day three

Wow, did Mother and I ever sleep late today. I think she called me close to 11am. Some people may think we slept our vacation away; I say it's vacation--do what you want! If we both hadn't been to Paris before, it may be different, but we've already seen all the typical tourist sites. Anywho, we finally ventured out of the hotel about 11:30am for our day of wandering.

Just as we stepped out the door of Hotel Bourgogne et Montana (http://www.bourgogne-montana.com/), we both immediately noticed how sore we were from walking the 3762 miles from the day before with Michael. It became "take it easy day" which we did. Let's see, this was Saturday so we started by going to the Rodin museum. We saw tons of his castings in bronze, some sculpture in marble and plaster, and some of his personal art collection (which included Van Gogh and Monet). His house alone was quite spectacularly huge. It was unusual for an artist to be popular in his own time, but Rodin obviously was. I didn't know that his "friend" (read lover) was an artist in his own right until I saw some of his stuff displayed in the house as well. The gardens were dotted with bronzes including, of course, The Thinker. It was nice, but I don't think it was his best work. That I believe was The Gates of Hell--uber creepy!

After that it was time (or past time in Mother's opinion) for lunch. We found was a quaint little Italian place. We each had the sliced salami appetizer (some sorta "misto" something); Mother followed with pasta and meatballs while I had penne with wild mushrooms. Man was it tasty!

Now sated, we wandered around for a bit then headed to the Musee d'Orsay. It was our quest to find the painting we call "homosexual Jesus." (No, I don't think Jesus was gay, nor do I think that Dan Brown had it right with him ending up in the South of France married to Mary Magdalene with a kid.) What it is is a painting of some guy (named Jean Delville--which is very similar to "devil" if you think about it...) that looks like every other painting you've ever seen of Jesus surrounded by twelve naked dudes. It's technically called L'Ecole de Platon (or The School of Plato), but c'mon! Decide for yourselves.

After wandering the 3 floors of the Orsay looking for that hideously magnificent painting, our legs and backs and feet told us to call it quits. He headed back to the hotel and stopped at a street side bistro around the corner from the hotel. While Mother had some wine, I had an Orangina (you can't not have it while in France! http://www.supdorangina.com/). We were under the awning, but the sun was right on my back. It felt so good--I felt like a cat in a sun spot. That is until I realized my neck got burned. Stupid French sun!

For dinner that night, we went to Le P'tit Troquet--a family favorite. I started with the mushroom risotto (OMG, soooooo good), had the guinea hen for my main course, and finished off with a lemon tarte. Mom had a chevre tart appetizer, some yummy lamb dish as the main course, and the creme brulee for dessert. She practically drooled over the creme brulee, and she's super picky about that particular dessert. As we walked home, we could look over our shoulders at the Eiffel Tower which was sparkling the night away (like mini strobe lights were placed all over it). Perfect end to a lovely day!