Tuesday, August 8, 2006

I spent the majority of today at the Musee Rodin. I can’t get over how spectacular it is. Even without Rodin’s work, the place itself is just beautiful. The grounds, the gardens, the house…It’s a lovely space to pass the time and relax. I sat on the steps in the back and ate brie and tomato on a baguette. I read my book. I lounged in the lounge chairs out in the far back garden. I sat on the wall 20 feet from the Thinker and watched all the people coming in and out. I must have been there for over 5 hours. And I loved the sculptures. My favorite pieces were The Kiss, The Thinker and The Earth to the Moon. I also loved the dancer series. The museum is inside the house, which is old and beautiful with creaky wooden floors and the most amazing crown molding, chandeliers and mirrors. There is a temporary exhibit in the entrance to the museum, in what used to be a church, with hundreds of Rodin’s sketches from his trip to Cambodia. He did tons of drawings and watercolors of the dancers trying to get down their every move; their body language, their energy, the angles of their fingers and hands. It’s really incredible. There were old black and white photographs of him on the trip too which I really liked.

When I was sitting on the wall reading there was an enormous group of Asian tourists, a middle school group, gathered just inside the Rodin grounds. They were sitting en mass on the ground until finally their chaperones released them into their small groups to go exploring. I had noticed a group of 4 boys looking at me funny and though they thought I didn’t see them, they were snapping pictures of each other with me in the background. I’m not sure why that was so funny to them but they seemed to be enjoying themselves. A few minutes later they were looming nearby again and the one kid who had been the subject of the previous shots decided in giggly broken English to come over to me and ask if I minded if his friends took a picture of us. I laughed and said, “ummm, sure, I don’t quite know why you want one, but ok.” They all laughed, took several pictures and then thanked me profusely. It was very strange and I really am not sure why they were so entertained by it. I thought back to my youth and sifted my way through memories of school trips to DC, New Orleans and Memphis and I concluded that I guess we have all had our “obnoxious yet funny, trying to impress our friends and be crazy” moments. I’m sure we did all kinds of things that we’d just assume forget. I probably did more than my fair share at that age.

I finally left Rodin’s domain and headed back to Saint Germain. I met up with my friend John at Bar du Marche just down the street from my apartment for a drink. (By the way, is it wrong that I am now calling it “my apartment?”) It was a fun bar/café with good wine and really tasty homemade potato chips. We talked all about John’s glamorous life, moving as a child all over the world. It’s certainly a different way of growing up. I think there are advantages to both and I wonder if one way of being raised is better than the other. On one hand, growing up in the US and never going abroad until you are an adult can be really exciting and eye opening once you finally have the chance to do it. But if you are so accustomed to traveling the world it seems like there is an element that is less extraordinary when you go to new places. I think I would love for my kids to have the exposure and perspective of different people and different places, but there is something to be said for someone like me coming on a trip like this and getting so excited about taking it all in. I guess you are changed either way, how could you not be. Perhaps one is just a slower process than the other.

Anyway, we had a good time and it was fun to talk to someone with a completely different lifestyle than mine. I think when you sit down and talk to people like that, you open your mind to your possibilities and the reality that we all have options and we have the power to choose what we do with our time here, who we spend it with and what we want to contribute.

I left Bar de Marche and headed to dinner with my new French friend. He picked me up in his fancy Audi turbo and zipped me off to the most incredible Italian restaurant. The décor and atmosphere were as wonderful as the food. I had fresh handmade ravioli filled with spinach, goat cheese and prosciutto. It was so very tasty and I topped it off with a fruit bellini (some sort of Champagne cocktail) which my LA girls (Caroline, Lisa and Allison) would have LOVED! It was a fabulous dinner and I felt very spoiled. We then dropped by a very swanky club/bar called Buddha Belly. It was loud and crowded so we didn’t stay for a drink but it was very reminiscent of a club in NY. Fancy people in suits and sexy black dresses, dark lighting, cozy chairs, several bars and an enormous Buddha chillin’ in the center of the room.

We then made our way over to the Opera Garnier, which is an absolutely stunning building, most especially all lit up at night. Michael, the French man, is a very good photographer in his own right, and has generously offered to teach me about my own camera. He’s incredibly knowledgeable and his ability to explain to me in English the ins and outs of F-stops, aperture and ISO’s is impressive. We spent a good amount of time setting up shots and talking about what works and what doesn’t. We took some pictures from bridges and other spots around the city. It was fun and I can say with confidence that I am starting to grasp the technical side of photography. Finally.