 7.30 pm went to the National Opera Theatre and saw Romeo & Juiliette. It was simply splendid. I had the play in French and followed it right through. The singing, the ballet, the orchestra of 100 musicians, the crowded theatre (finest in the world, I believe) gleaming with brilliant electric lights, the wonderful staircase & fine ballroom, will not easily be forgotten. Going back to the Hotel I took the metro from the Place de l'Opera to Place de la Bastille.

The following morning I went to the Latin Quarter to visit an Australian artist who has been living in Paris for the past 5 years. Took her and a friend to dinner at a restaurant in the Latin Quarter. The restaurant was typically Bohemian with paintings on the walls left at different times by needy artists who could not pay their bills. Some of these paintings are very fine. In the afternoon I went with my riends to the first Exhibition of the "Rainbow Group" (l'arc en ciel groupe)