I Love Paris

J'aime Paris even though it is still winter here and quite cold. I had no idea it would be so chilly in March when we decided to come for my birthday. It is still lovely and we are having a great time. Jeff and I are staying in a small hotel on the left bank and convenient to walk to the Metro and Notre Dame and lots of restaurants and shopping. We are here for eight days and nights and so far enjoying every waking minute. I will download my tons of pictures when we return and do a daily post, but for now this will have to do.

First day we went up the Eiffel Tower at sunset and saw the city in light and darkness. Very cold up there, but exciting. First rides on the bus and Metro and found it easy to navigate and so far safe. The people are so nice and most speak English to us, but appreciate our speaking French. We are able to order food and get directions and ask for most things so we say "merci beaucoup" to our high school French teachers and wouldn't they be proud of us. We're just thrilled to remember anything we learned so long ago.

Day two we went to The Louvre and it is most impressive. Saw Mona and Venus and Winged Victory. They all said" hello" to all of you. We learned to ask for a carafe of d'eau which is a free carafe of tap water instead of an expensive bottle like Perrier. Special thanks to Rick Steves' and his guidebook for all the little tricks of buying museum passes and so much more. Walked out of The Louvre and into the Tuilleries and strolled to L'Orangerie where we saw Monet's Water Lilies stuck to the walls. So incredibly beautiful and lots more great art on the lower level displayed on concrete walls. Then we walked up the Champs Elysees and saw a military parade. Every night they present floral bouquets at the Tomb of the unknown soldier (at the foot of the Arch) and we were there and after eating we climbed the 284 steps to the top of the Arch and looked out at nighttime Paris. Somehow we made it home and into bed before our tired legs collapsed.

Day three is Friday so it must be Versailles. This would be incredible with the flowers blooming, but still worth the trip. We took the train and walked to the palace where we took the Rick Steves' iPod tour. Jeff had downloaded his tours onto our electronic devices and they worked great here and at The Louvre. Later we walked in the gardens and then took a tram to the Trianons and domicile de Marie Antoinette. That was my favorite part of the whole place - like a fairyland. Back in Paree we had dinner near our hotel in a small restaurant overlooking Notre Dame.

Saturday we booked a full day trip to Normandy and this turned out to be very special. My favorite part was visiting the American Cemetery where over nine thousand military men and women are buried by their families choice. It is a bucolic setting overlooking Omaha beach where so many of them gave their lives on D-Day and afterwards. We visited a few of the landing sites and learned lots about the invasion. Had lunch at a rustic farmhouse hotel with fine cuisine in their beautiful dining room. I'd definitely stay there if I were to visit the area again and there is so much to see in addition to the WWII sites. Lots of tiny villages and old churches and cemeteries that would be fun to explore. Got back in time to rest and go out to dinner at a local Italian bistro with cheesy pizza and eggplant parmesan.

Today is Sunday and we had a full day planned and accomplished everything. Got up late and walked to St. Sulpice Church which played a big part in the book, "DaVinci Code." Got there at the end of mass and toured the building and saw their three Delacriox murals. Then at noon we went through a secret door and up a concrete spiral staircase to the choir loft. There we saw one of Europe's famous organs being played by Daniel Roth, who is one of the world's best organists, or so says Rick Steves. It all sounded wonderful to me and was exciting to stand next to this behemoth intrument and watch it being played by a master. Left the church and browsed the book stalls along the Seine. Then we headed to the flower and bird market on the Ile de la Cite. Saw some amazing birds and more varieties of bird seed than I knew existed. Next stop was a walking tour of Le Marais. In the subway we heard a great klezmer band and really enjoyed listening for a while. Started our tour in a posh shopping area similar to SOHO and then it became very Jewish with falafel stands and kosher bakeries. We had lunch at a busy place with outstanding falafel and hummus. Jeff had schnitzel and we were both happy. Continued our walk with a visit to the Holocaust Museum. This is a building with maximim security and excellent exhibits about the French, the Jews and the war. Outside is a wall with names of the righteous Gentiles and inside names of all the French deportees and later walls and walls of their photographs. In between a complete history of the Jews in France through WWII. Wish we had more time there as they closed at 6pm and made us leave. We did have time to stop for a carafe of wine and relax before the short walk home which happened to pass Notre Dame. The scenery here is unbelievable and it all looks just like a picture postcard. We're back at our room now and resting before we eat again and go to sleep. Lots more on the agenda for tomorrow.

