WoW!!!

Okay, I know that's not a French word but, wow, wow, wow!!!

It's early Sunday morning and I am trying to catch up on this blog. Sorry I have not personally e-mailed you, time is short and an hour on the internet is very expensive.

10/8 Took a day tour to the Loire Valley to visit three places. The first was the chateau Amboise. It was referred to in the movie Ever After (don't know if they shot it there). Pretty cool place but only some of the structures left. The chapel is where Leonardo DiVinci is buried (supposedly) so this stop was special. He spent the last 3 years of his life in Amboise on an invitation of the king who gave him his own place -- which was our next stop. The home is now privately owned and yesterday, the owner was giving a personal tour to some very rich people (some of the women wore their mink, etc) while we quietly had ours. Only 6 of us; 3 girls from Taiwan, a couple from Mexico, the driver, tour guide Pascale and myself. These tours I've been taking have been small so we ride in a van instead of those great big coaches which allows us more flexibility where we go. Anyway we strolled through his house and saw replicas of his inventions and some drawings and paintings. It was really awesome to be there. Our lunch turned out to be on his property passed the parc and back in a beautiful area on the end of the woods. The waitresses and chef (complete with sword) were dressed in costume from Leonardo's time and we were served food typical of that time as well. Sampled a local aperitif of a mint wine -- subtle and wonderful. It was surreal to sit and bask in the place where a genius once lived. The third stop was the most famous chateau in all of the Loire Valley -- Chenonceau, known as the ladies castle because mostly women inhabited this castle starting with the king's mistress who built it for her. After his death the wife (Catherine de Medici) removed her to a depressing little place and took over.

Argh, I'm running out of time here.

other highlights for the week include a day in Bruge, Belgium. Visits to several small art museums and lunch at The Grand Colbert featured in the great movie Something's Gotta Give. Met a lovely women from Aus

Sunday in Paris

It's late Sunday afternoon in Paris. Spent time in the Marais district today. What I love about Paris is that you can be yourself. It's been so inspiring that all I want to do is hang out in my neighbor and work on creative projects. I don't want to admire others' creativity, I want to do my own. So I am torn between seeing everything I can and grabbing this creative urge and going with it. Wednesday will be a deciding factor. On Tuesday the government workers go on strike -- teachers, workers and most importantly the metro and bus system will not be working. That's the day I need to be at the tour office two miles away by 6:45AM to catch the bus to Bruge. I went to the offices this morning and paid an extra 30 euro for them to pick me up at my apartment. C'est trop cher! (that's expensive!) The good news is that they will pick me up at 7am instead of having to leave at 4/30am and walking 2 miles each way which would be murder when I will be walking all day on the tour and won't get back until 7/30PM. So I'll save lots of time. As for a taxi I think it would be even more plus they will be in great demand because of the strike and I may not get one. Let's hope this strike only lasts one day. We must wait and see.

Yesterday was a long but very fun day. Had a 3 1/2 hour cooking class making unbelievably fantastic appetizers. We even got extra to take home. there were only 3 of us at class -- a Parisien woman named Clare and Martin from Santa Cruz who is here with his mother. This year there are far more Americans here than last year and much more crowded too. After the cooking class I stopped and bought beautiful blue flowers, almost cobalt in color to take with me on a walking tour of Piere Lachaise Cemeterie where over one million people are buried in some form including Colette, Modigliani, Edith Piaf, Eugene Delacroix, Chopin, and one of my favorites, Oscar Wilde whose tomb is covered in lipstick kisses -- it's amazing to look at. And the just got done cleanding off the tomb just a little while ago. For three fun-filled hours, we saw many others and roamed where people are dying to come. Left flowers along the way and came back to the apartment happily exhausted.

Will fill in the other dates at another time. Must go. Things to see and do and a telephone call to make. A tout a l'heure . . . .