On a Lecture Tour

For the last two weeks the Professor and I have been traveling. On Wednesday, February 22 we flew from Helsinki to Paris and a week later we flew into Dulles airport in Virginia. Since we have spent time in Paris in the past, we felt very much at home coming back to the city. It was evening when we arrived and we took the bus into the city to the Opéra. As we got close to the city and I caught glimpses of six story apartment buildings, I got more excited. I had the feeling of coming home.

The Professor's first speaking engagement was at Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3. We decided that we needed to get a sense of where we were and where we would be going before he was expected to arrive on Thursday afternoon. Fortunately we literally stumbled across rue de l'Ecole de Medecine. In fact we knew we had the right place because there was a sign with the Professor's picture on the door in the courtyard.



Our hosts were gracious and the audience was interested in the topic. There were so many questions in the Q and A session that several people stayed behind to talk to the Professor including an elderly man who was from the Netherlands and had been her representative to China at some point in his life. He was so involved with the conversation between himself and the Professor that he didn't notice that he picked up the wrong coat when he decided to leave. Fortunately the man's wife and the Professor noticed and we retrieved the Professor's coat. The man went off with the correct overcoat and left behind a book he had authored for the Professor to read.

Our hosts were justifiably proud of the beautiful building and lecture hall where we met. If you look closely at the picture of Louis XV you can see that it dates back to 1767. The brink of important events in the birth of the United States of America.

Following the Professor's lecture,our hosts, Jim Cohen, Romain Garbaye and Annick Tréguer took us to La Bastide Odeon for dinner. It was a restaurant with atmosphere and delicious food. The salad really impressed me.

And so did M. Garbaye's dessert.

I am sorry that I cannot interject a picture of the American Embassy in Paris here. None are available for security reasons. And no one can take a picture in front of it for the same reason. On Monday morning, I attended the Professor's lecture which took place in the embassy. He talked about the strength of the US and the EU economies. Naturally his comments produced a lot of feedback from the European audience.

Later in the afternoon, my husband went off to give another lecture and I wandered around the Eiffel Tower and rue Cler.

The next morning we were up early to take a taxi to the Opéra and to catch the bus out to the Charles De Gaulle airport again. This time we were on our way to Dulles Airport and northern Virginia. For quite a few years, the Professor has spoken about economics and politics to a group of civil servants who are taking classes as a step in advancement.

The warm temperatures were enough to entice us out of doors. Until late in the afternoon when we wanted to eat and it was pouring. Water was rushing along the bricks in the pedestrian mall right outside the door of our hotel. We braved the rain and found the Chinese restaurant the Professor remembered from past visits.

The memorial above is on the pedestrian mall. Three United States presidents came from this area of Virginia: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe.

Seeing old friends was a big part of our enjoyment of being in Charlottesville. One friend who is working in the LDS temple in Boston and another who just returned from teaching summer school in New Zealand.

On Friday we headed back towards Washington, DC and we were delighted to be joined by our son Steve who returned from Afghanistan a few months ago. We asked what he wanted to do and he responded, "just lie around." So that is mostly what we did.

Sunday Steve had to return to his camp in North Carolina. Monday Earl was giving another lecture. This time to a group of business people who were bankers from China. I was a little surprised when my vision of short men in suits turned out to be a classroom full of under thirty adults in their jeans. The Professor had a translator who listened and then repeated his thoughts in Chinese for the benefit of the members of the audience who did not speak English very well. As I watched the two speaking over about an hour and a half period, I noticed that they echoed each others body language as well as message. I was delighted when I was able to snap this picture of the two of them with their arms folded.
Tuesday afternoon we flew back to Paris and on to Helsinki. We arrived in Helsinki on Wednesday afternoon. Thursday morning, we packed some clean clothes and left for Tampere for a Fulbright conference. It was good to see old friends such as Nancy and Elizabeth and Kendra and to meet new people who had arrived in Finland a few months ago. In the group picture on the stairs the Professor and Terhi Topi are at the top of the stairs. We met Topi in San Diego last summer and have a special feeling of fondness for her.

It was cold in Tampere despite the fact that there had been no snowfall for quite some time. It was only then that I realized that I had not reattached the hood to the winter coat. I had taken the hood off so that the coat was not so bulky when we went to Paris and Virginia where it was much warmer.

We spent only two days in Tampere but altogether we had been traveling for 17 days. We really didn't mind getting back to our cozy apartment in Helsinki.