Moot Thoughts & Musings

Well, I'm in Paris in the summer, but it really isn't sizzling. It's nice and cool actually. Not freezing like at my brother's, but a pleasant cool.

I do love Paris. It is one of the few places I fell in love with at first sight (I know, it's cliche to love Paris...but there's truth in cliche). Five years ago I traveled all night from hot, crowded southern Europe (Italy and s. France), I heaved myself out of the night train, boarded a quiet early morning metro, ascended the metro stairs out of the sortie, and ascended into cool, clear, wonderful, refreshing Paris. The first person I met was warm, friendly, and helpful. And Paris has never disappointed me since.

The Metro is like Candyland...choose your color, move your spaces. Winding through the spiderweb of the underground rail system. Dropping a few centim in the instrument case of the Ukrainian band, as they serenade the tunnels surging with Parisians and tourists.

Yesterday I went to the Louvre again. There was a special exhibit on Paris 1400, which included many illuminated manuscripts. It was absolutely delightful!! I was thrilled to be there, esp. after my seminar on Machaut last week. After spending several hours taking in every ounce of the exhibit, I wandered through the Flemish/Dutch part of the Louvre, but I was too museumed out by that time. I left the Louvre on the Seine side, and ambled along the river watching people enjoy the sunny evening. I walked down to the bridge after the Pont Neuf and crossed into the Ile de St. Louis. I was making my way towards Notre Dame and guided myself by the spires of the great cathedral. When I got there the place was swarming with people. I went inside and realized there was a Vespers service going on. I stood in the back quietly and watched for a bit. Then I went outside to wait for Alison.

She came by shortly with William in the pack on her back. We dove into the streets of the Latin Quarter and enjoyed a fabulous menu of steak frites at a restaurant on the side of Ste. Chapelle. The city was swarming last night and dove further in, taking the Metro down to the Tour Eiffel where we and the rest of Paris thought we'd see feu d'artifice. (for 14 Juillet, known in America as Bastille Day) We sat down on a curb right by the metro stop thinking we'd get an early getaway with William (her 10 month old). He was very good all evening esp. during the long wait for it get dark. We were actualy behind the Tour Eiffel, so the Tour was on our right and the fireworks were on our left, so we didn't realy the whole effect of seeing the fireworks behind the Tour. Well, when we went to make our early getaway, we realized to our dismay that the Metro was closed until it was over (probably for security?). And it was starting to get a little scary as the crowd was denser and denser and people started to push a bit towards the Metro. I don't think either Alison or I had been in such a crowd. We thought it would be crowded, but we didn't realize it would be so impenetrable. She was holding William and I was holding all the stuff. Eventually, the policeman noticed her, and took us into the Metro early before the crowds, and told us exactly where to stand to avoid the crowd. He was a HUGE blessing! We got home perfectly fine. So it turned out to be a bit of an adventure. It was fun seeing the fireworks, though, and William was transfixed by them. He just had a rather too exciting first fireworks experience.

Today was a bit overcast. Nicolas babysat William, and Alison and I went out to walk around a bit. We went to the Victor Hugo house, which was cool, and walked around the Place des Voges and the Marais district. This used to be an aristocratic part of town so it had a sophisticated, historic feel. We enjoyed the relaxed pace, window shopping and chatting in the park. This is a part of Paris I hadn't been to, so it was fun to glimpse at another part.

Tonight I'm babysitting William (who is already asleep) while Alison and Nicolas go out for their anniversay. A few remnant firecrackers are being exhausted by the hooligan kids outside, and I've just down my favorite yogurt drink that you can only get in France (Yop) and baguette and camembert.

"OOoh! Beautiful. Wish you were here."