Paris Continued

We continued working our way through our must list: the Musee d'Orsay, the Rodin Museum, and Napolean's Tomb. I love the d'Orsay. We got there right when it opened and went straight to the Impressionists. It was not crowded and the paintings were easy to look at and admire. Renoir's work was my favorite. Before I think I liked Monet better. It's hard to choose. The building itself is lovely--a converted train station in the Art Noveau style. It had just the right amount of art to look at in less than 2 hours, unlike the Louvre. There is so much to see at the Louvre that even under less crowded conditions, it would be hard to leave after several hours thinking you had seen all of the important pieces.

After the d'Orsay, we headed over to the rue Cler to have lunch. Rick Steves has made this street famous for food and he recommends several places in his book. Unfortunately, the restaurant we chose to sit at had either poor service, or we sat in just the right no-man's land for waiters not to see us. We left without ordering. We decided to look for another place on the way to the Rodin Museum and were rewarded with a cafe across the street from it with excellent service and good food. We both had salads. I was amused to see that Heinz ketchup was served with one of the popular meat dishes that locals were ordering. It reminded me of my father asking for ketchup when we took him out to nice restaurants.

We liked the Rodin Museum, which is in an old villa. It has just works by Rodin in an attractive setting, both indoors and out. However, for some reason, I like the Rodin sculpture garden at Stanford a little better. Both are worth seeing.

Napolean's Tomb is close to the Rodin Museum, so it is a good place to go next. It is a bit gaudy, but still impressive. We went back to our apartment afterward and Googled Napolean to read up on all of his accomplishments. I found out why people here liked him so much in spite of his emperor thing and disaster in Russia. He did a lot to improve the justice system and to reform aristocracy. I do recommend his tomb--it's hard to miss in the skyline. Just look for the gold dome.