Heading into Bastille Day and Another Move
We are officially more than half-way through our "long séjour" in France/Paris. We're also getting close to our trip around France. On Monday we will depart from this apartment (which has been OK but the kitchen and bathroom are much too small) and go to Chris's family friends' apartment for a couple of days. Unfortunately, they will not be there because of illness, but we are still hoping to see them when we return to Paris in August.
Since this is our last week in the 13th arrondissement, we made sure to visit the places we still had to visit that are nearby. This week we visited the Musée Rodin (Rodin museum), revisited the Musée d'Orsay, went to the Eglise (Church) of Saint Germain des Prés, and toured the Conciergerie. You'll notice we re-visited Musée d'Orsay, so we are getting to the end of our A list of places to visit. We've started a B list of things to do when we come back in August.
I had no idea what to expect of the Rodin museum. I have to confess part of me thought it would just be one more museum. I was pleasantly surprised. The museum consists of a sculpture garden and two floors of additional sculpture and history. The sculpture garden starts the tour off, which makes sense: first you see the art, then when you go inside you see the trajectory of Rodin's development as an artist and historical context. The first sculpture we saw was The Thinker, which I imagine most of you are familiar with.
Chris was immediately drawn in, speaking in hushed tones about being in the presence of great art. It took me a little longer. But deeper into the garden were 6 sculptures of burghers (bourgeois, in French; basically, city officials) from Calais who, during the 100 Years War between France and England (1337-1453), sacrificed themselves for their fellow citizens by surrendering to the English king. It seems like an obscure chapter in history (to us, maybe), but the sculptures are remarkable in the way that Rodin captures the men's despondence in both their postures and in their faces. This is when I got engaged. The first picture below is of one of the burghers; the second is his face, which I had to get under to take the picture. Chris provided assistance, as he was tall enough to aim the camera. Isn't it amazing?
Later, inside the museum, I saw in the marble statue below how Rodin was able to create the illusion of iris and pupil in the eyes of the statue, to make the face come alive. Rodin's ability to convey emotion in stone was remarkable.
And then there is Rodin's famous Gates of Hell. You'll probably have to zoom in or increase it to see the detail.
I won't go into a lot of detail about our revisit to Musée d'Orsay except to say that we hit levels 2 and 3, which housed the Art Nouveau collection. We revisited level 5 where the most famous and familiar Impressionist paintings are. I find I'm getting a little squirrely in large and close crowds. But Chris and I agree that we now have "done" Musée d'Orsay.
Yesterday, we went to Eglise Saint Germain des Prés, the oldest church in Paris. When it was built it was actually outside of Paris (des prés meaning "of the fields"). St. Germain was a bishop of Paris in the 6th century. I wanted to see the church because I'd read that René Descartes was buried there. Remember "I think; therefore, I am"? That's Descartes. It helped to find a blog written by a Descartes admirer that described precisely what to look for and how to find the plaque for Descartes.
I was surprised to see how beautiful the church was. It was renovated in 2020 and the result is lovely.
Today we went to the Conciergerie, the prison where Marie Antoinette was held just before going to the guillotine. Marie Antoinette was not the only one held there, and not everyone was powerful and wealthy. There were tiers of cells, with the poorest and most detested at the bottom. Marie Antoinette's cell is just off the chapel. The place became known colloquially as "the antechamber to the guillotine." Much of the tour was the history of the French Revolution, which completely baffled me in Freshman History. I'm still pretty confused. I wanted to see this on or around July 14, the Fête Nationale Française (or Bastille Day, as we know it). Today turned out to be the best day.
Hope you are all well. I'll be back next week!
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