Well the only thing that did not work right today was the camera battery, so I am posting my first shot of the Eiffel Tower, snapped earlier, because I spent the afternoon and evening in its shadow across the river, mostly but not entirely, in the 16th arrondissement. I really like this image and somehow, in the fog, in the sun, at night with light, the Eiffel Tower is pretty magic. It is the iconic Paris.
How to incorporate this day into a few paragraphs, wow!
I got a call from a friend of my dear friend Mona Skager and her husband Loren, San Franciscans, and was invited for wine in the early afternoon in a lovely apartment off the Avenue Marceau. Martene Landy is my new friend and she is celebrating a recent milestone birthday by hosting a sit-down dinner tomorrow night (Saturday) for 85 people! And I will be among the guests. It is an event away from Paris by about 45 minutes I am told and the theme is Indian. The invitation says that if you do not have a private elephant, then you will be transported from the city by private motor car to the dinner. It suggests no saris, no turbans, but high style in every other way. So I am searching for a splash of color to brighten my black Hugo Boss dinner suit. Stay tuned. I will have my battery charged and camera in tow.
At 4:00 p.m. I met Nancy Machiah and her friend Nancy Brune, a lovely woman, an expatriate from Seattle, and president of the Paris Choral Society, to see an exhaustive exhibit of works by the German Expressionist Emil Nolde on display at the incredible Grand Palais (discussion of this building will come in a later post, when I return with a proper camera in hand).
I had seen a Nolde or two on exhibit in Berlin and at the Neue Gallery in New York, but this assortment of his paintings, watercolors, pen-and-inks, and etchings was monumental, befitting the palace which was its venue. If German Expressionism is your cup of tea, this was quite a gulp.
Later the Nancys and I repaired for wine and were joined by Zach Ullery from Lexington, whose name had been provided by Joe and Margaret Jones, members of the congregation at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Lexington and great patrons of our Chamber Music Festival. Zach, from Maysville and a graduate of UK (that means the University of Kentucky and not the United Kingdom in this post), held the post of assistant organist at Good Shepherd and holds a similar position at the American Episcopal Cathedral in Paris. But with much more on his plate, such as providing musical accompaniment for the Choral Society in which both Nancys sing. He is young and eager and accomplished and later we had a marvelous meal at a fine Italian restaurant, followed by a nightcap. Then it was off to the Ile for me so I can rest up for the Dances with Elephants dinner tomorrow. I cannot imagine.