The American Church (Second Sunday in Paris)

"Blue skies smilin' at me, Nothin' but blue skies do I see."

The American Church in Paris. Take metro to Champs-Elysees/Clemonceau and walk down to the river between the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais with the gold statues on top of the Pont Alexandre III and the dome of Les Invalides gleaming in the sun. Almost blinding, really. The Eiffel Tower off in the (not too far) distance. Amazing. It's still a long walk to the church; I really do need to figure out the bus system here. I'm a few minutes late. Sermon on the prodigal son. Music director leads the choir and plays the organ. Great recessional (Toccata by L. Boellman). I stay for the coffee hour and pick up lots of interesting material. This church could definitely take a lesson from AHCC: nametags for everyone and a different color for visitors. No real effort to find or greet visitors. Of course, this is not a problem for me as I just introduce myself to everyone. It turns out the music director has been at the church for 36 years and Bob Aller cast the deciding vote to hire him! Thank you, Susan, for suggesting that I come here. :) I buy a copy of The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis as does a British man (Malcolm), so we strike up a little conversation. He recommends that I get a ticket (free) to see a production called "Expect the Unexpected", a play "celebrating the past, present and future of the American Church in Paris." Apparently, it's quite good, with humor and song.

Back to the apt to rest, have a little lunch (Wasa, goat cheese, apple, and the rest of the betraves and celeri).

I'm still dealing with the fact that I feel I need to be doing something all the time. J'avais l'intention to go to the special events at La Maison de la RATP (pour les journees du patrimoine) but I'm just hanging out here. I want to go to the organ concert at Saint Eustache at 5:30 and Adrian is coming at 6:30 so I'm just going to read. So there.

Adrian arrives in a car which reminds me of the "tiny white van" driven by Mma Ramotswe in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. We have drinks at the Hotel Scribe - very swanky and maybe the best kir I've ever had. We then come back to the 4th and have dinner at The Grizzli Cafe. He has confit de canard and I have dos de cabillaud with haricots verts. For wine, we have an Argentinian Malbec which is available only by the glass or pichet. It is excellent, but not a surprise because Adrian always knows how to pick good wines! Un poelee de peches fraiches for dessert that is out of this world! I've decided that this is going to be my neighborhood cafe, and I'm going to eat my way through the entire menu! He has landed a great job (which is technical and I can't describe even though he told me about it) and things are going well for him.