Song Circle

We're getting down to the final few lectures in our classes at the University of Malta. In a couple of weeks, the semester will be all over except for the minor details of the term papers and/or final exams.

In the European model, most university classes do not have regular assignments -- only a general reading list and one big evaluation at the end of the term. Generally the assessment is a big exam or a major paper. Our students aren't used to this sort of model, so feelings of panic are setting in for some.

One change of pace was today's lecture by Prof. Godfrey Baldacchino on the changing demographic trends in Malta. Dr. Baldacchino is a professor of sociology, who will be moving up next year to the position of "pro-rector" (what most U.S. universities would call a vice president). Not only was he a dynamic lecturer in presenting the material, but he got the class warmed up in a rather unusual way.

Prof. Baldacchino brought his "song circle" to class. This is an informal group, none of whom are professional musicians, who simply like to sing. They get together at least once a week to do just that. They came prepared with pop songs (David Bowie's "Space Oddity," which they said hit the charts in 1969 when Bowie was performing in Malta), as well as several folk songs about life on the island. We were invited to sing along, though a couple of the songs were in Maltese, which made it a challenge.

It was an interesting way to begin a lecture. Class discussion was much more lively than usual. That may have been the presentation, or it may have been the music.

Acropolis

When we have more time to plan, we generally like to get some background on tour guides, either from online ratings or from other faculty who have used that guide in the past. We didn't have that luxury for this trip, but we got lucky.

Christina explains the Theater of Dyonisis

Our guide, Christina, met us at the hotel at 8 a.m. and walked us through the Plaka to the Theater of Dyonisis, then up to the Acropolis. There was hardly anyone there, and she did an excellent job of explaining the history and architecture of the Parthenon and the Erechtheion.

Mo and Maddie take in the view with their cameras on the way up the Acropolis

As crowds gathered she used the view from the top to point out the general plan of the city and key landmarks.

Entrance to the Acropolis in morning light.

From the summit we walked down hill to the Acropolis Museum, a wonderful facility that would be more complete if half of the ancient sculptures from the Parthenon hadn't been stolen by the British in the early 1800s.

Squinting into the Athens sun with the Parthenon and Erechthion behind us.

Everything in this museum was discovered on the Acropolis, and there are hundreds and hundreds of statues that were buried there by the Greeks to keep them from falling into the hands of invading Persians. This preserved them very well.

Finding some shade in which to learn about Greek mythology

The various models and videos are very helpful in understanding how the Acropolis changed and developed over the centuries, transformed through Greek, Roman, Christian, Byzantine, Muslim, and modern eras.

Erechthion

We had been here four years ago, but had a more comprehensive art and history lesson this time.

The Acropolis Museum brings a smile to Maddie and Greta as the rest follow.

The students were dragging a bit by noon, so we took a quick snack break. That revived everyone a little bit.

Whole group pose at the Temple of Olympian Zeus with Acropolis in background

Continuing through the Plaka, we were led to the Arch of Hadrian, which we had visited on our first afternoon, but the students received a better explanation this time. We also actually went into the grounds of the Temple of Zeus, rather than just seeing it through the fence.

Pondering the site of the first modern Olympic games

The day was getting warm and long when we visited the Stadium. The ancient stadium was unearthed, restored and expanded to become the site of the first modern Olympic games in 1896. It has been further modernized, but only had a symbolic role in the 2004 games.

We finished with the Agora (both Roman and Classical, plus the museum) which took quite a while. We were all getting tired, so I'm not sure how much the students truly appreciated that they were walking on the very stones once trod by folks like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle (not to mention St. Paul and other New Testament figures). It was an excellent tour, though a great deal to take in all in one day.

Byzantine Day

We had to put the Athens trip together on pretty short notice. Travel days are always stressful, and one day we had planned would also be intense. So we opted to give the students a free day on Sunday, along with suggestions of several museums and other sites, and carefully researched directions on how to reach them. This gave us a free day, too.

A small part of the Byzantine & Christian Museum

Top suggestion for the students was the National Archeological Museum. It's the largest collection of ancient Greek artifacts in the world, and when we visited four years ago, we found it quite spectacular. We were pleased that at least a few of our students took our suggestion.

The parade begins.

Mary and I opted to check out something new, however. The Byzantine and Christian Museum is located quite near our hotel, so we walked there. It appeared to be a rather small place, so we didn't think it would take very long. Little did we realize that most of the museum is under ground. It's a pretty big place!

