Wandering along the Canal St Martin, another police escort passes, this time with motorcycle cops and two vehicles escorting a police van. The same routine ensues – motorcycle cops blowing on their whistles to clear the traffic. Except that it’s Paris and Parisian drivers don’t care. Well maybe the woman driving the small blue hatchback who failed to get out of the way and received an angry policeman’s fist banging on the side of her car as he went past!
The riverboats moored along the basin in the Canal vary widely – from narrow boats that would be at home on a canal in the UK, to flat-topped houseboats that would struggle to make it down the Seine. The Tour St Jacques is also free of scaffolding, after years of restoration.
It has been 13 years since I last visited Musee Rodin, and there have been a few changes…the old ticket office in the garden that I remember has been replaced with a new modern office in an extension to the administration building. It is an improvement, as it frees up some space in the gardens. There is also an upgraded cafe in the gardens. The weather is still iffy, but there is a brief burst of sunlight that reflects off the dome of Napoleon’s tomb, visible through the trees in the garden.
Another few weeks and there will be a spectacular display of roses in the garden…at the moment, only the lilacs are in bloom.
