"Dimanche" is Sunday in Paris

It's Sunday here and rain was threatening the "trek of the day" plans. We were planning a walk in the area of the Bastille and an afternoon trip to the Rodin Museum. We decided to go ahead and hope for faulty forecasting. As it turns out we were almost entirely dry, although there were some intervals of rain.

My favorite shot came from late in the day, where I am posing in front of the "Burgers of Calais," one of Rodin's famous sculptures. The story of the burgers is pretty good. The residents of Calais were suffering a siege at the hands of the English king. Everyone was starving and were ready to give up. The king offered to spare the townspeople if six citizens would come forward and die instead of the rest of the folk. These six burgers volunteered and saved the rest of the populace. I'm in good company in this photo.


For a more complete of the morning hike check the bicyclists blog for today, but here are a few less well known locations, but representative of the day. First is a fountain along a canal near the Bastille Memorial. The canal has been covered with a park with playgrounds and fountains, etc.


One of my favorite shots. Mr. Moohoo has been donating U.S. dollar coins to street musicians that he finds entertaining and meets a few other criteria. We encountered these guys playing a clarinet and a bass viola in an underpass and Gino is pictured enriching their violin case. They'll be surprised when they count the money to find a foreign coin, but I'm confident they will find a use for it.


Below is the entry to one of our favorite forms of transportation, the Metro. It's Paris' subway and a cheap, efficient way to get around the city. This one is near the Bastille.


We made it to the Rodin Museum this afternoon. It's a great museum filled with Rodin's best work. This version of "The Thinker" is incorporated into "The Gates of Hell," another of his most famous works. There are a lot of the stand alone versions all over the world, made from the original model and signed by the artist.


"The Kiss" is perhaps his most famous sculpture, after "The Thinker."


I like this one, too. It's a favorite subject of Rodin - French author Honore de Balzac. He was a chunky monkey and probably wouldn't have been too pleased with this depiction in bronze.


And last, some of the beautiful flowers that adorn the outside gardens at the museum.


Plus we got to see some more of the French Open on French TV. They only comment in French, but the game is easy to understand, if one has played it a bit. We watched some of Justine Henin beating Maria Sharapova, Tsonga's default to Youzhny, Federer's win over Wawrinka, and Dementieva's win over Scheepers among others. Venus also lost today. The tourney enters the final week tomorrow, and I'll watch the finals of Roland Garros from west of the Atlantic Ocean.