Le Musee de Moyen-Ages

Yesterday I intended to take students to Chartres, a medieval town near Paris, on a day trip. The weather looked nasty, though, and we got a late start, so I talked them out of it and stayed in Paris. The weather, of course, never turned bad, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Instead, I went to the Middle Ages Museum, or the Hotel Cluny. The hotel was built in the middle ages as an abbey of sorts, over the ancient ruins of Roman baths. It houses a really large collection of art, sculpture, metalworks, and tapestries from the Middle Ages. The centerpiece of the collection is the famous set of six tapestries, The Lady and the Unicorn. The series of tapestries depicts the five senses, and then the lady refusing to give into the temptations these senses create. They really are quite cool. At the end of the tour were these choir stools in the photo. They certainly look horribly uncomfortable, as a choir member myself. I'm glad we've progressed to posture chairs.

After an afternoon of grocery shopping, baguette hunting, napping, and some academic work, I went out to my favorite gelati shoppe, Amorino. Mmm. Then I came back once more, only to go out for jazz at Le Caveau des Oubliettes, my favorite jazz club in Paris. I've talked about it before. It really is fabulous, and I read a review somewhere that described it as becoming known for the cutting edge of jazz. Last night we heard some quartet. I wish I could tell you who it was, because they were fantastic, but the website isn't helpful.

Today I woke up and attended the Gregorian chant mass at Notre Dame. I'm so glad I did, though it was hard to wake up. Even though it's difficult to understand the French mass, the symbolism is all understandable to me. The chant is just gorgeous, and I had a chance to practice a wild different way of doing shape notes. And of course Notre Dame doesn't hire just any slacker on the organ, so that was really incredible as well.

In the afternoon, we headed to Versailles, just like last year on the first weekend. On Sundays the fountains are on, and they just explode with the extravagance of the place. This year I walked around the town with David to find us a place to eat, so I missed out on the palace, but the grounds were as beautiful as ever.

And I'm pooped.