Our anniversary in Paris!

Today is Tom's and my 24th wedding anniversary, and we're happy to be celebrating it in Paris. And we're also lucky because we get to celebrate with my college friend Ann Branston, and our friend Stephanie from Bordeaux, and her daughter Sarah.

We've continued to enjoy good weather and good times in Paris. This weekend was "Heritage Days," or Journées du Patrimoine, when government buildings and monuments all over France are open to the public, free, all day long. In some cases, such as the Elysée Palace, home of the President, you might wait in line for 3 hours or so to get in. We chose to visit the Hotel de Ville, or city hall, which is one of my favorite buildings. I had been to a couple of exhibits there, but nothing prepared me for the glory of the formal salons, with their chandeliers, painted ceilings, lots of gold, and other decorations. I was thrilled to be there and spent well over an hour visiting the many rooms that were open. In the various large reception rooms they also had exhibits on things like how the inlaid floors are made, the electricity and heating systems, and even the cleaning and maintenance processes! It was fascinating on many levels, and you really got the sense that it was the city hall of the people of Paris.

Toward the end of the visit you actually visited the chamber where the city council meets, various conference rooms, and the Mayor's office (with a very nice view of Notre Dame). You really got the sense of the Hotel de Ville as both a ceremonial center and a working center. The exit was through the garden, where you could also visit the Hotel de Ville nursery school! A thoroughly enjoyable time.

We decided to try the Elysée Palace after that, but as I walked along the very long line and started getting discouraged, I asked a policeman how long the wait was from that point. "Une petite heure, Madame," he politely responded. I wasn't sure how long a "little hour" was, but since the line went on and on after that, we decided to pass. Instead we went to the Left Bank and visited a small office of some minor part of the bureaucracy. It was again interesting to see the mix of old and new--glass conference tables and multiple phones on a desk underneath a large portrait of some old dignitary. Just today I read in the paper that more than 12 million people visited 15,772 monuments across France over the weekend. The Elysée Palace had 18,725 visitors, but that was nothing compared with the French Senate (in the Luxembourg Palace--in front of which we saw Rigoletto last June), which had 27,500 visitors!

We walked along the Seine--living in the 9th arrondissement we hadn't gotten there much--and then headed back to our quiet apartment. Ann arrived that evening and we had a nice dinner in Montmartre.

Sunday morning we packed our bags and moved to our second apartment, in the 18th just across from the Montmartre Cemetery. In fact, we have fabulous views of the cemetery from the big French windows in our bedroom and living room. It's wonderful to be in the city and yet look out on large chestnut trees and open vistas. And quiet neighbors! I want to go find the tombs of people like Francois Truffaut, Dégas, and others who are buried there.

Inspired by my visit to the Hotel de Ville, Sunday found me at the Palais Royale. This was originally built by Cardinal de Richlieu in the 1600s, when he wanted to be near the Louvre and Louis XIII. It's been rebuilt and refurbished over the years and today houses the Ministry of Culture and Communication, the Council of State, and the Constitutional Council. More gorgeous rooms that are today working offices of various elements of the French government. Wonderful to see the old and new--hard to imagine having some of those spaces as your office!

Stephanie and Sarah arrived in the late afternoon, and we had a jolly meal of great organic produce from Stephanie's garden and her wonderful chocolate cake. She is an expert at traveling food, and she carried an 11.8 kilo cooler bag on the train from Bordeaux to bring us dinner! The only problem with having moved to a different apartment was that we had to learn a whole new set of appliances. The oven, with its six inscrutably labeled buttons, was the challenge this time, but after lots of attempts and much laughter I managed to get it to work.

Today's lesson was in French banking. Sarah, who is a lawyer working for a bank, kindly offered to help us set up a French bank account. She arrived with a fat envelope of papers for us to sign, as well as the all important credit cards with a "puce," (French word for flea, but in this case meaning computer chip so we can use it in France). We went through a comedy of errors trying to deposit cash into our account. The first bank didn't handle cash(!), so they told us where we could find one that did. We all walked down there and had to learn to get through the triple set of air-locked doors, only to discover that the "caisse" or tellers, were closed for lunch from 12 until 2! So after a nice lunch with Ann at a little outdoor cafe near a lovely park on Rue des Batignolles, we went back and were successful.

So now we've bought a bottle of champagne and are home overlooking the cemetery, working for a while until it's time to celebrate our anniversary. I just feel so lucky to be here!