Paris for real!

In just the first day we have seen the Eiffel tower in the distance, done a walking tour of the Marais near where we are staying, and been to two museums.  Oh yes, and had 3 French meals.  Croissants for breakfast, sandwiches on baguettes for lunch, and Croque meusseur for dinner.

The Musee Carnavalet is dedicated to the history of Paris – we went in mostly to get out of the rain, and because it was free.  There were lots of paintings showing old Paris.  But, for me, the most interesting was the exhibit on pre-history.  The original people were here from about 4500 BC – stone, bone, and bronze materials were displayed from Paris excavations.  There were 2 old pirogues (wooden canoes) that had come from the excavations. 

And this was also a Roman stronghold, so there were some good Roman materials exhibited.  Particularly interesting were the sections of wall showing how very colorful the room had been.  In fact, the romans painted most of their stone ad rooms.

The Rodin museum was open this evening.  Before the rain got too heavy, we wandered in the garden.  Gates of Hell, Bergers of Callais, and The Thinker were very impressive.  I was reminded of taking Nick through in a stroller on our trip to Paris when he was 2, and of taking Nick to Philadelphia much more recently to see the Rodin museum there.  I was also reminded of visiting the Rodin sculpture garden at Stanford with Skip/Will when Ray had his heart surgery. Rodin was clearly a genius.