Mary got a good close-up

It pays to be a senior citizen with a residency card from an EU country. That ticket price is half the fee charged to the typical American tourist. It also helps that most Greeks, though they speak English quite well, are unable to discern American English from Maltese English. We quickly learned to avoid lengthy explanations and to simply be Maltese.

The band plays on

The Byzantine Empire ruled the area that is now Greece -- as well as much of Eastern Europe, Asia Minor, and various other lands -- from the fall of Rome in 476 A.D. until the Ottoman conquest in 1453 A.D. Byzantium (now called Istanbul) had its ups and downs during that almost 1,000 year period, but it was a formative era for Orthodox Christianity, which broke from the Roman church in 1054 A.D. The museum is focused more on Orthodoxy than Byzantine politics.

The "Sacred Way" through Kerameikos

After nearly two hours with the spectacular icons and other artifacts at the museum, we began walking back toward Syntagma Square, and were surprised to hear band music. Each Sunday at about 11 a.m. there is a much more elaborate changing of the guard ceremony at the tomb of the unknown Greek soldier. It involves a marching band, as well as the entire elite regiment of honor guards. We happened to walk by right in the middle of it.

Kerameikos

The guards wear their "Sunday best," white uniforms instead of the usual blue, and march down the street behind the band in a rather odd step that extends the right leg out front. The right foot comes down hard on the downbeat. The parade is something to see, and seemed to us much more exciting than the ceremony which followed.

View of the Acropolis from Kerameikos

We continued down Ermou Street once again, past Monisteraki, through a large and rather bizarre Sunday flea market, to Kerameikos -- a word from which we get our English word "ceramics." It used to be the region where pottery was made. But long before that, in ancient times, this area was just outside the city wall, along the major road to the sea. It was, therefore, the "necropolis" of Athens, the city of the dead.

An Athens street merchant sells sesame rolls.

This ancient cemetery has been excavated in order to learn about the changing burial practices of the Greeks through the Archaic, Classical and Roman periods. Most of the surviving grave markers and monuments are preserved in a museum on the site. But faithful replicas have replaced these outside, showing exactly the spots where they would have originally been.

Street in Anafiotika

A unique feature of the monuments during the Classical period is that the inscriptions on the stone monuments are written as if the stone, itself, is speaking. "I am the monument erected by Dionysios as a testament to his grief over his dead son, Dexileos, the horseman." It's a fascinating example of the way written words were conceived of when the writing was a new invention!

Just a very small glimpse of the National Gardens

We'd been on our feet a long time by mid-afternoon, so we found a cafe where we could sit with a cold beverage and people-watch for awhile. There were certainly a lot of people to watch! It is Palm Sunday on the Orthodox calendar, so many Greek families are together for all-afternoon family luncheons in the sidewalk cafes. The streets of the Plaka are bustling with locals, as well as tourists.

An island of turtles in the National Gardens

Rested, we took on the final challenge of the day, an upward climb up the slope of the Acropolis to a neighborhood known as Anafiotika, because many of the original residents had come to Athens from the Greek island of Anafi. This area is notable because of the winding, narrow streets and quaint little houses that remain here, looking much as all of Athens looked a couple hundred years ago, before it became a big city.

After this, we'd had enough of being tourists. We returned to the hotel for a bit of a respite, then set out to find a good meal. This is not hard to do in Greece, so we were successful in finding a good spot where we lingered over the meal and the unexpected complimentary dessert before calling it a day.

Athens

The van picked us up right on time to take us to the airport. But I foolishly neglected to ask everyone if they had their travel documents until we had been underway for a few minutes. So we circled back, then tried again. We still arrived at the airport in plenty of time, and the flight was on schedule. We've been very lucky with flights all through the semester.

Athens is only about a one hour and forty minute flight. The airport is easy to navigate, and thanks to the 2004 Olympics, connections to the city are cheap and easy. We opted for the express bus. The Metro might have been a few minutes faster, but cost €2 per person more, and we weren't in a rush.

We were fortunate to have a nice hotel located very close to Syntagma Square (or in English, Constitution Square) -- the very heart of Athens. So it didn't take us long to get checked in. One exciting note, however -- an elderly Greek man came up to me as we waited for a stoplight and said, "Watch your bags! Gypsy women are following you." He may have been looking for a tip for himself. I didn't see any suspicious-looking women in the crowd. But I did remind the group of a famous Rick Steves travel tip: In most European tourist destinations there are only two kinds of people -- tourists and pick-pockets. Since we'd just learned of increased pick-pocket activity in Malta, it was a good reminder.

