Days 6 & 7

Day 6-Tuesday, April 12th

We kicked off the day by switching up the itinerary and beginning at the Rodin Museum. This small museum houses many of Rodin's pieces and is located in his home. We enjoyed reading about each room and identifying different pieces as we strolled throughout the house. Mom & Dad stayed with Bridger outside on the grounds and when we were finished in the house, we met up with them to view some of Rodin's larger pieces on the beautiful grounds. Below you can see Scott pictured with one of Rodin's most well known pieces, 'The Kiss'. I wasn't aware that Rodin was disgusted that this was the piece he is most well know for. 'The Thinker', located in the gardens, is also pictured below. This is another popular Rodin sculpture and one of the pieces I was looking forward to seeing in person.

{You might think Scott is trying to make a fashion statement with his backpack but, no, they make you wear your bags in front so you don't hit any of the pieces by accident...lookin' good though, Scott!}

We then made a mad dash to the Orsay Museum where we were to meet up with some friends. Blake & Erika, who live 30 minutes from our house in Utah, happened to be in Paris visiting Erika's parents at the same time we were there. We were glad they patiently waited for us to arrive as we were very late. It was fun to spend the afternoon eating lunch together and catching up. They are expecting a baby girl in July and we are so excited for them!

After lunch we spent the remainder of the day in the Orsay Museum. This museum is definitely one of our favorites. We happened to be there during a special Manet exhibit. It was a lot more extensive than we thought it would be and I was quite pleased. Scott, who rushed through the entire thing in 10 minutes in order to take care of our fussy baby, did not get to enjoy it quite as much. {Sorry, Scott!}

After the museum closed we had time to kill before dinner. So, what did we do? We ate of course! We enjoyed drinks and frites {French fries} at the same cafe where we had lunch and then took a train to Trocadero to eat our real dinner at Le Malakoff.

{Bridger outside of Le Malakoff--a cafe I've been dreaming about since our last trip.}

After dinner, Dad & I went to take some night shots of the Eiffel Tower. We owe Scott & Mom a special thanks for waiting patiently for us and taking care of Bridger so that we could take our time. Unfortunately, this was the only location we made it to for night photography thanks to 'the incident'. After that, we just took the train back to the apartment and called it a night.

{This is the picture that I took right before 'the incident'--my tripod tipped over and I broke my lens. It was a rough night. I'm just so grateful that my camera body didn't break....}

Day 7-Wednesday, April 13th

Wednesday we drove into the countryside to Auvers-sur-Oise--the town where Vincent Van Gogh spent his final days painting. We started out by touring the chateau and getting a good idea of what Paris was like during that time period. We then started out in search of the locations where he painted different pieces. First we went to the cathedral and then up to the cemetery where Vincent and his brother, Theo, are buried. Along the way we took pictures and saw some of the different places. After scouting it out for a little while and a quick stop at McDonalds, we decided to head for home so that we would have time to prepare ourselves for the next phase of our trip--time in the Loire Valley.

{Braille....don't ask}

{You can see that they have prints of Van Gogh's paintings at each of the different locations}

{I think we may have trespassed to get this shot...oh well. Totally worth it.}

{Scott and Bridger standing where Van Gogh painted}

{My happy Bridger just rolling with the punches}

{Once again, the spouses were very patient while I scaled a wall to take this...}