Art Nouveau à la Clay Kids

Our invasion of France began day 2 more rested, showered, and scrumptiously breakfasted, with only the occasional concern about kids on coffee. I suggested that the espresso machine with breakfast be viewed rather than enjoyed, then hoped that good judgment would be in style for the day.

We had a terrific guided coach tour in the morning that presented a fine overview of the city's highlights, with a stop at the Trocadero for the famous view of the Eiffel tower and a walk down toward it for photos and a stretch. The public restrooms locked as we approached in what was to become a familiar scenario for the day. Anne-Claire gave us considerable history and our coach driver a real lesson in Paris street wisdom. The increased bike and moped traffic with the ever, well, taxing taxi drivers provide a challenge of some magnitude. He did some sweet circles to get us the best view of the opera, the Pantheon, the Champs-Elysees. We walked through the gardens of the Cluny Museum and past the Sorbonne University on our way on foot to Notre Dame.






















Our tour ended at Notre Dame cathedral, which we toured in hushed awe. A mass was beginning as we passed through the nef and the chapels. The
sunlight through the amazing rose windows bathed the congregation in soft blues and reds. The cleaning of the exterior is done and simply lovely, the stone wiped free of the modern smudge of pollution that had grayed the old lady's soft stone face. She rises as a testament to the potential of humanity to create the impossible when moved to reach for heaven.











The group opted for take-away hot-dogs from a street vendor and circled the cathedral in the free time we had, stopping to photograph each angle of the exterior architecture more lovely than the last, then met our guide for the subway ride to art class. We passed a chanting crowd of protesters handing out leaflets to publicize the plight of the thousands of undocumented workers here, echoing the same thorny problem at home. These were Africans who chanted in French, "We live here, we work here, we wish to stay here, Mr. Sarkozy!" We thought at first they might be the striking metro workers we'd heard of, especially when the metro there was closed, but the next station was open.

We arrived at the school for art class where we passed a delightful 2 hours with a British artist who's lived in Paris for over 20 years. We listened as he explained some basic principles of color and light and technique then in a silence born of concentrated purpose, bent over our canvases and palettes. Some simply lovely canvases impressed the group when our efforts were mounted in a mini show an hour later.

















With 2 hours remaining until dinner time, it was a group concensus that it was time to go shopping. The Galeries Lafayette were an easy subway ride away, followed by dinner in the south corner of the city and a long-awaited trip up the Eiffel Tower. What a lovely, cool, pleasant day! It is threatening to rain tomorrow when we go Versailles and the Louvre, so that we will have seen three different faces on this storied city.