In France!

Well hello, gentle readers! Miscellaneous Shellfish comes to you from an adorble little 6th-floor apartment near the Place de la Republique, looking out over the metal rooftops and dormer windows, so very La Bohème. We type on a funky French keyboard in which the w, a, q, m, comma and period keys are relocated, so please excuse the typos.

We have spent the last two days on a whirlwind museum tour, having purchashed the two-day museum pass that gets you into something like 60 different museums. So many museums, this city has. Yesterday was the Louvre, and although it was of course spectacular, if I never see another Virgin Mary robed in blue and red, that will be just fine. We started our week with the obligatory walking tour of the old historic center, including the iles on the Seine and Nôtre Dame.

My French seems to be serving me just fine, despite the 22-year absence, although my brain wants to speak more quickly and fluently than I'm able. It's like that part of my brain has had a stroke. I reach for words that I'm sure I know, but I can't find them. Inside me, there's still a woman who is fluent in French, but she's FALLEN AND SHE CAN'T GET UP.

I'm amused to find that the French still have the gift of insulting you in that careless way that you shouldn't take very seriously; the art of the backhanded compliment that somehow simultaneously and good-naturedly says "it's odd to hear such good French from an American!" and "Ouch, your painful American accent hurts my ears so very badly." But part of the art of the French insult is that there's generally undeniable truth underneath; my painful American accent me fait mal aux oreilles à moi, aussi.

Anyway, things are the same here - grandiose, monumental, smelling of diesel and fresh-baked bread - yet different, with the Louvre's big glass pyramid and the Musée d'Orsay. We are having a grand time, though Megan threw her back out and isn't sure yet whether she will run the marathon on Sunday. We have our little apartment for 2 more nights, then we'll be in a hotel by the Opéra for 2 nights. Then Enrico and I head to the town of Versailles, where we shall sleep in Louis XIV's former stables. Then one night at Chartres and briefly back to Paris.