April 18th and 19th

Yesterday, we hit a lot of sites, but it was raining so we only walked 7 miles and took the metro--which is pretty scuzzy.

1st we went back to Notre Dame because the line was too long on death march day. Then we walked to the Orsay Museum and saw the Impressionists. It was really fun to see so many really famous paintings. Then we went to the Rodin Museum which is mostly a sculpture garden. After that was lunch--which is always long in France, but you almost have to eat inside and not just grab a sandwich because of the restroom issue. There is definitely NOT a pissoire on every corner! Then we went and saw Napoleon's tomb. A little creepy, but at least we didn't have a noisy 3-year-old declaring his hatred for Mn Napoleon at the top of his voice inside the tomb enclosure. Then it was on to Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur church. It was really pretty and set up to do some missionary work for the Catholics. Their cathedrals are often disconcerting because there is mass going on with hundreds of tourists milling about taking pictures. In this church, pictures were prohibited, and it was reverent. Then we did the walking tour of Montmartre in the rain. We ate at a wonderful restaurant close to the hotel, and it was just too late to make a post last night.

Yesterday, Johnny made the obligatory call to Versailles to see whether or not anyone had turned in his little wrist gps, and shock of shocks they had it! So we hatched a plot for him to get up and go to Versaille early, come back, go to church, and then go to Fountainbleue. We slept until 9:30, so that didn't happen. We went to church--just sacrament meeting. Testimony meeting in French. I could understand the Americans, no way with the French. The ward is an interesting mixture of French, American, Vietnamese, North African, Spanish, and African members.

Then we went to the Picasso Museum. They didn't have that many Picasso's. And then we went back to Versailles, and I shopped while Johnny went and got his little gps unit. So all's well that ends well.

Tomorrow is Normandy, the American Cemeteries, and the Bayeux Tapestry.

So now for some pictures.