How falafel

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Nice slow morning today. The decision had been made yesterday that the weather was too iffy for a day trip to Giverny, and it certainly started out cold and cloudy. The hope had been to go to a few museums, but upon consultation with our museum passes over an astonishingly large pile of pastries, it seems that most museums, and certainly the ones we'd been hoping to see are closed on Tuesdays. While contracting type two diabetes we consulted the pass for places that were open on Tuesday, and landed on the museum of art and metier which had a church I had hoped would interest mom (not, as it turned out) and exhibits about the history of communication, construction, scientific instruments and other innovations. I especially enjoyed the part where they have the first iPod, which my father still has, behind glass as a museum piece. There was also a very fun section where live MRI images were projected on a wall, so dad and I both stood there and by bending back and forward scanned through coronal images of ourselves, with me obnoxiously identifying various anatomy, such as my overly full bladder. The museum is better defined thusly: The Musée des Arts et Métiers (Museum of Arts and Crafts) is a museum in Paris that houses the collection of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (National Conservatory of Arts and Industry), which was founded in 1794 as a repository for the preservation of scientific instruments and inventions. Since its foundation, the museum has been housed in the deserted priory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs, in the rue Réaumur in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris. Today the museum, which underwent major renovation in 1990, includes an additional building adjacent to the abbey, with larger objects remaining in the abbey itself. The museum has over 80,000 objects and 15,000 drawings in its collection, with 40,000 at the Paris site. Among its collection is an original version of the Foucault pendulum. We spent of time in some sections and very little in others, and it's the sort of place I would go back for a second look.

It was fun to explore an area of our neighborhood where we had never gone, we passed the rouge enfant market (the oldest covered market in France, established in the 1600s) and walked through a very pretty little park. There were many excellent looking bakeries and butchers, and we may return for food, which is what we do best. After a quick lunch we met Geoff at a industrial kitchen supply store, which is fantastically cramped and packed with beautiful and interesting things, including a pot large enough to cook me.

The weather was much nicer than it was supposed to be, and left us wondering if we shouldn't have gone to Giverny after all, but within a couple of hours it had turned grey and rainy again. After the kitchen store it was back home to rest our feet. We'd had so much to eat already that there wasn't much motivation to make dinner plans. We eneed up getting falafel and schwarma from one of the best places in Paris. it was my first falafel and won't be my last. The rest of the evening was low energy at home, we even watched our second movie of the trip (2 movies in four weeks is shockingly low for me, but there have been some persuasive alternatives) - an excellent film caled Sirius.

Tomorrow we'll hit up some museums and go for more walks. I'm interested in going to anatomy museum, and now that the dismembering murdering Canadian has been caught in Germany, our original concern that he would enjoy such a museum and may be hiding out there can be put to rest. We may not have time, though, since we have some museums to catch up with from today. I can't believe this is our second to last night in Paris. After this it's the overnight train back to Milan, then train to Verona for a final night in Italy, then Verona to Frankfurt to Calgary (and my parents on to Vancouver). I'm so lucky and grateful to be on this marvelous trip, and will treasure every wibble and wobble it has brought to my backside.



*full credit for today's title goes to my mother

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