To celebrate our 50th anniversary, we took a ten day Viking cruise along the Seine. Like many tourists, we spent our first day visiting Notre Dame cathedral. It’s been called the beating heart of Paris, and why not? It’s quite a place. Ginny and I were delighted that our 
lengthy Catholic education prepared us well for the visit–we recognized almost everything we looked at without a guide or 
guidebook, and my thin high school French language courses held up reasonably well. The big surprise? Behind the golden shield (or whatever it’s called) is stored The Crown of Thorns. Supposedly. We also walked around Ile de la Cite, and saw Gertrude Stein’s famous 
Shakespeare and Company bookstore. On the way back to the ship, we stopped by the Eifel Tower. In the afternoon, we did an eating tour in the Saint-Germain neighborhood. We passed Les Deux Maggots, although we did not stop.
THE NEXT DAY, we sailed to Giverney. and visited the home of the impressionist Claude Monet, whose lush, beautiful gardens have 
been maintained. We learned that Monet infuriated the farmers of the region by changing the irrigation patterns to 
produce his famous lily ponds, and by introducing exotic species like bamboo. It was impressive to see the relationship between the 
changes he wrought to his physical reality, and the way he represented the lilies and the haystacks that surrounded him.