The best birthday trip EVER - Day 3

**Thanks to you all for toughing out my "vacation slides". I didn't even invite you over for dinner and coffee before I broke out my projector, but this has become my travel journal. I must continue while all these moments are clear in my mind. Thanks for your patience....we were only there for 5 days so the torture won't continue much longer.**

We were on our own for Day 3, navigating the metro and the map with much success. We had decided the night before that the days schedule would include The Musee Rodin, shopping and the Louvre, which has late hours every Friday.

We spent the morning with Rodin, which turned out to be the longest time were would spend in any one museum. It was not crowded. The day was gloriously sunny and many of the sculptures are in the gardens........are you getting the idea I like the gardens?

First stop, The Thinker.

They don't make you go through the lesser known works to see the superstar. He's the first stop in the garden on the way to the rest of the museum.

Posed in his own perfectly manicured garden, he sits, debating global warming, contemplating what he should invest in next year, and wondering how that guy in the striped Polo hooked up with the chick who dragged him to France.

But he's the big guy. He oversees the garden, while his mini-me perches on a pedestal inside.



Did I mention the garden? I love the gardens. Why doesn't my grass look like this? Why don't my roses look like this? Why don't my hedges look like those? (Could be that it's been 100 degrees plus for over two weeks, but hey.....I want those hedges.....no excuses)

Rodin is one of my favorite sculptural artists, but the museum itself was as much a destination for me as the art. Look at this ceiling medallion!


The chandelier! The mouldings on the ceiling and around the door!

Art?

We're here for the art?

Oh yeah, there's this.....


My favorite Rodin.....The Kiss.

I would like to put this in my living room.

It would fit. I have the perfect spot for it.

But turnaround.....look behind you.

The room THE KISS is displayed in has this fireplace. And that mirror. And those parquet floors.

And see all that woodwork? It used to be painted white with gold accents. The museum people stripped it back to the original wood.

Oh, there's more art?

We found the mini-me of The Thinker on the second floor, after climbing a flight of marble stairs.

*sigh* More stairs.



After seeing all the interior decor Rodin's art, we wandered outside to see more of the gardens.

I hope this turns out to be the only time I see these:

THE GATES OF HELL!

Oddly, there are two little telescopes mounted about 50 yards away so that a person can look through and see the detail of the gates. I guess that's for the folks who are afraid to get too close.....maybe they are afraid those gates will open up and swallow them whole right there in front of all the tourists.

But it wouldn't happen in front of me.

Because I'm not a tourist.

And was secure that the gates wouldn't open up, so I walked right up to them. Big Daddy followed, and then I got a little scared. He was a wild teenager, and I didn't want to become a casualty.

Nothing happened, so I took a picture.

Having tempted Satan at the big gates, we decided it was time for lunch and shopping.

On a recommendation from a friend who had recently visited Paris, we went to the Bloomingdales of Paris, Printemps, and had lunch at the restaurant on the 6th floor. We thought she told us to go here because the lunch was good and the shopping was fabulous (she knew my goal was to come home with a hat).

Imagine our surprise when we walked in and saw this stained glass rotunda.


They don't really know the meaning of the word "less" in Paris.

The food is always a little bit of an adventure......

Big Daddy ordered a tomato filled with cheese (the French like their cheese) surrounded by pesto sauce.




Have you ever seen such a rosy-red, plump cheese-filled tomato? He said it tasted great.


But everything in France tastes great.

It's the law.


We shopped for a while. I tried on more hats, but didn't buy one. I tried on lingerie. But didn't buy any. We shopped for the entire afternoon, then realized that we still needed to go the Louvre.


We had been in Paris, staying at a hotel across the street, and had been cutting through the courtyard for 3 days, but still had not actually been inside the Louvre.


Even at 5 pm, the line to get in was LONG. But we had our handy, dandy museum pass, so we walked right to the front of the line.


Our only goal was to see the "Moldy Lisa", as Big Daddy calls her.



I spied with my own little eye the Mona Lisa.
And the Wedding at Cana.

And the Louis XIV coronation crown.

And a ton of other paintings and sculptures. We could have spent DAYS just at the Louvre. One of the most interesting facts about the Louvre is that all the art housed there was hidden in the homes of people all over France to protect it from being captured by the Germans in WWII.


All of it.


And they gave it back.


Makes you wonder if there's an unaccounted Monet or Renoir still hidden behind the wine rack in Grandpapa's cellar.

For dinner that night, another 3 hour supper with all the required courses. This time we ate at the Smoking Dog. Have you seen Whistler's mother portrayed as a dog? Every wall was covered with famous paintings with dogs as models. Thank goodness I didn't see Degas' Blue Tutus on a Springer Spaniel.


I might have had nightmares.


See the little porcelain dog behind the gold railing on the half wall? These little dogs, of all breeds, were propped up all around us. I wish I had taken more photos here, but when you're not a tourist, it's hard to capture all the moments.

We closed down the restaurant at midnight then headed to the hotel. Did I mention that, because I am not a tourist, I wore cute pumps all. day. long.

My dogs barked and howled all the way home.