It looked gloomy in the AM, so I decided to stayin Paris and I am so glad I did. . .the sun came out for my last day here. Went to a Monet museum on the west side of Paris (Marmottan). In addition to the privilege of hanging out with Monet's work and a special exhibit of Berthe Morrisot, I discovered yet one more glorious, park-filled neighborhood. And a perfect day for soaking up the green world before me, lush with flowers and my special friends the giant chestnut trees. Checked out the Arch de Triomphe (very briefly) and strolled down Ave. Hoche, another of those delighful, posh residential streets with dignified buildings, huge windows and trees and gardens. Revisited the glorious Parc Monceau, then a brief run downtown. Home for a bowl of soup and off to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur. I finall explored the area behind the church famous for street painters (they were out in full with the spring evening). The village of Montmartre is particularly lovely with spectacular views, steeply winding cobblestoned streets and old apartment buildings with their attention to sculpural detail, grillwork and window gardens. It's a magial area. . .and jam packed with tourists and French people on this glorious soft evening. Then to the church itself to offer thanks for this journey and outside to the spectaular view of Paris. Good night moon. Goonight Paris.
A very long travel day tomorrow. . .   

I am running out of tourist steam and feel quite complete about this visit. Tho, somewhere inside I feel like I have been missing Paris all my life and will miss her when I leave. It's been so great to have an apartment. I have a real sense of living here and belonging to a neighborhood. Wandered loosely today, first to an outdoor market area near the University of Paris. Mostly fabulous food: those yummy fresh (unpasteurized) cheeses, fresh breads (new addiction-baguettes, warm and straight from the oven), and lots of lovely fruits and vegetables. Also lots of supposedly inexpensive (but nor really) clothing stores, and a wonderful mix of students and shopkeepers, both farmers and sophisticated gourmet types. Paris has so many alive neighbooods like this. Then I walked and got lost as usual and took the first metro I could find up to an extreme opposite neighborhood. . .upscale shopping. There I visited Galleries Lafayette, which has to be the world's most gigantic department store featuring everything from Prada types to more middle class offerings. . .and lots of good food. Ate lunch at their cafeteria on the 5th floor looking out the window at the ornate upper levels of the Paris Opera. Then down to the river and Notre Dame to say goodbye and a lovely long walk along the quay. Home early. Giverny tomorrow probably. Back to the U.S. on Friday.          

