As you can see, I've been busy. In addition to lots of pastries, the past few weeks have also been full of a lot of spontaneous music. It's been hard lately not having an iPod lately (see: post about getting mugged), but it's not that uncommon to stumble upon ridiculously gorgeous music playing in public in this city, so that makes it a little easier. A few weeks ago, Sarah and I were walking in the Marais, and we realized we had never been in the church St. Gervais-St. Protais before (it's a VERY tall church surrounded by a nice courtyard full of cafes), so we stepped inside. It happened that Mass was going on, and normally we would have just left so as not to disturb the people inside, but we were so entranced by what we were seeing that we just couldn't leave. There were about 30 nuns and priests at the alter, all dressed in all white, and they were singing (in four-part harmony, based on the research I did after) and it was so moving that we stayed and listened to the Mass for a while because we had never heard anything like it. The music coupled with the incredibly tall cieling made for impressive experience. I have a video that doesn't want to upload, but I can show anyone who's interested.
Then yesterday I was walking through Luxembourg to meet my sorority friend Charlotte (for pastries), and I stumbled upon a whole orchestra playing a medly from Sound of Music. The surprise of hearing that in particular in Paris and because it was so good made me almost cry. Again, I have some video if anyone is interested.
And a few days ago, I was walking through the Tuileries before meeting my friends in the Marais, and there was a fancy orchestra set up playing a concert near the entrance. I couldn't stay too long because I didn't want to be late for my friends, but whatever they were playing was literally the most GLORIOUS THING I HAVE EVER HEARD. It sounded familiar too, but now I can't remember the melody. I did some research and saw that that night they were playing things by Leo Delibes (?), Debussy, Offenbach, Bizet and Saint-Saens, but I don't know who wrote was I heard. A million thanks to whoever figures out whatever piece of music I am so vagely describing (more help: it was big and loud and fast and was not the Can Can). Running into music everywhere is definitely something I'll miss about Paris.
Also, today was the kids' last day in Paris because they flew to their grandparents' house in Nice today. They left in the afternoon, but we spent all morning together and it was a perfect last day. I had left them some photos of us together in a box with cupcakes on it, and when I woke up this morning, the photos were already in frames, and Lise even said thank you, which I didn't expect. Juliette and I watched some Tour de France coverage together, and Lise and I spent some quality time on the trampoline together before Eric called to us that it was time to go :( It's weird that I'm still here, but they aren't, since they make up so much of my Clamart experience.
Our last lunch together :)
Me with the kids and Anne before they headed to the airport.
One last "monster face" before they left :)
Lise hugged me before we were even out of the house, even though I was coming to the car with them, which was really sweet, and then once she was in the car, she took my hand and I had to finally to finally make her let go so that the car could take off. Apparently she did enjoy my company this year after all. It's really weird that they won't be here tomorrow, but I think it will probably take a while to sink in that I'm not going to see them everyday.
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