Ann and I walked at 7:00 this chilly morning; we walked past the town cemetery, peeked past gates into people's yards, explored an abandoned house and its storage room, picked up a fellow traveler for a short while and took our first Tai Chi lesson with Barry upon return to La Bonne Etoille. I always wondered what the heck those people were doing and wondered how those slow movements could it possibly benefit anyone. I can see now how they can. I think I’ll enjoy it in the upcoming mornings.

Not tomorrow though. Tomorrow morning we leave for Paris.

We all worked in the studio until lunchtime, after which we piled into the van and drove to the nearby city of Nogent sur Seine, a charming bustling city with lots of traffic, flower-covered bridges criss-crossing the Seine River and the one-time home of Camille Claudel. There is a sculpture museum there in her honor, Le Musee du Camille Caudel. Camille Caudel was a sculptor who worked with and inspired Auguste Rodin, when she was only in her 20’s. Her wicked mother committed her to an asylum, where she died after 30 years, despite the doctors and staff insisting to the mother that Camille did not belong there. Her work was beautiful; it is suggested that Rodin stole her ideas. The Musee du Camille Caudel houses many other sculptors’ works; my favorite was Boucher. Read about Camille Claudel here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camille_Claudel.

Did I mention that tomorrow morning we leave for Paris?

One final picture for Tracy Albert, aka Mary, aka Jackie. A toast to you!