The Best Trip Ever

I really had good intentions to not miss a day of blogging on this trip, but I did. Oh well.

On Monday we took a long slow walk from Gare de Lyon to the Bastille along the Viaduc des Arts, where there are all kinds of craftsman’s workshops – furniture makers, glass blowers, weavers, upholsterers, metalworkers, jewelry makers, graphic designers, etc. It’s obviously not a big tourist draw, because we never saw another soul who looked like a tourist, but we enjoyed it. Some have small retail shops, some have open windows where you can see them working, and some apparently don’t like the fishbowl environment, because their curtains are drawn and only a sign alerts you to what’s inside.

We enjoyed this, because we’re both fascinated by these kinds of crafts, especially since we saw an amazing museum of the French crafts guilds in Tours a few years ago.

On Tuesday, another very cold day, we strolled through the Jardin du Luxembourg, where a few people hardier than us were having little picnics.

We found a café instead, then went to the Vlaminck exhibit at the Musee du Luxembourg. Vlaminck is an artist I knew very little about, but I enjoyed this exhibit and seeing his progress and the increasing sophistication of his techniques over the years.

Frank caught my cold and has been dragging the past few days, and I seem to be having my normal mid-trip energy slump. Our friends are taking the train up from the Loire Valley today to see us—that should be just the energy boost we need.