2008.2.22-26 Le Mans, 1 hour S.W. from Paris' Montparnasse station, the siege of the famous 24 hours car race. Otherwise, an ordinary French city at the confluence of rivers Sarthe and Huisne: Roman and Celtic heritage, charming old quarter and ugly suburban buildings, bakeries open at wee hours, fancy boutiques (e.g. Jacques Bellanger, jeweller Houillon, wrought-iron by Jean-François Jousse, stained glass at Atelier Avice), ubiquitous real estate agencies, and rather friendly and mixed people.

Vieux Man A Roman rampart (3rd century, but covered under later reinforcement) circles around the old town on a butte. Cobble stones, medieval alleys, half-timbered façades, renaissance mansions (e.g. Marie de Médicis stayed at 54 Grande Rue).

Royal imprints John the good was born in Le Mans, but the chateau was destroyed during the 100 year war.
City hall resides in the palace who saw the birth of Geoffrey Plantagenet and his son, Henry II.
A short tram ride east of town, next to river Huisne, Abbey of L'Epau was founded by Queen Bérengère, widow of Richard the Lion Heart, where she still rests. One of the room has the rare ceiling where the stones connect smoothly. The museum Berengere in the old town has nothing to do with the queen. Built over 200 years after her demise, it houses local art works.

Churches The cathedral St Julien, built between 11 and 15th century, claims to possess the finest ensemble of medieval stained glass windows in the world (together with Notre Dame of Chartres). 108 bays, plus two large rose windows, over three levels. Its window of ascension could be the oldest (11-12th) still standing in a religious premise. The concert of 47 angels (14th), painted over the vault of the chapel of virgin, depicts some long lost instruments. A 5000+ year old menhir sits against its wall, witnessed the baptize of Henry II in 1133 and the funeral of Berengaria in 1230. St Julian's tomb is now Notre Dame du Pre (closed when I went).
Police department housed in part of Notre Dame de la Couture, founded in late 6th century.

Today
The city center is the Republic Square. Surrounded by banks, and the 18th century Church of the Visitation.
Museum Tessé, once a bishop home with a small yet nice garden, now a fine arts museum. Next, is the large and noisy playground.
Epau Abbay now hosts European Jazz festival. Next door is the prairie farm and Maison de l'Eau, perfect for family weekend outing. Every June, racing car enthusiasts flood to the city.

2008.2.13. Jerry Herman's musical Mame at The 5th Avenue Theatre, based on the best selling book Auntie Mame (1955) by Patrick Dennis. Fabulous costumes and stage sets. Memorable songs. Fun characters and lyrics. A quote: "Life is a banquet and most poor sons-of-bitches are starving to death."

2008.2.8. Seattle Symphony.

Michael Stern, guest conductor
Lynn Harrell, cello
Varèse: Intégrales
Herbert: Cello Concerto No. 2
Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 3

First piece is just noise: 6 on percussion, about 8 on wind, no string. Herbert's is nicely melodic.

2008.2.7. Hillary Clinton finally decided to come to Seattle to rally, after Super Tuesday's result. Her husband was original expected. 8pm Pier 30. Regardless of the late notice, bad venue, a few thousand showed up against the wind and cold. Many of these walked.
Gary Locke showed up at 9:20, gave a short energetic speech. Then Ron Sims. And then a congressman, whom I forgot the name. At 9:33pm, Hillary showed up, well prepared. A very good speaker. She started with the names of those WA companies in reducing energy consumption, and went on to promote government investment in green energy. Then calling tax reform, giving middle class tax breaks. Followed by universal health care (which she "sadly" mentioned that Obama has given up). Then education, calling low interest government loans to all college students, more apprentice programs, free universal kindergarten care. Then on to bringing the troops back from Iraq and giving veterans a new GI bill just like after WWII. Last her ability to work across the party lines. Totally about 40 min. No mention about how to solve the budget deficit and where the money is going to come from for all her proposed programs.
Badly organized. Pier 30 is a cruise ship terminal, barely furnished. My back was sore after standing for such long time. There was no explanation, no update as when or if Hillary would come. Only silly music. Quite some people gave up. The rest got to move up a little bit. Crowds were yapping among themselves. A silly crowd. Easily aroused and manipulated. Applauded constantly.

Overall, an interesting experience. My first attendance of a political rally. Planned to go see Barack Obama the next day at noon at Key Arena. According to Seattle Times, the police locked the door at 11am, when it reached its capacity of 20000. Now I have no one to compare Hillary to.

2008.2.3. Riverdance at Paramount Theatre. Very energetic. Irish-like tap dancing is only half of the program. A jazzy number by a black and Latino tap dancers. Quite fun. A solo bagpipe number. Moscow Folk Dance troupe, one flamingo dancer, one black baritone with excellent voice, a group of ordinary singers. A band of 5 on drums, electric keyboard, clarinet, recorder, and of course fiddle.