Vezelay and a few more days in Paris

---

I took the train towards Vezelay about two hours south of Paris in the Burgundy region of France. The train station is 10km away from the town, but I was luckily able to catch a ride with some nice people from the train. The guidebook had said that taxis would be available, but the were absolutely no services in or around the train station. So lucky I got the ride. Although the walk would have been part of the pilgrimage trail to Spain. So there were a number of walkers. Vezelay was a nice little town up on a hill. The cathedral their was St. Madeleine (which is my middle name so felt compelled to go there), and one of the places claimed to have had some of Mary Magdalene's shroud...and possibly she was there at one point? My French is terrible, so some things were lost in translation. I did a lot of walking in around the country side and reading on park benches. It was pretty relaxing, not much to do otherwise. Of course, again I was terribly terribly allergic, but with strategically staggering three different types of allergy medicine I was able to at least be outside. I don't know if there are really too many places I can go in the world during May and June and not have allergies. Burgundy has great food, though I did twice out of ignorance order dishes that came smothered with horseradish, which I despise. So that was a bit of a disappointment...otherwise good though.

Back in Paris I finished up the last few days there with a trip to Versaille, going to the Pompidou modern art museum and a little shopping. It was pouring down rain in Versaille so I didn't stay too long. The Pompidou was nice, some weird modern art stuff. Like a framed white painting with a rusty nailed pounded in it. Or bits of garbage hanging from strings. Or a pile of chopped up wood. But there were of course some Dali, Matisse, Picasso, etc. One exhibit I enjoyed was this room you went into that was totally lit with these bright yellow lights that are meant to stimulate melatonin. Another one I liked were these muslim style robes that were designed by Fila, Nike and I think Adidas. The Nike one was red out of that warm up suit material and even had those big snaps up the sides of the robes. It just struck me as kind of ironic. The last day I did a little shopping and window shopping. Nothing like a trip to Paris to make you feel fat and completely unfashionable....But I bought a few items to help the cause...and colored my hair...and lost a little weight...

---

Comments

[Tiziana]

!!!!! I want to see pictures of the Parisian hair color!!

[Michael]

You're beautiful Alana.
Hi Alana, Just want to let you know that you're beautiful...and you're making the most of your oversea travel...i love the pics you took...very nice...peace and happiness... in the USA...we don't have spots and history like in Europe...I've been some part of Ukraine, and Russia, Germany, Danmark... michael from Virginia Keep the nice pics coming. [e-mail].