Brian & Jen are here!

We spent yesterday getting ready for our company.  We cleaned the apartment, went grocery shopping and waited for time to go to the hotel to meet Brian & Jen.  They were due to arrive around 7pm, so we caught the 95 bus to their hotel in the central part of Paris, the Westin.  It's a beautiful hotel. And they even have a great view of the Eiffel Tower from their room.  We were waiting for them in the lobby when they arrived.  It was so good to see their beautiful, familiar faces!  They were tired, but still ready to go.  We headed out to find something to eat.  We found a really nice bistro mentioned in the hotel guide book.  The food was good and we had a wonderful evening visiting, catching up and hearing about the spectacular wedding they attended in the Lake Como region of northern Italy.  Weather wise, it was the best evening yet in Paris.  There was no rain, the wind was calm,  and the temperature was just right for an evening  stroll.  Something we've wanted to do since we got here.  We said good night to Brian & Jen and headed back to our apartment.

This morning we planned to meet at the Musee Rodin.  A light rain was falling, but we got in line to wait for tickets.  We got the tickets and headed out to the gardens.  The grounds are beautiful, so very well manicured and cared for and it is the perfect setting for the massive sculptures.  When Rodin debuted his sculpture of the life-sized male nude titled "The Age of Bronze" in Brussels in 1877, it was so realistic that critics speculated that he must have cast it from a live model; they simply didn't believe that he could possibly have sculpted it himself.  He knew early on in his life that sculpting was his life calling, but it took a very long time before he was accepted by the Parisian art world.  We saw some of his most famous works including The Thinker, The Kiss, and The Gates of Hell, which was commissioned by the state for an arts museum (which never opened).  Many of his works caused a scandal, but today all are prominently displayed at the Musse Rodin, the Louve, throughout Paris, and in other cities.

Starving, we went in search of some lunch.  We found a corner bistro and ate upstairs.  Tom & I each had a hamburger & fries, our first since arriving in Paris four weeks ago, and it was delicious!  Jen had tomatoes and mozzarella and Brian had medallions of chicken with rice.   Out and about, Jen wanted to shop  a bit, so where else but the Champs Elyesse.  We couldn't resist a crepe on the street, one Nutella, one citron, both yummy.  We stopped in several shops along the rue, Jen bought perfume.  But as if on cue, the rain started falling.  Our cover was the Metro station, so we made our exit, back to the hotel and apartment to rest before dinner.