will ross home page   >   paris   >   at musee rodin

margueritte outside the musee rodin with the dome des invalides in the background.

[ 26 ]

wednesday morning i went out early to buy a baguette from another bakery. while we ate margueritte and i mapped out an elaborate day visiting three museums plus walking by the apartment we were moving to the next day. we wanted to scout out the difficulty of the route we would walk while hauling our stuff over. taking the same route we could evaluate steps, inclines and other potential obstacles for margueritte.

we walked up rue duvivier. cars parked on both sides of the narrow one lane street. an older couple walked a dog. a young woman dressed smartly unlocked a shop door. we turned left on avenue de la motte piquet and walked alongside an elementary school, flying the french flag like many buildings in paris.

we crossed boulevard de la tour maubourg and walked along the gardens in front of hotel des invalides. we crossed boulevard des invalides and turned right. we passed a gas station and an entrance to the metro and walked a few steps up rue de varenne to the front gate of musee rodin. we were early. a couple dozen american high school students waited at the closed gate. their teachers led various discussions about rodin, sculpture in his era, and parisian life in general. the ticket booth opened and we entered the grounds.

at the information booth inside the main museum building we learned the famous statue the thinker was on loan to a musem in germany, and the upstairs collection was also closed for cleaning. that's okay, i said to margueritte, we've already seen another casting of the thinker at the museum of the palace of fine arts in san francisco, where the statue, like the museum, has an awesome view of the golden gate.

the ancient mansion housing the rodin collection was run down. the parquet hardwood floors sagged and squeaked, and once elaborate carved wooden reliefs on the walls were worn down and shabby. but the scupture was awesome. after a lap through the ground floor rooms we went outside to view the many sculptures displayed on the museum grounds.

top of page