Under the weather

 April 23, 2025

Under the weather has a two fold meaning today: it was pouring and I woke with a sore throat and congestion.  Ugh. Late afternoon brought clear skies and of course an adventure was in order.   There are many free museums in Paris so we took the métro and hoofed it a bit to the Victor Hugo museum.  There’s a special place in my heart for Monsieur Hugo as one of the poems I recited for the Concours de Poésie competition was by Hugo - “A Ma Fille Adèle”.  Madame Sampon spent no small amount of time rehearsing it with me for the state competition. For those of you who don’t know, Madame Sampon, a native of French speaking Belgian, was my French teacher since before elementary school.  Madame was at home with her own children while I was young and offered French lessons.  My parents - likely my mother- thought this would be a great idea and it was indeed. By the time I got to Wayland Academy she was teaching there & so was her husband.  I went on to complete a French degree at the University ultimately, and met Ed at La Maison Française in Madison.  It’s due to all that history that I owe my current fluency for which I am extremely grateful.

Here is Adèle who unfortunately went on to develop schizophrenia:

And here’s the man himself, Victor Hugo author of many poems as well as “Les Misérables”, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”.  (The lighting in there was horrible with spotlights pointed directly at the paintings.)

The sign below the bust of Hugo says “pas de selfies” but apparently we ended up in the photo anyway!

Next up was a relaxing time on a park bench.  This has become one of our favorite pastimes as the parks in Paris are so inviting.  This particular one is La Place Des Vosges, filled with children, parents, fountains, musicians and bench sitters like us.  

After the park, we walked back to our apartment for a quiet dinner at home. I will miss this lifestyle to be sure.