We weren't surprised to see some political protesters in the Square. The Greek Parliament meets in the National Palace here, so protesters are par for the course. If we could have read the signs, we might have known what they were protesting, but it was all Greek to us. (As I discovered when we visited here four years ago, two years of New Testament Greek in college is very nearly useless in modern Greece -- partly because of changes in the language, but mostly due to four decades of forgetfulness.)

After everyone got settled, we met in the lobby for "Mark's official orientation walk." I had done some research to prepare. The Greek Ministry of Tourism takes a dim view of unlicensed tour guides, but I decided to risk it and was ready to plead that I am a professor teaching rather than a guide leading a tour. After all, Socrates used to walk though the agora with his students following behind him. (But then again, look what Athens did to Socrates!)

Maddie poses with one of the guards

We started by seeing the changing of the guard at the Greek tomb of the unknown soldier. It's a pretty unique exercise, especially in the traditional 1820s uniforms.

The honor guard approaches. There is one pleat in the skirt for each year of Ottoman occupation.

We then walked down Ermou Street, the big, high-end pedestrian mall (think Nicolette Mall in Minneapolis), hoping to visit the 1,000-year-old Church of Kapnikarea that sits right in the middle of the street. Unfortunately, it was closed.

Kapnikarea

So we continued on to Monastiraki Square. That place was so lively on a Saturday evening that I doubt the students heard a thing I said about the monastery that used to be here (with only the chapel remaining), or the mosque left here by the Turks. They did show some interest in the 2nd century A.D. ruins in the Metro station.

Some of what was found when excavating for the Monastiraki Metro station.

We left the commotion of the square, working our way down the narrow Pandrossou Street. Fortunately, none got lost in the souvenir shops. At the Mitropolis (cathedral) we got inside another 1,000 year old church, the Eleftherios, so that I could explain the architecture and iconography. That helped the cathedral make better sense, perhaps.

Tiny Eleftherios Church was the cathedral of Athens during Ottoman rule, when Christians had to keep a low profile.

Side view of Eleftherios showing carved stones. Sorry, no photos allowed inside.

On Saturday evening, all the church supply, vestment, and icon shops of Filotheis Street were closed, but we saw what we needed to see in the shop windows. Then we continued on Adrianou (Hadrian) Street to the Lysicrates monument (in ancient Athens, they had trophies for the best play or poem, as well as for the best athletes), and on to the Arch of Hadrian and a peek through the fence at the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

Ruins of the Temple of Zeus

By that time, the group was sick of me, and anxious to explore the shops and nightlife of the Plaka, the old center of Athens. So we turned them loose. Mary and I returned to the neighborhood around Syntagma, completing the triangle of our tour. Based on online recommendations Mary had researched, we found a little, family-run restaurant off the beaten track for some real Greek food and some cold liquid refreshment.

Meggie and Abby have just had a look at Hadrian's Gate

More Visitors

We had some surprise visitors from Iowa this evening. Two recently retired Luther faculty members, Uwe Rudolf and Ruth Caldwell, a married couple who are not strangers to Malta by any means, dropped by. They had been traveling in Italy and came back for several days on the island.

Uwe said this must be at least his eighth visit to Malta, and Ruth said this was at least her fourth time here. They have been directors of this program, as well as maintaining other links here through former Luther students and others.

Mary looks out over St. Julian's Bay

It was good to see them, to hear news from home, and to get a sense from them of how the program and the neighborhood have changed over the years. How odd to go three months with no visitors, and then to have two couples from Iowa in the span of a couple of weeks!

Changing Course

In the months leading up to our departure for Malta, we had several people remark to us about our "bravery" in going to Europe. The Paris attacks last fall put everyone on edge, and the March attack in Brussels has increased those concerns.

The U.S. State Department has a world-wide travel caution in place, as well as an alert for all of Europe. On March 29 they issued a Travel Warning for Turkey. While the primary concerns are in the capital city of Ankara and near the Iraqi and Syrian borders, tourist areas in Istanbul were also mentioned. It's true there have been recent bombings there, though none in the area of the old city. None of the cautions, alerts, or warnings tell people not to travel, only to be careful.

We were scheduled to take our students to Istanbul next week. We were there four years ago, and it's an absolutely perfect place for these students to see. The history of Byzantium, interplay between Christian and Muslim influences, the legacy of the Ottoman Empire, and modern politics of the European Union -- all things they've heard about in their class lectures -- can be seen in Istanbul.

Security, however, is a primary concern. So this week, powers that be back in Iowa canceled our plans for Istanbul. I respect the decision. There are factors involved for the institution that go beyond historical interest or the study of current events.

The last 48 hours have been hectic. I've had to cancel everything we'd planned in Istanbul -- flights, hotels, ground transportation, guides. Flights were non-refundable, so thousands of dollars are forfeit. We've also had to make alternative plans -- our students are promised a number of trips as part of this program. So new flights had to be booked, a new hotel reserved, new guides discovered, etc., etc. At the last minute, there are few bargains.

Our "Plan B" destination is Athens -- also a great city that we visited four years ago. There's not quite as much to see (more ancient and Byzantine, less of the rest), and flight schedules mean we'll have a trip one day shorter. But it should still be a valuable experience and a good time. Stay tuned for details.

Guests from Afar

This past weekend we had visitors from Iowa! Our good friends, Al & Cindy Mohling from Cedar Falls, were in the neighborhood and dropped by. This sort of thing doesn't happen very often while we are in Malta, so we were thrilled to have them here.

We gave them the adventure of riding Maltese buses on Saturday morning. First to Valletta, then on to Mdina, and back to Valletta once again.

Moat and walls at Mdina

In Mdina, we were able to visit the old, walled city that we had seen earlier, show them the view of the island from the fortress wall, and enjoy extra-thick hot chocolate and decadent dessert at the Fontanella Tea Garden.

Governor-General's/Presidential Palace, Valletta

We also enjoyed hot from the oven pastizzi -- the Maltese specialty of flaky crust surrounding a ricotta cheese filling -- in Rabbat, just outside the old city. Al also decided he needed to try the local soft drink, Kinnie. It's a sort of root beer with sour orange juice added -- definitely an acquired taste that we have yet to acquire.

Al photographs the Grand Harbor as Cindy takes in the view.

Back in Valletta we enjoyed the busy streets, but unfortunately the scenic churches are all closed except for mass. Our guests toured the Sacra Infermeria -- the hospital built by the Knights of St. John back in the 16th century that was extremely advanced for its time. The hospital was used up through World War I, was badly damaged by bombs in World War II, and has been reconstructed as a conference center. We thought it a fascinating tour back in February, but didn't wish to repeat, so we waited for them.

Boats in the harbor at Marsaxlokk

An excellent meal by the bay back in Sliema capped a full Saturday.

Mary and Cindy head for the market at Marsaxlokk

On Sunday we ventured out by bus once again to the fishing village of Marsaxlokk, on the south tip of the island. This was a new spot for us, as well as for our guests. There is a rather famous Sunday fish market here, and the bus was packed. For awhile, we thought the "fish market" had everything for sale EXCEPT fish, but we eventually found those, too. We enjoyed a light lunch of fish soup at one of the local cafes, and popped in briefly at the little church where fishermen pray for safety on the water and a good catch.

Village church at Marsaxlokk

Bus connections out of Marsaxlokk are not great, so we enjoyed the company of a rather chatty taxi driver who transported us to the site of the megalithic temples at Hagar Qim. Mary elected for a walk in the countryside, while I tried to be at least a minimally effective guide to the temples. I'm sure I left out a great deal.

The buses back to Sliema were once again extremely packed, but we made it. We enjoyed yet another very good meal at another sea-side restaurant, and brought the day to a close. On Monday morning we saw our guests to the bus for the airport and bid them farewell.

Traveling: What's Changed?

Nearly 40 years ago Mary and I took our first trip to Europe. We were young, recently married (we started saving before our wedding and worked for three years to afford the trip), and had never been outside North America before. We wanted an overview of Europe, so we signed up for a bus tour -- nine countries in 28 days, or some such. It was a big motor coach with 40 or 50 people on board. We had a great time.

The tour was a whirlwind, of course, and we were in no one place very long. We hit London for a few days, then Amsterdam. I think we went to Copenhagen, then Hamburg, Berlin and Munich. We were in Paris, then down to Nice and Monaco (probably for a few hours). I recall being in Geneva, Rome, Venice and Salzburg. Did we make it to Vienna? It's a bit of a fog. Forty years is a long time ago.

I do remember quite vividly, however, that there were two cities we came away from saying that we would never bother visiting again. We hated Paris, and we weren't fond of Rome. Both cities, we thought, were very dirty. Parisians impressed us as being rude and anti-American. Rome, we felt, was all about ripping off tourists.

