Blog Day 5 Saturday June 21, 2014 Paris

Patti, Sandra and Tina play

Dick, Ramon, and Maribeth work

[please note, Dick has been ill, so we decided to go ahead and post the text only, and he will add in photos later....sorry about that.]

While the National Professors went off to the conference (Ramon had to be the moderator at a session beginning at 7:30 am), the rest of us had a free play day in Paris.

The conference went fine, although they had a few misadventures finding the site.  Who knew that there was more than one Holiday Inn Paris?  All the presentations went well. Our three presenters enjoyed sharing their work, and also knowing that this these presentations were part of why we will all able to be in in Paris this week. thank you conference!

The women spent the day wandering through our neighborhood.  We went over to a local farmer’s market….filled with the most beautiful fruits and vegetables.  The French do not randomly crowd up to buy their produce, but patiently wait in line and discuss in detail with the sellers the items and how to cook them, their menus, etc.  Because we were going to be walking around, we declined to buy anything hoping to come back, but the streets and places were too alluring, so no fresh food for us today.

The wanderings went to various museums, churches, parks and shops.  One of the most interesting exhibits focused on the liberation of Paris by the U.S. and allies 70 years ago.  Although the exhibit’s written info was in French, the video had a lot of powerful images of how happy the people of Paris were when the Nazis were kicked out of their city.  This was very powerful when we could see tanks and guns in the very streets we were so happily exploring.

There were many other interesting places that we wondering around and saw…. A store called Happy Hawai (one i), kids in parks, amazingly great looking desserts, great churches on nearly every corner.  It was a lot of fun.

In the evening, after the conference was done, we all met back at the flat to share tales of the day.  The conference was good, but the others had more fun!  Ramon and Sandra went off with their niece who recently moved to Paris with her husband.  Dick, Patti, Maribeth and Tina Headed out to enjoy an amazing event The Festival of Music or Fete de la Musique.  This is an evening of free concerts, both formal and informal happening all over France, actually around the world, but especially in Paris.  Everywhere around the city people were gathered  enjoying music.  As we walked around, stopping for dinner at a sidewalk café, and people watching like crazy…we had the sense of being part of the largest party any of us had ever been in.  Maybe a million people gathered every throughout the city.

We heard one guy playing classical flue in an alcove outside the Louvre, a trio with a lead woman vocalists who also played clarinet, a rock band leading a pulsing crowd in chanting “We will, we will rock you…rock you.”  There were lots of groups of young people with guitars, African drumming groups a couple of Samba or other percussion groups leading people dancing through the streets, brass bands, singing….sometimes you couldn’t get through a particular street because it was so crowded. 

We finally were ready to go back to the apartment at around 11:30pm.  The sun had finally set around 10:30.  This festival always happens on Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, and here they are not kidding.  What a joy to be part of such an event.

This was truly Paris at its finest.

“If you have ever walked in Paris, you will see that Paris will ever walk in your memories!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan