Nick et Clare sont arrivés!

Our good friends from Brighton, U.K., arrived in Paris for a fun filled weekend à chez nous. We made sure to prepare them for the shower in the kitchen, and toilet outside the front door, but we did not prepare them for the eventuality that their train would loose power just outside of Lille, and they would sit there for several hours and finally arrive in Paris nearly eight hours after they were supposed to arrive! Lucky for them though, the Cross Rouge showed up to help and passed out food kits to the passengers --- which included a little jar of terrine! No baguette however.


After letting them sleep in, we got up, had coffee, and then began our accordion lessons. And of course we insisted on a baguette photo!

Then we went to the Cimetière Montmartre, to the graveside of Hector Berlioz where we debated the proper way to pose for a photo.

Finally, we made a picnic in the cemetery. The English word picnic comes from the French word pique-nique, which made its first appearance in 17th century France to refer to a gathering of people where each person brings something to eat. It wasn't until later that we thought, "Hey, maybe having a picnic in a cemetery is not very respectful." We made sure to have our picnic the next day in front of Messaien's church. This time, however, a beggar kept coming over to ask for some money, but eventually settled on some cheese. Then a bird pooped on Nick.

Then we got some ice cream and all was better.