Paris: The Final Chapter

I really liked the Musée d'Orsay but I LOVED the Musee Rodin, which makes sense because he is one of my favorite sculptors. It was also one of the most well designed and focused museums I have ever seen, housed in Rodin's house. Oh, and one of my favorite authors was his secretary for a while.

As an aside, in the book of essays I just read it talked about distinguishing the literature from the man (or woman) author. I believe it is the same with art. I don't have to like the sculptor to recognize the genius of his work. (He wasn't the kindest man around.)

Anyway, here are a few of my favorite pieces...

For some reason, I can't find this on the museum website so I can't tell you the name of the piece.

The Thinker

And what could be more charming than a whole group of art students sketching The Thinker?

An evening in Paris

After the art museums we trekked over to the Eiffel Tower.

One look at the long line convinced us that perhaps it was not worth the trip to the top so we called my friend's husband (who had made it up there) and he said not to bother. We decided instead to make our way to the "best view of the Eiffel Tower" according to the guidebook.

Here I am at the esplanade du Trocadero (AKA: the best view of the Eiffel Tower in Paris).

After all that walking we went in search of food again and then just walked around enjoying Paris at night. We eventually ended up at the Arc de Triomphe. We got additional exercise by climb to the top so that we could see the whole city at night.

It is a really long climb to the top but the view was worth it.

Paris

Here I am in Paris....See, proof. There is the Eiffel Tower in the background and everything.

Day one...after a bit more traveling time than we had planned for we ran out and grabbed lunch so my friend wouldn't gnaw my arm off and then we headed down to do a little sightseeing. Because we got there a little later than anticipated we decided to try doing the guidebook suggestion of the evening tour of historic sites. We walked down the Right and Left bank and did some picture taking and sightseeing. Since we knew that Notre Dame Cathedral was open we decided to head down there.

Pretty, isn't it?

The architecture is done in the Early French Gothic style and personifies the French Art style (I know this because I just looked it up) and was built between 1163 and 1250. While I was visiting I looked for the Hunchback could not find him, which was a disappointment.

After we left there, my friend started to feel a bit unwell so we stopped at what turned out to be my favorite cafe for that entire trip so that my friend could try to get her second wind. That didn't happen but I had a nice cup of tea and a pastry (oh, who am I kidding, I had chocolate cake) and we headed back to the hotel so she could recover. This is the portion of the trip where I got to read about Iggy Pop's enormous "endowments" way too many times. (In case you are wondering, the new Iggy Pop bio wasn't a favorite of mine.) It was good I got the extra rest because day 2 was our museum marathon day which you will hear all about in the next blog.