In the past several weeks we've been back to both cities; Rome in February, and we've just recently returned from Paris. This time, we loved them both! So I've been reflecting on what changed. Was it Rome ("The Eternal City") and Paris that changed? Or was it the travelers? I suspect both.

Over the years we've been privileged to travel to a great many places in the world. We went to Israel/Palestine a few years after that European trip. I've been to China four times. Mary accompanied me on two of those, and she got to spend three weeks in Japan. I've attended academic conferences in a number of places around Europe. We've had adventures together in Egypt, South and Central America, Tanzania, Southeast Asia, and India. We got to live a year in the UK, with side trips to Iceland, Spain, Turkey, Greece, Italy, the Czech Republic, Germany and Denmark. Now we are living in Malta for half a year, and recently finished a side trip to Morocco.

I think it's fair to say we've seen more of the world than most people (though we are still lagging way behind some others who have really been around). We've become pretty confident about getting around in places, even when we don't speak the language. Surely, we have changed as travelers in ways I can't begin to count.

But I think the world has changed, as well. In the Paris we visited 40 years ago we faced an enormous communication barrier. I still only know a few basic words in French (my rule of thumb is to learn the local equivalents to Hello, Please, Thank you, I'm sorry, Beer, and Toilet). But it seems now that almost everyone in France not only has a bit more English than I have French, but they are much more willing to use it. It's true everywhere, English is the lingua franca.

Another difference is clothing. Four decades ago it seemed that everyone could spot us as Americans on the first glance. Now, everyone in the world wears the same blue jeans! In recent weeks, people have addressed me in Maltese, French, Spanish, German, and Italian -- as well as English -- because I was taken for a local or a European tourist. Perhaps it's because I've learned to travel in my oldest, most worn-out clothes (so that I can leave them behind, if necessary), but I don't stand out in the crowd as The American.

Another factor is terrorism. The terrorists want to tear the world apart, but after 9/11 and the Paris attacks of last fall, it seems Westerners have a sense of "we're all in it together." Israeli soldiers walking the streets with large weapons gave me the chills 35 years ago. French soldiers doing the same last week were a comforting sight. Soldiers smile at us, and we smile back. People are glad to see others traveling, and all are determined not to let the bad guys win by keeping everyone home.

So yes, the travelers have changed -- a lot. But the world is smaller and more welcoming, too. And all in all, it's easier to travel now than it used to be.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

Sunday morning was gorgeous. Of course, on the day we are to go home from Paris, the weather finally clears! We were greeted with crowds and cheers as we headed to the bakery for our usual breakfast pastry. They weren't cheering for us, though. It was the 40th annual Paris Marathon day, and the course ran through our neighborhood.

We escaped all that be getting on the Metro and heading for the Left Bank. Our first stop was the Abbey of Saint Germain des Pres. This was out in the country when the abbey was founded here in the 6th century. The present church dates from the 12th century, with significant repair necessary after the French Revolution.

This is one of those churches with much of the Medieval paint scheme still intact. It was a bit too dark to get good photos, but once upon a time all European churches were filled with such rich colors.

Luxembourg Gardens

We walked a bit to take in the Eugene Delacroix National Museum. To tell the truth, I don't know that I'd heard of the artist, and we almost didn't find his former home and studio, because it's tucked away in a residential neighborhood. But it was free on the first Sunday of the month, so we gave it a look.

On next to see the Luxembourg Palace and Gardens. The French Senate meets in the palace. Parisian runners, walkers, and sun-worshippers appear to own the gardens.

Just a few blocks away, the Church of Saint Sulpice stands facing a fountain that sparkled in the morning sun. Inside is the Great Organ, one of the monuments to French Romanticism, and the home of great organists. Marcel Dupre' may be the best known of those who were regular organists here.

The Great Organ of Saint Sulpice

The guidebook said the 10:30 mass would be followed by a 20-30 minute organ recital. But mass didn't begin until 11 (fortunately there were two long preludes -- listen to a clip HERE). We didn't get much out of the sermon, since we don't understand French, and we had a plane to catch, so we had to leave before mass ended, and never did get to find out if there was a recital.

Back to the hotel to collect our bags, we had to make one last stop at a French bakery for a lunch sandwich (everyone in Paris seemed to have the same idea), and watch a few marathon runners pass by as we ate. Then it was off on a marathon of our own, to get to the airport anc catch our plane back to Malta. By 10:30 p.m., the weary travelers were back in a familiar bed.

