Parislog 17
April 23, 2006

One of the problems I have using the subway system is that when I come up to the surface, I am often turned around. I will check street corners for the names and then think I am oriented and walk the wrong way. I am learning to pay attention to where the sun is and then get myself set up with the east, west, north and south but it isn’t perfect. If the sun is not available, I am stuck and today I did everything for sun orientation and got it all correct but my body was sure that I must be wrong. It is crazy.

On the 13th, I had started into the emotional crash and burn cycle for real. I was falling apart at the seams and H* was kind enough to invite me to come over and just dump and then hang out. I really needed the release.

On the 14th I spent the first half of the day in bed trying to give myself the feeling of a long warm hug by being wrapped in my warm blankets. By lunchtime I was ready to face the world again for a little bit. I was still very fragile feeling but I could deal for a little bit. I went to the library and got stocked up on more comics and then headed off down to my local shopping street looking for new sneakers because I had walked the other pair into the ground. No kidding. I felt the soul under the heel and it was like tissue paper. No wonder it was starting to hurt when I walked. Makes me wonder how many miles I have put on them.

On Saturday the 15th, it was raining lightly so I figured it was a good day to go to the library that specializes in the arts. It was closed. Bah!

Well, I guess because my feet felt better in the new runners, I just started walking and ended up at Place des Vosgues which is a famous square in the Marais district (on the east side of downtown). A lot of very rich people used to inhabit this area and then it was run down and now it is back to being quite popular.

This is one side of the square, which has covered walking arcades the whole way around it. In the center is a gorgeous garden to hang out in. At the far end of this picture is where the author Victor Hugo used to live. He wrote the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

I finally made it over to Place de la Bastille, which was the site of the famous prison, and of the storming of the Bastille, which began the French Revolution. Unfortunately the prison is long gone, having been torn down shortly afterwards. The Marquis de Sade was one of the famous prisoners there. Now it is nothing to see but a tall needle of a monument which has graffiti on it. Sad.

The whole Marais area is very fashionable and on the hit list of places to live and therefore has a lot of shopping and many eateries here. There seemed to be every nationality of food represented. I walked down a tiny little street that appeared to be an artist’s area called Cour Damoye. This picture was at the dead end coming back out onto Place de la Bastille.

Just off of the Bastille there was an artists market that looked to be there every weekend. It had all sorts of work represented, from the classic Parisian scenes to very modern glass sculpture wall art.

I had a calling card that I had bought and it was causing me no end of problems. I would have to call 12 times in order to get one outgoing line. It was making me insane so I tried for the umpteenth time to call the service number and this time finally got through. The person said that the card was no longer any good based upon the number on it and that I needed to return it to the store for a replacement. I was relieved because that meant that it wasn’t just the phone system or the phone being bad so I immediately jumped into my coat and headed to the store. I got there and explained what the service rep. had told me and she dialed the card number. She then told me the card worked. I thought I was going to lose it. I repeated everything the guy on the phone said and told her I was getting really annoyed. All this was in French by the way. She finally tried again and this time the card didn’t work. Finally. She asked if I wanted another card or my money back. I said I wanted another card for the states and England and Canada. She said then that that was the problem because the other card was no good for the states. Bull. It said right on the card that it was for Europe, USA and Canada. But now she wanted to sell me a card for the states that was twice the amount. I said no and got my money back. I went down the street to another of these dealers and got a card for the same original price that worked for all the places that I needed and so now I am back in business. I felt quite proud of myself for having stood my ground and fought the good fight for what I wanted….in French.