Tuileries in the sun--

Bois du Bologne Shakespeare Garden

Giverny-first trip

Artemis, the Louvre

Athena, the Louvre

Bonsoir! Monday and Tuesday took on a very different rhythm. For one thing, Marjolaine came back and it is great to share Paris with her! The solo journey was just right, but basically Paris is something to be shared and Marjolaine and I flow perfectly. . .two streams flowing in one river. Monday morning--sunshine!!! Wow. Paris had a well-earned spring and how fabulous to see her in the sun. I walked along the Canal St. Martin, which is right near where I am staying. It has locks and a great variety of bridges. Mainly I just enjoyed the sun and warmth. Then back tothe apartment to await Marjolaine. Of course, by the time she came, the rain was back, but not too much, kind of coming and going, playing with the sun. We went back up to the Butte Chaumont Park and did our ritual of wandering the streets looking for a place to eat lunch at 3 PM. The French are not very flexible about such things except in the high tourist areas. However, after a success, we explored the park. I will download some photos. It is a wonderful universe replete with waterfall and lake and caverns and the chestnut trees with which I am majorly in love. Then we decided to have a dessert (an unusual event) to celebrate Marjolaine's return. This took us all the way to the Seine (I have to see it every day) and we wandered the Latin Quarter and surrounding areas until we found a quite place. Chocolate mousse for Marjolaine and creme brulee pur moi. Winding through the small quiet streets is always a great pleasure. Across Pont Neuf and home.
Today, our first full day of sunshine. Honestly, from morning to night. It was a big holiday here today so I think the Parisian collective consciousness must have ordered it up. Off we went to Bois Vincennes, a large park on the east side of Paris. Oh so gorgeous in the sunshine. We wandered around the lake filled with ducks and swans and even a couple of peacocks. Hundreds of Parisians biking, jogging, playing with their children, out in rowboats. Beautiful gardens with lilacs to smell. (yum). We treated ourselves to a relatively upscale restaurant right on the lake where we could hang out in the sun and look at the water and the hydrangeas. The food was brilliant of course. Then we completed our circumabulation of that beautiful lake and on to the next park. The trains were packed becos May Day is also a political day here and there were huge demonstrations against the current president (elections in a week or so). We changed our route to avoid the crowds and wandered the Luxembourg. The French have an enormous capacity to just sit and be which I admire enormously. This park was also packed. Some people running, some chatting, some smooching (and more), some reading and lots and lots of people just sitting and enjoying the trees and flowers and fountains. Again, I bow down at the feet of the Paris parks department. What a glorious job they do.
Then we wandered some more. Just being in the sun was such bliss. Finally we made our way to L'Eglise Madelaine for an exquisite concert. Pachelbel, Vivaldi, Schuman and others. A string concert with some voice. The concert master was such a happy man and brilliant. What fabulous tones he pulled from those strings. It was all pure bliss. Then out on the church steps as the light was changing. So soft. A perfect day. Marjolaine leaves tomorrow. I will miss her!!!
I was going to go to Giverny tomorrow but much rain is predicted, so maybe Thursday, my last day.   

First, a few more photos. . .The one above is from Sacre Coeur overlooking the city. It's really an amazing view. Today was another museum day cos I had a pass. I learned what all good tourists learn: I can only take in so much in one day! The day's highlight was the Rodin Musem and gardens. Once again the environment in which the art is set is as spectacular as the art! Hooray for Parisian landscape designers and gardeners!!! What a deeply peaceful place! Rodin's huge bronzes are scattered among the massive trees, where people are free to not only look at them but touch them. Went back to the Louvre briefly to see the Greek sculptures. . .such grace in the human form and the softness of the draping clothing. . .hard to believe it was carved from stone. Massive Athenas and athletes by Praxiteles, who apparently was the first to sculpt nudes. The Louvre also had the only complete Book of Hours by the Limbourg brothers for the Duc de Berry. Tiny tiny, intricate patterns of leaves, vines and flowers, surrounding richly colored pictures; pages of ; tons of gold leaf. Such fine work. Who has the patience in modern times to create something like this? It was apparently the work of several years. It's beautifully displayed so that I could look at it very closely and enjoy the detail.
The sun was out by mid-day. It felt almost unreal. I think half of Paris was out to greet the blue skies. The parks were jammed. A walk through the Tuileries where I was once again impressed by the enormous chestnut trees in full bloom. The pink white blossoms are kind of like the local cherry blossom festival. The loss of chestnut trees in America is a big one.
Marjolaine returns tomorrow for 2 days. I may go back to Giverny on Wednesday.

I was too tired to write last night as you may have noticed. This was bound to happen eventually. It stays light here until 9:45 PM so I usually don't get home until 8:30 or even 9. Yesterday had its interesting quirks. My guidebook described the Catacombes as the admin. center for the French Resistance ( as some of you know an area of supreme interest for me) so I had to go to see if it felt familiar, tho this was not a place I would generally visit. The French built a maize of tunnels deep underground (one descends a narrow winding staircase with 183 steep steps to get there)  long ago to serve as a great cemetery and moved the remains of dead Parisians from all over the city here. Long tunnels of walls of bones and skulls and endless twists and turns. And yes, it felt familiar. I was also quite glad to get out of there! I could feel the palpable fear there (not from the dead and not my own).
Then wandered around Montparnasse which was not wonderful. Wanted to eat at the restaurant favored by Hemingway and friends but it had become quite posh. I began to feel my first sense of urban burnout when I found myself in the lush, tree-filled beauty of Luxembourg Gardens and felt completely renewed. I realized I just have to stay away from the main avenues and walk on the side streets which are quiet and full of all kinds of charming buildings. Finished up at Sacre Coeur. Wherever I am, I am always drawn to this high point in the city, as are many I am sure. I sent all my love to the souls of the Resistance, incarnate or otherwise, and prayed they are free of whatever horrible trauma they incurred at that time at the hands of the Germans. I lit a candle for them and felt sweetly complete.
Outside the church, the equivalent of a huge party. Musicians playing at different levels of the steps and people just enjoying Friday night and the forever view from that place.     

