by this point, i had come to the realization that i wasn't going to be able to do everything i wanted in this trip, and had resolved to slow down and make the most of what i could reasonably do. one of my better decisions.
after a ride on the open bus tour, i arrived at the rodin museum
around 10am. the weather was perfect...which was the first time since the day i had arrived, so i chose to skip the indoor part of the museum, and stay in the garden, which again, was one of the better decisions.
considering rodin is my favorite sculptor, i was surprised at how little i actually knew of his life. for example, this sign under the lamp contained both rodin's name, as well as rilke's...who is my favorite poet. i had no clue that in 1902 rainer maria rilke went to paris to write a monograph on the sculptor. i took this picture to remind myself to look up the connection when i got home. while looking it up, i found this poem of rilke's, entitled 'a walk.'My eyes already touch the sunny hill.
going far ahead of the road I have begun.
So we are grasped by what we cannot grasp;
it has inner light, even from a distance-and charges us, even if we do not reach it,
into something else, which, hardly sensing it,
we already are; a gesture waves us on
answering our own wave...
but what we feel is the wind in our faces.
the garden was truly amazing. the thinker, the three shades, the gates of hell, all incredible. ... although this may be the first sentence in history that uses the phrases 'gates of hell' and 'incredible' together.
i'm starting to forget what it felt like to be in paris...not that i ever will forget it all, but sometimes the dailyness & relentlessness of life serves to blur all that was once held dear. i will not wait another 40 years to go back.
that's just too long to wait to visit the part of my heart i left behind.
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