Weekend in Paris

We've been caught up in the hustle and bustle of pre-Christmas madness, which I am sure is not unique to us.  Cards, presents, staff parties, dinners and whatnot have kept us so busy that we neglected to blog about our quick weekend trip to Paris at the end of November.  We decided to tack a couple of days on to a business trip I had to take for meetings at our office on the outskirts of Fiona's favourite city.

Fiona came with me so she could see where the office was located, and whether or not the surrounding cityscape was liveable.  I was stuck in meetings all day while she explored a little bit, before heading back into Paris to our usual hotel in the 15e arondisement.  At the end of the day I joined the commuter rush and took the metro into town to join her.

We had Thursday and Friday to wander about and we deliberately chose not to put too many things on the agenda.  On Thursday we did some shopping on the Champs-Elysees and in the surrounding areas, finding some very nice Christmassy items and a whole load of fancy mustards.  We had nice long lunches at the local brasseries.  It was really good to enjoy the city at such a relaxed pace.

On Friday we went to the Rodin museum to take in the sculpture.  A lot of his works were located outside the old hotel he used to work from, which was nice because the weather was gorgeous and the central location of the museum meant his works had beautiful Parisien monuments in the background.  'The Thinker' was an obvious highlight, although I also particularly liked 'the Burghers of Calais' and Fiona was a fan of his bronze of Victor Hugo.  Also located in the gardens - the Gates of Hell.  While some people may have always guessed these were located in Paris, it was interesting to see where the devil would get his pizzas delivered.

The rest of his works were located inside the hotel and we thoroughly enjoyed our tour.  Although mostly known for bronzes he did fantastic work in marble as well, which is a medium which we more enjoy.  He was especially good with hands.  His works had an unfinished quality to them, like he would get the majority of the work done and then walk away to start something else.  He also made efficient use of all three dimensions, quite often including a different motif on the back of a sculpture.  He had this wonderful sculpture of a man and woman on a rock and hidden around the back was a giant hand holding the rock up.  It was brilliant.

The only real disappointment was the state of the hotel itself.  Dirty, dingy and desperately in need of repair.  The real problem was the fact that it clearly had so much potential.  With a few million euro it could be one of the highlights of Paris.  But who has a few million euro these days?

So now we're back in Aberdeen.  Winter is here, with hard frosts and snow in the higher elevations.  We've had the staff Christmas party, which was a success, and a relief, as I was heavily involved in organizing it.  The tree is up, the Christmas cards are out the door, and the shopping has been done.  Just in time for the holiday season and our first Christmas visitors.