We had hoped that we had not offended the spirits of the fallen soldiers with the briefness of our visit to the Arc de Triomphe (the monument honoring those who fought and died in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars) but it was still a mile and half down the ritzy Champs-Elysees to the Tuileries Gardens and then a further half mile hike to the Louvre; distances seem so much farther while on holiday! Most crucial of all though, we had to make sure we stopped for une pastisserie on the most famous avenue in Paris. What would our trip be without a pastry or two (or dozen, who was counting)?
Of the one hundred or more museums in the city, we had narrowed the list down to just two: one nearly obligatory for any tourist to Paris and the other, much smaller and less-known but still full of sculptural masterpieces.
The private garden at the Musee Rodin was a tranquil albeit too brief respite from the intensity of the busy metropolis. Meandering through the manicured hedges, pausing to contemplate the pained expressions on the sculpted faces, gave us the opportunity to reflect on what we thought so far of our trip and our impressions of Paris. What should we have included? What should we have left out?. What should we have done differently? Was it gauche to order a second Cafe au Lait?
