Last night [Saturday] it began to rain. It woke up me with its panging against our window and my sleepy mind thought, “Now is someone trying to get into our room through the window?” Normally I do not enjoy rain. I’m fine with it here because it gives me an excuse to sing Regina Spektor – “I love Paris in the rain!” and also I get to wear my hair curly, which means I don’t have to brush it. Daniel and I enjoyed another lovely breakfast downstairs before Francoise met us so we could all take a walk together. There is a street here that seems to go on for miles with fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, flowers, and chocolates. They also sell clothes, shoes and jewellery. This huge market happens three days a week, each week. We picked out some tiny cakes for our dessert tonight. We’re eating in. I’m happy because it means Francoise is cooking!
Daniel and I then journeyed off by ourselves to visit the Pompidou museum. It’s been a few years since we saw it last and considering that they change their art frequently we were looking forward to seeing it again. Plus, it’s in the 3rd arrondissement which is our old stomping grounds! I love the neighbourhood over there and was happy to see familiar landmarks. For me Paris is divided into three parts, the parts I feel comfortable getting around easily, the parts I am still learning, and the parts where I have no idea where I am and need to find a metro to reorient myself! And can I just say I love the metro system here? It’s very easy to navigate. Another reason I love Paris is because each Sunday all the museums are free. Daniel felt he needed a coffee so we started out in the café so he could wake up. I also love being places with Daniel because we rarely stay together. We just wander on our own, take our own pictures [Francoise is letting us borrow her camera] and meet up every once in a while to say things like, “Did you see …? I like this one…”
Later we walked some familiar streets looking for a small sandwich shop selling ones without meat in them. Eventually we ended up in a neat café called, “Open Café”. It’s funny that we were drawn to that particular one after passing about twenty. We sat down and decided to share a sandwich, french fries, salad, and a drink called Panache. It’s Heineken with lemonade in it. As I sat back enjoying the perfect volume of the fun music I noticed the rainbow stripe that went around the entire café. Then I began to notice the people and it clicked, “OOOOHHHH!” Open café. Duh. I’m not going to make a political statement; I’m just going to say I have absolutely no qualms with any person loving any other person. So there you go, we ate comfortably and happily remembering that our old neighbourhood [in some ways it belongs to us, haha] is the centre for two communities of people: Homosexuals and orthodox Jews. Even splitting a meal with Daniel made me full. Good thing we’re walking so much. We found a metro station and went underground. We decided to come back to our hotel for a few hours this afternoon so I could rest my back in a hot bath[I forgot to bring ibuprofen, dang!] and Daniel could get some work done online since we have a fast internet connection.
We’re meeting Francoise in a few hours to eat dinner together and before that I’d like to drop into the Mono Prix again to look for a shirt. Occasionally I have very specific ideas about something that I’d like to purchase and for some reason this time it is a shirt. Or a cowboy hat, though I doubt I’ll find it here. I think from all my farm work that I have earned a cowboy hat.
No comments:
Post a Comment