Friday, 21 September 2012
We saw a pair of cargo haulers on the Seine, running together one behind the other, with Bora Bora in the lead and Borneo behind.
Name for a band—Wait for Bora Bora????*
I know, given what we saw, Wait for Borneo makes more sense. Such is creativity.
Friday, 21 September 2012
We began the day (a bit late; time change, you know) with gorgeous sunshine, but by the time we’d strolled to Île de la Cité, clouds had rolled in, and were transitioning from white to grey. So, here, around the backside of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris (so fancy architecturally—not from pure decoration like the door-façade—that it seems like this is the end that might make you want to become Catholic*), you can tell we’re probably about to get a message from gawd. Or something. (Meteorologists call it a on-again-off-again light rain, trying to become full-on light rain. Légère pluie here.)
Still, we persisted with our footwork, crossing the bridge to the other island, Île Saint-Louis. Here, the légère pluie lost its intermittent quality. We did manage to find the restaurant we’d lunched at aeons ago, and the “little” church I remembered (crane your neck; the streets are narrow, and the roofline is high).
Undaunted by the pluie, we turned southish, detouring through part of the Jardin du Luxembourg. We traipsed around the back of the Sénat (or maybe the front; qui sait?), where I lost count of the number of guards we saw (distracted perhaps by the flowers and their plexiglass guard-stations, with all their electronic communication gear quite visible).
We had quite a trek, in short. Then, The Guru got the SIM to start working, but it may be out of data-money—there’s always something.
* Consider that the exterior long was painted quite colorfully, which would have made this view POP. Note, too, that the building is owned by France (or is it the city?, at any rate, not the Catholic Church), although managed by the clergy.
Thursday, 20 September 2012
We took an evening stroll. First, our goal was to check out the neighborhood. Then I had an idea. Here we are near “Montparnasse” and the very name suggests some kind of elevated landform—so let’s go find the top of it!
We kept thinking we’d gotten to it, then would see off at another angle that that street kept rising. Gently, but upward.
This walk-and-look strategy lead us finally to the area around the Montparnasse train station. This station is underground, in a big arc that allows many lines to link here. In fact, we changed trains here this morning.
We walked most of the way around the station, essentially, finding this spot the highest on the street. Bonus: good view of the Eiffel Tower off in the distance. But the sunset sky was off to our right, over the trains.
Thursday, 20 September 2012
To BFF KW: yesterday was ATL. THIS is Paris!
Traveled safely on time (plane), made connections (three trains), walked, laid in the sun here, walked more, viewed wonders (including barges on Seine, trains overhead), checked in, got web-connected, napped, downloaded photos, and now, blogged. This is modern life.
Favorite food of the day (so far): tartine. It’s a large slice of fine bread (from a boule) with chopped steamed veggies, topped with cheese, broiled. Oh, yum.
Wednesday, 19 September 2012
We made the connections for the critical chores, errands, and stuff, but there were also the hoped-for things that just didn’t happen. And I’m okay with that.
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
The best, possibly, of the current incarnation of business offerings from Hamtramck (which I have always heard pronounced as if it were spelled Hamtramick). [from a few days ago]
Don’t we all want, should we need them, dentures from the future? Does it get any better than upgrades “from the future”? …especially for body parts and pseudo-body parts….
Monday, 17 September 2012
ABG last Thurs….
Light/shadow, color blocks, geometric and organic forms….
Metaphor for my life today?
Sunday, 16 September 2012
Thai basil blooms without the crowd of bumblebees that they are attracting.
My impression was I was remembering details all day. Turns out I was really forgetting. And the last thing I forgot was to add the Thai basil to the bottled TJs curry sauce.
Too much going on? Yeah, probably.
Saturday, 15 September 2012
The new specs have polarized lenses, and sometimes I cannot tell how they skew reality. In a good way.
Friday, 14 September 2012
We often hermit come nightfall, but this evening we attended Diane’s opening.