Paris, Days 4 and 5: A day of relaxation, Musée Rodin, Centre Georges Pompidou, Galeries Lafayette.

Two more wonderful days in Paris down, and sadly, only one left to go.

There isn't much to report from New Year's Day. Most everything was closed, so we slept in after not getting to bed until after 5am. (These old bones are not used to such a late night.) We woke up, ate, wandered around the city, drank wine at a bistro and people watched, saw a movie, and went to bed. Not terribly exciting, but it was nice to have a relaxing, "vacation" day.

But, there's no time for any more lazy days, so we were up much earlier this morning. Our first stop was Musée Rodin, a small museum with many Rodin sculptures in the museum and the museum garden. The garden is, by far, the highlight of the museum.

Josh in front of Musée Rodin.


Beginning of the garden.


The Thinker.




I am not a huge Rodin fan (although I love the museum that houses his works), but I was moved by this bronze sculpture. It is supposed to be Eve when she first realizes she's naked, but I think we have all felt this way at one point or another.


Another sculpture in the garden.


View of the museum from the garden. (Yes, you are being mooned by the fountain.)


My second favorite.


We walked through the inside of the museum after the garden, and then through a temporary exhibit the museum had on Matisse and Rodin.

After Musée Rodin, the plan was to go to Musée Picasso. Sadly though, it is closed until 2012. It's too bad, as I remember it being wonderful. Maybe next time. :)

So, our next stop was Centre Georges Pompidou, the huge modern art museum in Paris. The modern building and fountain are stark contrasts to the old buildings that surround them.




The orange tubes are escalators, and look like tubes you would connect for a hamster to play in. We took the escalators to the top.


The view of Paris was stunning (even if the windows were a touch dirty).




Some of my favorite things we saw were paintings by Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.

Matisse.








Picasso.




After leaving Centre Pompidou, we had a late lunch at a cafe nearby and then hopped back on the metro to Galeries Lafayette, one of the most gorgeous department stores ever (second only, maybe, to Harrod's in London). I bought my very first suit at Galeries Lafayette right before I headed back to the States for OCI in 2004. (That feels like a lifetime ago.)

Galeries Lafayette was ridiculously packed. I managed a quick picture of the center of the store.


After fighting the shopping crowds, we headed back to our hotel to rest for a few minutes, and then headed to another of my favorite stores in Paris -- Shakespeare & Company, a small and ecclectic English-language book store in the Latin Quarter. (Stupidly, I did not bring my camera.) I loaded up on a few new books (they have such a unique selection), and then we headed to a late dinner at 10:00pm. (I was starving!)

One more day here in Paris, and still so much to see (and so much shopping to do)! But for now, bed.

Bonne nuit!