Last day planned for sights on the Left Bank. We took the metro over to Musee D’Orsay and stopped in for breakfast at the Boulanger Eric Kayser. OMG! Awesome coffee, baguettes, quiche, etc etc etc.
Lance has been fighting something off, so he decides to head back to the apartment to rest. I head on to the chocolatier listed in the Vogue list of 7 best patisseries, kindly provided to me by Valerie, and stop for a cup of mousse (they have 5 varieties in various containers right in from the window – look behind me to the left in the picture) and a difficult choice among their 20 kinds of chocolate bars, and at least half are dark chocolate. All single origin from all around the world. I step out for a photo and enjoy the rich mousse as I walk through the streets on my way to the Rodin museum:
Part of the Rodin gardens were closed off for what must have been an incredible private party/wedding. Imagine having a few of the master’s statues within your dance tent! But I enjoyed learning more about him and the fact that his most famous work, and many others, derived from a commission to create gates within the theme of Dante’s divine comedy for an art museum that was never actually built. The thinker was originally Dante himself looking down at all he had wrought.
This is his first work, which was cited by one art critic of the time as being so realistic that he must have made the plaster cast for it directly from the model’s body. It was this scandal that brought so many people to the exposition hall to check it out, and assured his fame and entry into the elite art world.
Out to enjoy the garden, in more ways than one!
I hop on the metro and join Lance for a rest before we head out to view the Eiffel tower at sunset. We take lots of photos, and really enjoy the sparkles on the hour.
Then to Restaurant Mariette, a more traditional French cuisine, but the woman who ran the restaurant was so lovely it turned a good meal into a lovely experience. Tiny, tiny, with only about 8 tables, but we eat with gusto, nonetheless. I start with foie gras ravioli with red pepper sauce and Lance has pea soup with crabmeat and a poached egg:
And for the main, I have scallop and Lance wild salmon :
After dinner, from the late night before and a (relatively) early departure tomorrow morning, we head back to pack and turn in.