The Sunny Side of the Street

I felt it was only fitting that I use Judy's song title theme since we just finished up our Sunny Awards show. For you non-Sun City folks, the Sunny Awards are our equivalent of the Oscars (well - the Tony Awards, actually) presented for performances and excellence during last year's Sun City Community Theater season.

No, Judy and I did not win awards. We produced and directed the awards show. Judy was pretty much the producer and I was the director. But there were many times our roles blurred, and it would be accurate to name us both as Producer/Director.

We had had similar roles in last year's presentation. The big difference is that last year we ran only the entertainment portion of the show. This year we ran the whole thing. It is a non-trivial event. We handed out some 31 awards tonight. There were 24 presenters, 5 emcees, 8 tap dancers, 2 ballroom dancers, 16 singers, 138 pages of PowerPoint slides (first slide is shown above) plus backstage and tech crews. We won't even try to count the number of egos involved. And just to make things interesting we were broadcast LIVE on Sun City TV.

It's hard to believe after putting so much time into it that this is not even considered a major production. But in the month or so during which we put it together Judy and I spent between 150 and 200 hours working on this project. If you think that means a lot of nights and weekends you are absolutely right.

So right now we are in "Never again!" mode. We'll see how long that lasts.

Food, Glorious Food...

Here we are doing what we do best - EATING! A lovely evening of dinner and theatre with all my Mah Jongg friends. Top photo (L-R) Judy Emmett, Carol Rosenberg, Bobbie Wolff, Mah Jongg players Sandy Cadorette (L) and Elaine Berlind, Tom Cadorette (L), and Marty Klinghoffer, Me and Hinda Klinghoffer.

Show Me

Mah Jongg friends out for dinner and a show at our beautiful theatre here in Sun City. Jeff (L) and Jack Wolff, top photo; Ken Rosenberg (L-R), Sam Emmett, and Ray Mintz; Jan Mintz (L) and Judy Emmett; Carol Rosenberg showing off her cold weather attire at dinner.

I Shot the Sheriff....

I am so proud of Jeff! He is a volunteer with Safety and Service. These fine folks work at the front gate handing out guest passes and Jeff enjoys driving around on patrol in an official looking truck. Only the paid employees can give tickets, but Jeff likes the riding in solitude and being available for emergency calls. The top photo he's showing off his new badge from the local sheriff and his diploma. Don't worry, he's not a deputy, just being a great helper.

Catching Up

Lots of stuff to catch up on. Last week we went to sunny Florida in HaRVey the RV. Cousins Marilyn and Terry from Chicago rented a place in The Villages, so we decided to go see them and made a trip of it. We were going to make our usual stop at Disneyworld, but when I checked ticket prices I decided that they had priced themselves out of our price range. $79 (plus tax!) for a one day ticket with no park hopper privileges. Thanks, but no thanks.

So we headed for Sarasota because we had never spent time on the west coast of Florida. One of my best friends from Lawrenceville and Boston, Keith Montgomery, lives in Sarasota. I had been looking for him for years without success. Lo and behold I found him on Facebook, of all places. I stood up for him at his (first) wedding and knew his daughter as a little girl. (She is now 41!) I hadn't seen Keith in about 35 years.

I will let Judy fill you in on the details of what we did, but here's what happened. We got to Sarasota in the very late afternoon on Thursday. They wanted to meet for dinner, which we did. We met Keith's wife, Bunny, and we all hit it off. We had figured we would have a pleasant dinner and that would be it. To make a long story short, we spent all three of our days in Sarasota with them and had a great time.

Then we went up to The Villages to see cousins Marilyn and Terry, and Rick met us there. Somehow we have all managed to stay close even though we live 1000 miles apart. We spent most of our time with them doing what we do best - eating. It was great to see them both.

Now the interesting part. We hit sunny Florida during a record-breaking cold snap. In The Villages it got down below 20 degrees at night. It is by far the coldest weather we have spent in the RV. Frozen pipes, ice on the car, and icicles hanging from the awning (see picture above). We almost had a catastrophe when I realized on the last day that we were almost out of propane and could not find any on a Sunday! It was like the miracle of Hanukkah that the propane lasted the night.

Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree

I am adult education chair at our temple and just ran a seder for Tu B'Shevat, the new year for trees and nature. We had 90 people enjoy the morning which included eating fruits and nuts that grow on trees and sipping wine. The top photos shows the pretty table setting. Next are friends Art Rosenzeig (L) and Sam Emmett serving the wine. Bottom photo are the wine pourers, (L-R) Susie Rosenzweig, Judy Emmett, Lynn Mooney and Sandy Diamond.