and not because I left my heart in San Francisco (even though I thought it was lovely). And now Gen Y, 'gay' does not have the colloquial meaning it does today, it means happy.
 |
| Sunset from our window. |
I love Paris. In fact I love France, but with Jayne confined to bed I have no-one to share it with. I don't want to leave Jayne alone all day and she doesn't want me to be stuck in the hotel room. So, she tells me to go out everyday (it's probably for her sanity too). Having been described before as the 'energizer bunny', to say I don't sit still for long is an understatement.
 |
| Random beauty. |
Today I decided to walk down the the Jardin de Tuileries and take some random photos on the way. One of the reasons I love Paris is its beauty. You can turn a corner and there will be framed the most, magnificent vista. It's like the city was designed by artists. The picture (right) I think is of the Palais du Luxembourg. I was walking along the Seine and came to a bridge and looked across it. Just beautiful.
Yesterday as I was out wandering I came across a state funeral, not sure for whom, but it came with a huge police escort. Today, just after the road-rage incident on one of the bridges across the Seine (it was amazing, two guys out of their cars, on the side of the road, dancing around like two prize fighters - until the gendarmes turned up in number - created a huge 'bouchon'), there was a parade of the mounted gendarmerie. They are not like ours, they still maintain a very old school traditional uniform.
 |
| I love a man who rides his dinner home. |
Just a little further down the road there was a bridge that looked to be covered in gold leaf. I wasn't particularly surprised by this, there is gold everywhere on statues and roof tops. I noticed it yesterday, but I was on the Velib and didn't get to stop and have a closer look. So today, being on foot, I stopped. It wasn't gold leaf. It wasn't even a government sanctioned adornment of the bridge. In fact in other parts of Paris they have been removed. They? Padlocks. Thousands of them with messages of love written on them, lovelocks. Then once the lock is on the bridge the key is thrown into the Seine. Doesn't it make you want to do it too?
 |
| Pont des Arts. |
 |
| A closer look. |
Continuing on I arrived at the gardens which begin the other side of the Louvre and it's ugly pyramid. They extend down to the Place de la Concorde and then the Champs Elysee begins amidst the parks on the other side. This continues through to the L'Arc de Triomphe.
The gardens are beautiful and even on a Thursday, were quite crowded. There were plenty of school groups and street hawkers. Scarves and models of the Eiffel Tower seemed to be the order of the day, aside from the gypsy children who are always collecting for a 'good cause'. I had my 'no' T-shirt on today and one of them made some comment after I turned them away, so when the next wave approached me I just pointed at the 'no' on my shirt and kept walking.
My favourite scam of the day went like this: unwitting lone tourist (me) is taking random photos and a woman walks towards him, gets close, and then exclaims "oh la la" (seriously, you can't make this up) and bends down and picks something off the ground. I assumed some coin, but no, offered to me with a shrug of the shoulders is a gold wedding band. When I said, non, and showed her my wedding ring (it's still there as type), she looks closer at the ring in her hand and points to the 18ct marking. Looks around,
sees no-one but us and tries to hand me the ring. Non, non, I protest and show her my ring again. She shows me that she doesn't wear jewellery, shrugs her shoulders and puts the ring in my hand and walks off. But not far. She returns and asks for money for food. I pretend not to understand. She tries again. I tell her I do to understand French, in French. She then asks for 'change for coffee'. I refuse and hand her back the ring. She walks off to the other side of the pathway and I head for the Place de la Concorde. Every now and then I'd look to see where she was. Clearly, it was her patch and she walked back and forth looking for her next victim. The ring actually looked real. I wonder? |
| The Palais of Justice .. I think |
After walking for 90 minutes it was time to head back to the Hotel. I walked across the Place and found a Velib station, hired a bike and began the ride home. Not all the bikes are in top condition, and this one had a seat that would move down the seat post without warning. It was annoying, but if I was tall it could have been dangerous. I had a nice 30 minute ride home in the sun. Today has been the best day we've had since we've been in Paris. Had Jayne not had the accident I would never had the opportunity to enjoy it, because today was our transit day to chateaux country. Some other time maybe.
No comments:
Post a Comment