Best Place to Visit in Paris - the Musee Rodin

My first glimpse of the Musee Rodin was on the cab trip from the airport to a hotel. We (my family and I) were slowed in traffic, and I could see dappled green space and roses behind leaves and a low wall capped by a black wrought iron fence. I didn't know what the place was, but I was struck by it immediately, could tell right away there was something special back there. I would look it up on my map later; we had just passed Invalides, so I would use that as my landmark to locate it and identify it.

Of course it was the Musee Rodin, the former Hotel Biron, where Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) lived for a time and convinced the government to make it a museum devoted to his artwork; the museum opened as such in 1919, featuring not only the sculpture, sketchings, paintings and engravings of Rodin, but also the work of his mistress, Camille Claudel, and Rodin's own art collection featuring works by Van Gogh, Renoir and others.

I took the Metro to the Varenne station and was amused to find examples of Rodin's greatest works displayed there on the station platform. Just around the corner lay the museum. Entrance prices vary depending on your age, etc., but they are some of the most reasonable in Paris; the not-to-be-missed gardens are next to nothing and free in some cases.

The Biron mansion is just that, a mansion, an elegant 18th-century mansion; so if you feel uncomfortable when underdressed, don't wear shorts like I did; however, they are completely acceptable - you just won't seem as elegant ascending and descending the magnificent stairway as you would if you were all decked out.

There are many wonderful sculptures to be found inside. They are in all sizes, ranging from lifesize to teeny-tiny models, prototypes for grander designs. There is a room devoted to Camille Claudel, a genius in her own right, who was mistress and muse to Rodin before she went mad and was put away in an asylum.

The gardens are a delight and, in my opinion, the highlight of the visit. There are hundreds of rose bushes, a small lake and restaurant. Rodin's most famous work, "The Thinker," can be found out there exposed to all the elements, his huge hand supporting his jaw for all eternity. You can snap a picture of "The Thinker" with the Dome des Invalides in the background; that's the dome beneath which lie the remains of the 19th-century emperor Napoleon. Some massive works that also might be found in the gardens are the "Burghers of Calais" and "The Gates of Hell." Walk around these stunning pieces, ponder them from all perspectives.

Now, find a place to sit down and relax and just take it all in. Breathe deeply. Can you smell the roses?

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