Paris Clean-Up

Saturday is the day that crews clean the streets in Paris, beginning before dawn. Our four-day museum passes have expired, but our seven-day transportation passes have not. So we, too, are cleaning up today on the things to see and do for free in Paris.

West facade of Notre Dame in morning sun.

A discovery is that if one gets up early on a Saturday morning (as we old people tend to do anyway), one can walk right into Notre Dame cathedral without waiting in any line. In fact, one can almost have the whole place to oneself!

Notre Dame is so big that there can be a hundred or so people in it, and it still feels empty. Morning mass was just ending in the choir area. When it was over we went in to take a seat, however we could not take photos from there.

While the cathedral we saw earlier at Chartres rivals this one for basic architecture, as the cathedral for the center of Paris, this one clearly has more resources for keeping things fixed up nicely. This includes refurbished paint on some of the statuary, as well as the carpets and the other decor.

The weather forecast for today was for sunny and warmer, so we dressed accordingly. Unfortunately, we've not yet seen the sun and it's still in the mid-40s with a biting wind. So we elected to jump back on the nice, warm Metro rather than to do much walking.

At Metro stop Anvers, we found ourselves in the Montmartre neighborhood. Our transport passes allowed us another ride, on the funicular to the top of the hill (or "mont") for a visit to Sacre-Coeur (Sacred Heart) Basilica. This Byzantine-style church is only a century old, but looks much older.

After the Franco-Prussian war in 1870, during which Parisians suffered greatly, there was a movement to appease God for the country's liberal sins by building this church on one of the highest points in Paris. Ironically, the construction wasn't finished until 1919, just after the next war of terrible suffering.

View of Paris from the steps of Sacre-Coeur

We popped next door to St. Pierre, by contrast, one of the oldest churches in Paris. The contemporary stained glass does not look out of place in this elegantly simple edifice.

From here we were to take a walking tour of the Montmartre neighborhood, as laid out by one of our guidebooks. Unfortunately, it was not laid out very well, and we got hopelessly lost. Eventually, we managed to see everything noted on the walk, but we walked a lot farther to do it -- including many, many blocks of one of the largest Saturday flea-markets we've ever seen.

One of the sites along the way was Moulin del Galette, an old wind mill turned into a cafe. Another was Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise, a huge cemetery where little houses are built over the graves to provide resting places for mourners. There are even street names and "addresses" for the dead! Some, unfortunately, find themselves buried beneath a highway overpass today.

Finally, our walk ended at the famous Moulin Rouge -- another spot marked with a windmill.

We decided to stop for a coffee to warm up, then continued to the Metro to ride to the Charles de Gaulle stop and see the Arch de Triomphe. That seen (for at least 30 seconds) we headed down the most famous avenue in Paris, the Champs-Elysees.

There is absolutely nothing in these stores that we can afford, much less anything we would particularly want. By our careful calculations, at least 90% of the crowd around us were tourists doing the same thing we were.

We did, however, enjoy stopping in at the shops of the various auto manufacturers along this stretch. These are not dealerships -- one can't actually buy a car here -- but the factories show off their latest high-end models, including some auto show concept cars, and sell all sorts of branded merchandise. Peugeot, Renault, Mercedes, and Toyota were all represented. There were also some brand new Ferraris and Porches parked along the street in strategic locations to attract tourists with cameras.

The Champs-Elysees ends in the same pricey neighborhood where we walked yesterday, but we didn't finish the entire street. Instead, we jumped back on the Metro again part way and headed back to our familiar neighborhood for lunch, and to change into warmer clothes.

Carnavalet Museum

After we stopped shivering, we set out again to visit the Carnavalet Museum, focused on the history of Paris. It's just a short walk from our hotel, and has a particularly good collection focused on the French Revolution. We bought the audio tour in English, because all of the signs are in French.

We also visited the Victor Hugo house, just down the street. It was free, and worth every penny. I'm sure we'd have gotten more out of it if we could read French.

Saturday is a big day for French people to be out and about. Couples, families, groups of friends, all seemed to be shopping a bit, going to museums, or just walking around and window shopping. The streets are crowded, and it's not because they are out enjoying the nice weather. We never did see sun, nor did it ever get anywhere near the forecast high temperature.

We ate at a Sicilian place just a couple blocks from our hotel. We bypassed it before, because we didn't want to eat Italian in France, but it turned out to be one of the best meals we've had here!

Location:Paris, France