It's Not The Heat...

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Being desert rats, we are not used to humidity, and when you add humidity to 85 - 90 degree temperatures, stir in a few million people and make them crowd together in stifling Metro trains, the results are not pretty, nor do they smell very nice. But, alas, it's all part of the experience, right?

A special treat for Cathleen (hmmm, isn't this entire trip a special treat?!?), we visited the family she lived with for a summer here in Paris more years ago than she cares to admit. We had a lovely dinner last night and great conversation in French - Dan didn't seem too lost - and enjoyed sharing one another's news and meeting the adult children who were 2 and 4 the last time she saw them. We will also both admit that one part of the meal included tomatoes, something that we typically despise -- and they were delicious!! Cathleen thinks this is because they were French tomatoes... don't anyone be expecting a conversion here, we are still not tomato lovers but perhaps we are coming around. They still live in the same apartment and the whole evening brought about a great deal of wonderful memories. We are hoping that perhaps on their next trip to the USA that they will be able to visit us in Arizona -- they've been to New England and then this past year visited Louisiana just weeks before Katrina hit. (I did ask them to teach me a joke, Rob, but they said they could never remember any -- and even if they had told me one, I probably wouldn't be able to pull off telling it correctly!)

We are gradually adjusting to the Parisian schedule - out late and up late. We didn't leave our hosts' home last night until nearly 11 pm. A late start this morning with a delicious breakfast in a cafe and some wandering around the neighborhood -- and then it started getting H-O-T. We retreated to the movies where we saw Da Vinci Code, which we both thought was pretty good, or maybe it was the winning combination of being in an air conditioned space, sitting down in comfortable seats and nobody stinking up the place!

We had a late dinner picnic in Arenes de Lutece, a 2nd Century Roman arena. A little pizza, a little wine, and a yummy dessert to share. The arena wasn't discovered until 1869; Lutece is the Roman name for Paris. It was a very quiet place to relax. Later at dusk (10 pm), we walked along the quais of the two islands toward Notre Dame.

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Photos

The French Fam
Philippe, Frans, Beatrice, Estelle, and Cathleen

Arenes de Lutece
The Arena in Paris, one of two Roman ruins found - the other are the baths of Cluny, just a few blocks from here.

Picnic in the Arena
The site of our picnic.

Sunset and Bridge
The sun setting behind one of the bridges leading to the Ile St Louis, the smaller of the two islands in the Seine River.

Cathleen with sunset
Cathleen enjoying the view from the quai.

Notre Dame at sunset
The flying buttresses on the back of Notre Dame

Facade of Notre Dame
It took many attempts, but Dan captured a great shot of the facade of Notre Dame that really puts its enormity in perspective.