This is a post about something I did a long while ago. On September 25. Almost a month ago. Wow. Time flies by…
I convinced my roommate, Cali, to go with me to Musée Rodin on the last day this year that it would be open at night. (This summer, Musée Rodin opened its doors until 11PM every Wednesday. But when I discovered this opportunity, there was only one Wednesday left before the museum would stop having late night hours.) On the actual day, I was a bit lazy to go and had to convince myself, but it was well worth it. We only went into the garden because we arrived past the gallery’s open hours, even at night. (I took a very, very long and late nap before going to Musée Rodin.) Also, the garden was free! So, no money spent that night. It was a very nice night.
I love going to museums at night because there is a completely different vibe than going in the daytime. It’s a lot slower, more peaceful, and a bit romantic, I must say. Going to the Rodin jardin at night was that and it was mysterious. The sculptures were illuminated by individual lights, casting shadows everywhere. I don’t know if the museum does this in the daytime as well, but that night, there were speakers hidden inside bushes playing some eerie yet mystical sounds. Weird. At one point in my walk through the garden, I was in a small field with magnificently tall trees. It was completely dark here and it felt like I was in the woods in America, in awe of mother nature and the dark.
Now get ready for an unnecessarily long photo dump:
The first few photos aren’t even of the museum. When I got to the garden at around 9PM, I fell in love with the beautiful night sky and the magnificent dome of the Hôtel des Invalides. (That is one of my favorite buildings, here in Paris.) So, I spent a good 10 minutes trying to capture the view. (Plus, I don’t love the Eiffel Tower, but there was a pretty awesome view of it from the garden. So I took a picture of that too.)
I also took photos of some of the other famous sculptures, such as the Burghers of Calais (which I personally love) and Balzac, but the photos did not come out as nicely and this stream of photos is already too long.
The magnificent dome.
The dome sneaking behind the museum.
The Eiffel Tower doin’ its thang right on the hour.
Sneaky Eiffel Tower~
The Gates of Hell, in its full glory.
One of the very cool, sculpted bushes (?) that had a speaker placed inside, with weird sounds coming out from it.
A pathway to the back of the garden. Yes, it really did look like that. Spooky and cool.
There was a runway being built behind the museum in the garden for Fashion Week. Like an extremely flowery jungle gym.
Well, that’s it for my visit. I really only went for the experience. I’ll have to go back to actually look at the art. Musée Rodin en Nocturne was cool, but I didn’t see much (other than the very well-lit sculptures in the front of the museum). At one point, in the woods-y area, there were no lights at all, but there were statues here and there. I couldn’t even make out the sculptures sometimes! It was an odd experience. There were times when I wasn’t processing what the garden looked like because the night was impairing my brain functions, or something. I could only see what was in front of me, but I couldn’t stitch together what the whole garden looked like. It was as if I were in a terrifying dream and couldn’t figure out where I was or how I got there. I wonder what I’ll feel when I see the garden again during the daytime in its full entirety.
