My dogs are barking (and howling)

Walk, walk, and more walk.  No wonder nobody in this city is fat.  Then I don't suppose they come home and eat what I eat at the end of the day.  Especially as a reward for all that walking!

Yesterday was another lovely day.  The camera store was closed so we listened to a Rick Steves travel podcast about the Morais and decided it sounded like a nice area to visit.  We took out our book of walking tours and realized we are staying in the Morais district!  One of the comments about the Morais was that it was an area with many ethnic groups, young people, gay comunity, etc.  Well, that certainly explained a lot.  The "Bear Bar" we passed that was full of men . . . .and all the PDA of various combinations of sexes.  Sounds like a little much, but it's actually a very interesting district.  We have felt safe here and enjoy the sounds of community life drifting up to our apartment.

We took a couple of walks of the Morais district that we found in our walking tour book.  It was nice to get off of the beaten path and see places where people live their lives.  When we stopped to look at our map to try and figure out exactly where we were somebody always stopped to try to help us.  We really haven't experienced much of the infamous French dislike of Americans.  We visited a couple of 17th century churches, walked through charming courtyards of antique shops and cafes, and saw a few mansions (called "l'hotels which mean "big house") .  It is hard to believe that those were homes for one family.  Lots of ego on display.  We spent the day wandering, sometimes lost, but always finding something wonderful to experience.  Everywhere you look is a photo op.

Speaking of photo ops, today we got cannonized.  We picked up a camera and are back in business.  Looks like it is working fine and we will figure out what to do with the Euopean power cord once we are back in the US. 

Today (Monday) was our Louvre Day.  We covered as much art as our brains, eyes, and feet could handle.  Using the audio tour is must.  The Louvre is a most amazing place with works from every artist you've ever heard of and many you (well, at least WE have never heard of).  We hit the big shows - Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo - and the lesser commercial attractions until our eyes blurred and it was closing time.  Even though we didn't cover it in its entirely, we made a good dent.  Since we're planning to hit a couple of other art museums - l'Orsay and Pompidou - but need to clear our brains between visits.  We can only allow so much culture into our brains at a time without needing potato chips and a beer.

Ernie decided he is not going to blog so I'll carry on.  Thanks for the encouraging comments.  It's nice to
know somebody is interested!