In Paris!!!

It's nearly midnight on Saturday - I'm sitting in one of the classrooms at The Foyer, which seems to be the only place to get a decent wireless signal, having come back from the first group meal. We ate at a (wait for it...) Belgian restaurant right around the corner because it is the only place in the neighborhood that can accomodate such a large group - there were 24 of us. I had an amazing (and large) pot of fresh mussels in a delicious curry sauce with a German beer made by the Cistercians and part of a chocolate mousse, since we are in Paris, for dessert. It was a wonderful meal, but the best part of the day was up in the Montmartre district, which is the old bohemian section (Moulin Rouge anyone?). We had been at the basilica Sacre Couer and were wandering towards the Montmartre cemetery when Lynn when we decided to have lunch in little park. There was a pastisserie (a French bakery specializing in sweets) and we ordered 2 almond croissants and a chocolate croissant. We filled our water bottle at the fountain - Paris has thee fountains for drinking and rinsing your hands that are quite unique - and we sat there eating the croissants, feeding the pigeons and generally feeling quite like Parisians before heading on to the cemetery. Montmartre Cemetery is quite large and has a bridge going over part of it. It would be a little disconcerting the have paid for a lavish set up(as some of these were) only to have a road built over it - rest in peace??? I was able to find the graves of Stendhal, Heine and Berlioz - Degas is also there but way on the other side and by that point we had been walking for many hours.

The flight was terrible - an oversold, totally packed flight, little sleep, a bathroom that ran out of tp and then I missed breakfast because I was in the bathroom. Finally made to The Foyer, had a shower, ate some lunch and generally felt better. We had a long walking tour around the Latin Quarter last night - some wonderful old churches and the Luxembourg Gardens are truly amazing - they make Central Park in NY seem both small and provincial. I hope to get back there and do some tai chi. I have taken a bunch of pictures and will get them posted soon (really!) but now I have to go to sleep. Tomorrow many of the museums in Paris are free and I am planning on the Louvre, even though it will be very, very crowded. More anon...