Parislog 52
August 31, 2006

Because we were planning on leaving early in the morning on Tuesday for Normandy, I stayed the night at I*’s house. I had miscalculated my hunger and ended up at her house after all the stores had closed but fortunately she was kind enough to make me a little something. I crashed on her pullout sofa and fully expecting that metal bar in the middle of the back that all pullout sofas seem to have, I gingerly laid down. It was nowhere to be found. I couldn’t believe it. I think that it was more comfortable than my own bed at the apartment. I slept well but I wish it had been longer.

We got up at 7AM to be ready when A* got there at 7:30. We still ended up being a little late due to I*’s need for the morning cup of coffee. I am so glad that this was one of life’s crutches that I missed. So we were off.

We drove out of Paris and up the road to our first stop at Rouen. This city is spectacular. Your eyes are filled with wall-to-wall medieval architecture, wood beams and white plaster. Some of them were painted and some were natural colors but all were crooked in the most amazing ways. I really thought they sometimes looked like they were going to fall over. Unfortunately great swathes were destroyed on D-day during the Second World War by Allied bombs including a huge amount of destruction to the central cathedral. They are still working on the repairs to the cathedral 60 years after the war but it is worth it. The cathedral is in a number of Monet’s paintings.

We were inundated with rain by the time we got to Rouen and did all of our wandering around in a torrential downpour. It was a mournful ambience for the place where Joan of Arc took her last breath. I bet she was wishing for rain like this while being burnt at the stake.

This is just wrong. McDonald's!





We bought some umbrellas. Our shoes were soaked through. We stopped to eat and get a little bit of dry time. The restaurant was called La Toque d’Or and had a breathtaking medieval interior with crooked beams and a huge fireplace. And it was not a Disney version. This stuff has actually been there for 600 years, give or take a century.

We got back on the road again and headed for the region of Etretat. Our gite (bed and breakfast) was called La Ferme aux Canards (The Duck Farm). It was also built of the timber and plaster construction but was out in the countryside with nothing but ducks and cows around it. After we got our keys and met the owners, we headed back out again to see two sections of the coastline called the Big Dalles and the Little Dalles. The Little Dalles was our favorite of the two with a more interesting cliff line and a long row of white beach cabins that you can rent by the hour, day, or week. The beach was full of round rocks from the erosion of the cliffs.

We went to a tiny little store to get some food to make a little dinner at the gite and as we were sitting down to eat our salad, cheese and fruit, the owner came and brought us a bottle of cider to drink. It was in an old fashioned bottle with a built in plug on a wire. The Normandy region is apparently famous for its apple products too.

More tomorrow.

Parislog 51
August 27, 2006


Ah the metro is such an amazing place to hang around in. I was at a transfer point and two guys were walking in front of me. I noticed them immediately because they were dressed in a mix of Goth, Rave, and Rasta. A very interesting mix if I do say so myself. The one guy had dreads with string wrapped around them in the Jamaican flavors of yellow, green, and black. He had on head to toe black clothes and he must have been creeping close to 7 feet tall. The other was no slouch in height but certainly wasn't in that range. He was wearing the Raver pants that are super wide with all the straps and buckles hanging from the legs. His socks were non-too clean and neither were the clothes so I don't know if they were some level of street life or not. Then there was the rat. No a real rat sitting on the shoulder of the tall guy. He was just hanging out there and walking around as we were all walking through the tunnels to the next train. The faces on the people who noticed were a fascinating play of stunned but not going to react, as the people here tend to do. People control themselves from noticing oddities but you can always see the tiny little twitch of a reaction.

I had such a hard time getting up to go because I allowed myself to stay up too late last night. Plus the building across the way from me had a huge party that went until 3 AM and still wasn't done. They so nicely shared their party with us by having all the windows open so that we could share in their taste in music. Just think YMCA. Yes, they really played it. They also sang along to many songs too. It was all so perfectly lovely. Throat clearing.

I managed to drag myself out of bed so that I could go to a photography club. The plan was to wander around Paris taking pictures of a particular list of things. We split up into small groups and our targets were the bridges of the river Seine, bicycles, and leaves on the ground, green and flags. We spent 3 hours wandering, shooting and talking and had a great time. Afterwards we went to the group leaders house and he downloaded everyones shots. We watched a slideshow of the days worked and had a little nibble. Our group didn't do so well with the bridges of the Seine because we didn't read the instructions well and just thought it was bridges. We went towards the Canal St. Martin and half way there realized our mistake. We took pictures of the map with the bridges. Hah!

I am a tired girl this evening after such a busy period. I will not be here for the next three days as I am going on a little trip with A* and I*. I will tell you all about it when I get back.

Parislog 50
August 27, 2006

Just a quick note as it is really late. I came across a happy accident today at the door to the library where I saw something glittering on the ground. It was some unhappy child's toy necklace and the beads were sprinkled willy-nilly at the entrance. I got right down on my butt and took pictures even though I am sure the librarians looking out at the spectacle thought that I must be some crazy foreigner.

I also went out to a light dinner with a Meetup group of people born in or after the sixties era and had a spendid time at a place where the wine selection was fabulous and by the glass. The price of a glass was 2 euros. That's it. And I had a Carpaccio for only 7 euros. It was at Nicolas's which is normally just a wine store. In fact there is one right at the street level on my building but this one was a bar/bistro. It is on rue Clement in the 6th arrondisement.