A Paris Interlude

Leaving Port Harcourt and Nigeria, I headed to Paris for what should have been some debriefing and a chance to catch up with my friends Howard & Gene, who’d kindly rearranged their schedule so we could spend a little time together after not seeing each other for nine months. As always, they rather overhwelmed me with their generosity and kindness — it was such a treat, after eight months of performing-arts deprivation, to see on my very first afternoon back from Nigeria, a truly fantastic dance performance at the beautiful (is it rococco? I think so) opera house (Palais Garnier) with H&G – as their treat, no less. Thanks, guys!

…This is another favorite new museum in Paris, as foreground for one of the more renowned symbols of the city of light: Musee du Quai Branly, a truly exquisite museum both in collection and in architecture and gallery layout. It houses an enormous collection of art and artifacts from traditional cultures in Africa, Asia, Australia and the Americas.