Hot Weekend Part 1

I've been pretty lucky in that the temperature has barely climbed above 80 since I've been in Paris. Which is a good thing, because I don't have air conditioning in my apartment, nor is it common in most cafes or stores. The metro is deathly hot even on a cool day. So I was not looking forward to a weekend when the weather forecast called for temperatures reaching 100.

On Saturday, I planned a day of museums and shopping. Which kind of worked. I started out at the Army Museum and Napoleon's Tomb. An interesting musuem that would have benefited from a little more context rather than military relics. Although perhaps I am just woefully uninformed about Napoleon, all the Louis, WWI, and WWII.

I went next door to the Rodin Museum only to learn that the museum is not air conditioned. I saw some interesting sculptures, and although no one has ever called me an artist, I thought the claim that Rodin was second only to Michelangelo was a bit far-fetched. I appreciated The Thinker, but the statues of all the women hiding their faces in shame and attempting to conceal their pregnancies was a bit much.

I liked his hands sculpture, and I thought his gardens were pretty.

Drenched in sweat, I headed to Paris' two large department stores: Galleries Lafayette and Printemps. Blessedly, both were adequately air conditioned. I browsed, I compared the selection to my own shopping malls at home, per instructions in my Rick Steves guidebook. I admired the view from the top. A good day, and I met my goal of staying cool for maybe half the day.