I guess I finally got the photo thing figured out. Not too hard after all. This is the only photo of me on my camera, but Marjolaine has some and will send them when she gets home. She has a definitely superior camera.

Today was all magic. Rain rain rain but the light was beauteous. Started off at the Orangerie with more Impressionists plus Matisse and Derain and Redon. It was not too crowded so I could really hang out with each painting and sink into the brushstrokes and color. Bliss for me. The Orangerie has 2 huge water lily paintings donated by Monet. He asked that they be hung in round rooms painted white, to emphasize the relationship between the universal and  nature and create a place of meditation. I was blessed with a beautiful recognition of how his paintings reflect the thin "line" between the realm of Light and the realm of form. His forms are barely there, a soft dream of  Light. Color dissolving into Light and Light dreaming form and color. So wonderful. I was fairly ecstatic when I left! Then across the Seine in the pouring rain, on to lunch in the Left Bank and on to the Cluny, the medieval museum. I fell in love with the building itself as always with its endless sculpted detail, angels and cherubs and vines and flowers and vaulted ceilings. Beautiful tapestries, especially a whole room of unicorn tapestries. The lion and the unicorn as tamed playmates of the lovely lady and all sorts of other animals and birds at her beck and call. And the miraculously fine work from a book of hours. They must have painted and calligraphed with brushes with a single hair, as the Acoma Pueblo people do. 

Still raining so I revisited the Shakespeare bookstore, a decades old bookstore with books in English, where Hemingway, Joyce, Fitzgerald and others hung out, sometimes supported by its owner, Sylvia Beach. Still raining so I made a return visit to Notre Dame, just a few blocks away over the Seine.

Got stopped in my tracks by a place of prayer dedicated to Mary. What a spirit of sweetness was there. Closed my eyes and was present to her Light as it was abundantly there. Such intense sweetness, I had to weep. The service had started in the background with organ music and singing and I was transported through my heart and hers which were one in Light. I was there for quite awhile. I couldn't move. Came home wildy happy.  

Tomorrow more museums cos I have a 2-day museum pass.

Love to all of you, dear friends and my wonderful sister.   

I continue to love hearing from you and knowing that you are on this journey with me! I thought I just uploaded some photos, but they disappeared. I will try again tomorrow night.
The Paris Metro system is a world unto itself, a maze of tunnels, twisting passage ways and ups and downs. Changing from one train line to another can be quite an adventure and requires full alertness. One goes up and down a large number of stairs regularly. Today was the record for me: 8 long flights to get from the train to the surface. But worth the climb. Visited Parc au Butte Chaumont, another Parisian paradise. The gardeners are my heroes and heroines. Major climbs, awe inspiring view over the city, endless huge trees in full leaf, a waterfall and pond and bridges. A wonderful world. Then off to Jardin des Plantes near the zoo. The highlight here was the Alpine Garden, a relatively small area, intensely landscaped with nooks and crannies and streams and intensely varied groupings of plants. Clearly I am in flower heaven in Paris. I was going to try another park, but sensed that it was going to rain (it did) so I returned to the D'Orsay, the Impressionist museum that I had wanted to revisit. This time, really hanging out with the paintings, soaking in the color and form and lush gorgeousness.
Then another walk that started of to be a short one but got longer and longer. It's great fun to wander through neighborhoods. I love the architecture on the quiet streets and the cafe life on the busy ones.