I skipped class today.  Having my daughter here in Paris has been too much of a temptation.  So, I skipped class this morning, and we got in a full day of site-seeing.

We started the day a little late with morning coffee and breakfast around 10:30.  Then, we caught the Metro, switched to the RER, and ended our journey at Musée d’Orsay.  This museum on the left bank of the Seine was once a railway station.  It was built between 1989 and 1900 in the Beaux-Art fashion.  Over time, the modern trains became too large for the small station.  Plans were made in 1970 to tear down the station and put up a hotel. Thanks to a forward-thinking Minister for Cultural Affairs, Jacques Duhamel, those plans were scrapped.  The station was turned into a museum that bridges the gap between the Louvre and the National Museum of Modern Art.

It houses over 2000 paintings and 600 sculptures.  It is beautiful, and even someone completely ignorant of art, like I am, is familiar with a lot of the paintings.  Starry Night over the Rhone by van Gogh, Arrangement in Black and Gray: the Artist’s Mother (Whistler’s Mother as we know it), paintings by Toulouse-Latrec, Renoir, Monet.  It was amazing and a fabulous way to spend the day.

We had lunch at a darling restaurant, Les Cocottes, that served the most wonderful veal stew.  You can’t find this in the States, I’m sure.  Kady ordered it, and I finished it for her.  It is one of those dishes that should be addictive.  I plan to go back before I leave Paris and order it for myself.  Wonder if I can stuff some in my suitcase with the chocolate éclairs I’m bringing home.  I should have brought more Baggies.

All this talk about food should clue people into the fact that I’ve gained weight.  Tonight after dinner in another great restaurant not far from the apartment, I could feel my feet and legs swelling during the short walk home.  I know why French food is sooo good.  They dump at least a pound of salt in every dish.  That includes dessert, I’m sure.  I can’t get through a day without swelling.  Put some helium in me and I’m ready for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

The owner of this apartment has a set of scales in the bathroom.  I’ve avoided getting on them until this evening.  But, I got on the scales and took note of the number.  I then went to the conversion table and converted the number to pounds.  According to my calculations, I now weigh over 800 lbs.!  Yes, that’s what the calculations showed on my iPhone.  What happened?  How could I have put on so much weight so quickly?  No wonder I was so short of breath.  I had visions of being hoisted by crane through the third floor window down to the courtyard because the hallways are too narrow to get out of the building.

I was devastated until Kady pointed out that I had figured the weight in stones, not kilograms.  What a relief!  Now I’m happy to announce that I’ve only gained 4 pounds since I’ve been here.  Not a good thing, but I won’t need lap band surgery when I get back to the US.  That is, if I stay in Paris for just one more week.  Two more weeks here and my family won’t recognize me.

Tomorrow my husband arrives.  It makes me nervous to think of him wandering around Paris while I’m in school in the mornings.  I’m going to have to plant him at a local cafe in the morning and pick him up at noon when I’m out of class.  Otherwise, he may end up in Germany.

A bientôt!