Gene and Mark making final adjustments before the big show...                              Carol is camoflagued in her percussion tree!!

After a great show, we hopped on the bus for Paris! It was a long ride - about noon the following morning, we hit the city limits and I loaded the camera and shot this one of the Arc de Triomphe, our first major proof that we were really there...

When we arrived, Chris dropped us off on the corner of St. Germaine; because the side streets there are so narrow, our bus, again, wouldn't fit, so we unloaded on the sqaure and walked the two blocks to the hotel Mirasim on Rue Jacob, carrying all our luggage and musical equipment. You can see by the size of this pile what a job that was! Also note the cobblestones - even suitcases with wheels do not travel well over them.

Those of us who did not go on to the Castle at Canisy stayed in Paris. We were situated in the middle of what is known as the Latin Quarter, so-named for the medical students at the nearby University of Paris, in the legendary Left Bank. Looking out our balcony window we could see shops and restaurants in either direction. Mark Peterson was our tour guide through the neighborhood our first day. He showed us the hotel Jim Morrison died in (right behind the Mirasim), all the best places to eat, where to change money, and how to get around.

A corner storefront - there were lots in our neghborhood.              And lots of narrow streets to go window shopping.

 There were many sidewalk cafés and grocers, and occasionally from a table in our favorite café, we would get a nice shot of passers-by. These photos don't do justice, though. (I hope that you can get a feel for this lovely city and its charm from our crude but well-intentioned photo-journalistic essay; we would gladly return to Paris. Anytime!) We found the people there to be sweet and helpful - I knew little French; Gene spoke some - everyone we encountered was willing to help. Joan spoke fluently, as did Mark and Richard. Everyone else flubbed their way along like us. (I studied Latin in school - it helped me very little here...)

We even found a nice laundomat across the street from our favorite cafe' - until the day we were eating Italian food (next door) and Robin put too much soap in the washing machine and flooded the whole place while we dined...

We tried to dine at a different type of restaurant every night - one night we had Moroccan cuisine, one night - oriental, etc. We had few, if any, culinary disappointments. And we found the prices to be anywhere from really reasonable to kinda pricey, but always convenient. Additionally, we found numerous curbside vendors (photo by Robin Calhoun) offering a diverse array of fresh hot meals for next to nothing. So no one went hungry. In fact, if we hadn't walked as much as we did to see the sights, we would have gained many pounds.

We were close to the Louvre, to Notre Dame Cathedral - we could walk to any of many incredible sights in just a few minutes. The aroma of French bakeries filled the air, and the fall weather was just cool enough so we didn't get too warm. The Seine River was bordered by thousands of maple trees, golden and ablaze with autumn light. It was beyond description. All along the river there were artists and vendors selling photographs - some old, some reproductions - jewelry, and other gee-gaws. We raced through the Louvre, and I spent about as much time in the museum shopping mall as the museum! By the time the sun was setting, Gene and I were starving...

 The sidewalk along the Seine....