Tuesday was my favorite night in D.C. thus far. Keep in mind that our city is as blue as they get, where the Green Party usually nets more votes than the Republicans. And that, for the moment, we’re still an African-American majority city. So a Democratic victory on Tuesday was going to be big. But I don’t think anyone understood quite how big…

Driving home from Cap Hill, we got caught up in the excitement downtown, where crowds had spilled out into the streets in an impromptu celebration, slowing car traffic to that rivaling the worst rush hour. But instead of reacting with ire, everyone just radiated love and goodwill. Drivers laid on the horns. Cyclists lapped the blocks cheering. People reached out of car windows. Pedestrians ran down the street, giving high fives, hugs, and thumbs up to everyone they passed. It was amazing — and you just really felt part of something bigger than yourself. People had needed a change, had needed to feel part of something, had needed to believe their voices and their votes mattered and were heard. And the successful election of Barack Obama gave credence to that belief.

Here are just a few shots from our crawl through downtown D.C.

Today was a full day. We had an appointment at 10 with a very nice French woman, Christiane, who volunteers with Parisian d’un Jour (I’ll link things when I get back…), a neat organization Jenn linked to last month that pairs up foreign-language speakers in Paris with tourists to show them their version of Paris. Christiane lives in the 14e Arrondisement, not too far from where we’re staying and has lived in that area for 30+ years. Through a mist/drizzle, she led us from an outdoor market (where Rudi ogled the chanterelles) to an architectural museum that has one of the oldest trees in Paris (planted by, I think she said, Chateau Briand. That might not be right, though, because I think that’s a piece of meat (or maybe a style of cooking meat).).

She also snuck us into the Sorbonne, which is a closed campus, before heading off to her own Italian class. Wow. Very cool.

The afternoon was spent at the Louvre. They say that you need several days to look at everything the Louvre has to offer. That’s not true. It’s only true if you actually care about everything you’re looking at. If you’re just walking past with a glazed look on your face, wondering where they’re hiding the water fountains, it will take you far less time. That said, we did see Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory (go Conn!), and an awful lot of half-dressed and undressed women. Most of them were captured in the art. (Have you noticed that artists seem to be under the impression that women are incapable of wearing clothing over their top half? Seriously, people!)

We came back to the hotel where I totally crashed for a couple hours. While I napped, Rudi read through our guide books and decided on a spot for dinner — Le Cafe Maure, associated with Paris’ major mosque, which operates a tea house and restaurant that keep late hours. We had an excellent dinner of couscous, mint tea, and tasty pastries.

It was a good day.

I’m instituting a couple changes for the rest of my trip. I’ve changed the commenting policy so that if you’ve left a comment here before, your comment ought to automatically appear without having to wait for my approval. (We’ll see how that works with the comment spam and re-evaluate as necessary.) If you haven’t left a comment before, then I believe I’ll still have to approve your note before it will appear. Also, I’ll reply to your comments in the comments. That way it can be a continuing discussion. That’s it. Now we’re off to plan tomorrow’s adventures!