Today was the short course associated with the conference. It went well with about 70 people in attendence and my presentations were well recieved. After the conference was over, we took the Metro to the downtown area, where we came up next to a ruined church....



We walked along the Seine for a bit... 



and went though the narrow street to the cathedral, Notre Dame.

 



(Yes, the slant is lens distortion, not the buildings leaning. I don't have Photoshop on the laptop. Sorry)

To my eye, with its carved pillars, flying buttress, and tiers, it is much more impressive that Notre Dame in Paris. I don't even have words for most of it. If the Kingdoms of the Dwarves from Tolkien were real, this is what the stone work would look like. It looks grown not made.

    

  



We then wandered back to the hotel to dump our gear, going past some watchtower...



and headed to Paul, a place mentioned in several guide books. We forgot the camera so no food porn but it was one of the best meals of my life. Noah had a marinated salmon, a hanger steak cooked with carmelized onions and frites, and a creme brulee. I had the fois gras - which Noah was shocked at how good it was and we decide goose abuse is fine with us - the veal cheeks in a gribbik sauce over root veggies and a apple sherbert with calvados over it. We had local cider with the meal. Luckily it is a long walk home so we burned off some of it.