From the City of Lights (and rain!)

Since I did not get a post out earlier this week, I thought I would do a posting from Paris where I am spending the week. This is a holiday weekend in much of Europe (Labor Day and Ascension Thursday).

I arrived on Monday afternoon and made my way to the Montmartre area of Paris. I am staying in an apartment of the friends of one of the employees of the College. It is a bit out of the middle of things but in close access to the Metro and bus lines so I am having no trouble getting around. The bigger challenge has been the rain. It has been falling every day for a good part of the day. This has put a little crimp in my plans but with a little rearranging it is working out fine so far.

I had only a few things I wanted to do. I have accomplished a couple already. On Tuesday I took a cooking class. A small group (4 of us) in the instructors apartment. I had trouble with a closed metro line and so arrived a little late. Two of the others ran into the same problem and arrived after I did but we all had a great time. The teacher was terrific, a lot of fun, and we learned four dishes. If you are lucky and nice to me, you might get an invitation to dinner some night.

After that I checked out the Musee Orsay which had long lines so I will try again (they say Thursday evenings are pretty good). I returned to the area around the apartment and bought fixings for a simple supper - after a little reading it was a fairly early night.

Today I had planned to go to Bayeux to see the famous tapestry and the Normandy museum. However, it was pouring when I got up so I decided to put it off until Friday when the wheather is supposed to be nicer. Instead I went to see an exhibit of the Chinese terra cotta warriors which I had hoped to see in London but which luckily are in Paris. Very intersting and impressive. I then went to the Museum of the Middle Ages in the Cluny area. It was also very interesting - and free! After that I made my way back, had some supper and am planning a lighter day again tomorrow. I am planning to attend Mass at Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart) here in Montmartre and then explore the area a little bit. In the afternoon I am planning to go to Notre Dame for an organ recital and then perhaps see if I can get into the Orsay Museum. Friday is my day to go to Bayeux and Saturday I think I will try to go see a couple of the chateaux in the Loire valley. I found a way to do it by train and bus. I hope it works. I'll let you know how it turned out in the next installment.