Miss me yet?
Paris was such an adventure that I´m giving it its own email. Bastille
day and everthing!
The Danish keyboard is mostly the same as home, but not quite... I
expect typos. May they be delightful.

7/14/07 Paris (Bastille Day)
After a race and a quick dip in the lake to clean off yesterday, we
took the three hour train from Bordeaux to Paris. Ryan and I
entertained the family (lots of little kids) in front of us by
creating origami from a free train sation magazine.
Upon arrive in Paris, we took the metro to the hostel, where the three
of us have our own room.
In the morning, we partook of the large hotel breakfast, then set out
for the Louvre, which was free today (though free all the time for sum
of us, who are as yet under eighteen). We saw just about everything,
from Etruscan art to the Mona Lisa.
Outside, it was very hot. We walked down the Tuliaries gardens, in
which there were all sorts of costumed French protestors. They were
against, I believe, French military involvement in Palestine (sound
familiar at all?) by playing and singing music and wearing very
interesting, colorful, symbolic outfits.
We walked on, up Champs Elysees, and learned that earlier in the day,
there had been a military parade. The armed forces were, at that
point, conducting demostrations in font of Les Invalides, such as
archery and parachuting from helicopters to land on a target.
Next was the Rodin Museum, featuring many sculputres by him, including
the Thinker and the Gates of Hell, which he spent 30 years on and
never finished. What was interesting about Rodin is that he would make
many sculptures of the same thing, but larger, smaller, slightly
different until he believed it to e perfect (or got bored, I guess).
In the evening, we ate a delightful dinner in a guidebook-reccommended
restaurant. While there, a man paralell parked a car in a spot so
tight that when he managed (with nearly an inch on either end)
everyone in the restaurant clapped.
We climbed Notre Dame at sunset, and saw the lighting of the Eiffel
Tower and, of course, the gargoyles, which overlooked a terrific view.
Below, we watched fire juggling, firecracker poi, and a magic show on
the street.

7/15/07 Paris
After a late start, we toured the Musee dÓrsay (cant find the
apostrophe-Swedish keyboard- but look, I kan type ö and ä! They have
their own keys.), which featured impressionist artists such as Motet,
Manet, Degas, Renoir, Van Gogh, Picasso, etc. There was a very long
line to get in. The museum, as many here are, was much too large,
although it was interesting to see the texture on the originals.
After the museum, the metro brought us to an interesting
neighboorhood, in which we searched out a tiny, barely advertised
Museé de Magique, located in the basement of the former residence of
the Marquis de Sade. It was set up so that things would jump out at
you when you set of their sensors, but it would have ben creepy enough
with bare walls- the fire escape was the most frightening, of cracked
stone, spiraling upwards into darkness. On display were magical
artifacts, such as the door from Houdiniś house, by which he could
tell who was at his door before they knocked, and the box which he
used to saw people in half. There were also mirror tricks, and later,
a magic show, for which I was volunteered and made to look a fool, as
intended. He was very good with sleight of hand.
Another metro ride took us to see the Pompidou, which is built inside
out, with pipes and stairs on the outside instead of within. We didnt
enter the museum, but remained content to watch street performers
outside of the building.

7/16/10 Paris
We walked throught the cemetery today. It was full of gravestones and
monuments, old and crumbling beside new ones. With the aid of a mostly
accurate map, we found the tombs of Henri de Balzac and that of Oscar
Wilde, the latter inexilicably covered with lipstick kisses.
Next we found a park, Les VIlletes, and traveresed its
futuristically-themed length, which included a large, geodesic
mirrored sphere, called the Geode. It was a lovely park, so we ate our
packed lunches there and read books (we found books in English! Hooray
for Terry Pratchett).
After a few false trails, we found a cinema that was playing the new
Harry Potter movie in English. After watching, we sat down at a Pizza
Hut, which, interestingly enough, was a sit-down, knife-and-fork
establishment. Yes, even pizza is eaten with a knife and fork. It¤s a
European thing.

7/17/07 Paris
In the morning, we (at Ryans and my insistence and to Eileens
reluctance) visited the Catacombs. In times past this underground
labyrinth had been a mine for Paris' (hey- found the apostrophe!)
building materials. Many years later, when the mine was closed down
and Paris' cemeteries had grown overfull with the long-dead, it was
decided that the remains of those takingup undue space should be
exhumed and relocated the the mine shafts. In a several-year process,
black-covered carts crossed the city by night, surrounded by priests,
who spoke again the rites of the dead, to the catacombs, where the
bones were stacked and the skulls placed in careful patterns in the
new bone walls. The mine shafts are now tight corridors, through
which, for 1.7 kilometers (the section not closed off) tourists such
as we could gaze, as the dimly lit skulls returned sepulchral stares.
Some of the bones, ona historical note, belonged to Maximilien
Robespierre, orchestrator of the French Revolution and head of the
Reign of Terror. When he fell from favor, he was buried with hi
supporters. Which were their bones is unknown.
Upon returning to the light, we took a train to Chateau Versailles,
home of Prerevolutionary monarchy since Louis XIV. We breezed throught
the sumptuous rooms (as much as one can breeze through jam-packed
rooms filled wth tour groups), quickly growing numb to the lavish and
gold-covered everything. Outside in the heat, an expanse of carefully
trimmed hedges bordered gardens filled with blooming flowers, in
cloying pinks and purples, puncuated by concrete ponds. I might have
enjoyed it more if there were people in costume, for a somewhat
historic effect, instead of only colorful t-shirt tourists, but to be
fair, it was quite nice to lay in the grass in the shade behind the
'keep off the grass' sign.
My favorite part of Versailles was Marie Antoinette's garden, a bit of
a walk from the main ones. Instead of man-made order, there were
rambling paths and even hills and wild plants, with trees and an
(admittedly manmade) waterfall. The signs reassured visitors that they
shouldn't worry, it would soon be restored. I also liked the Hamlet,
where the queen went occasionally to pretend she was a peasant, with
beautifully mown grass, a willow over a clear pond of birds and fish,
and wooden, thatched-roof houses, one with an outdoor spiral stair.

Remarkable and Interesting Facts and Observations
-Everyone in Paris, or at the very least all the women, seems to be
dressed up. Maybe this is a city life phenomenon?
-Men in all-green janitorial uniforms, with green carts full o bright
green cleaning equipment roam the streets picking up garbage.
-Metro stations are diversely and interestingly decorated, one with
alcoes and statues, another with La Concorde written out in tiles
across the curved ceiling.
-There are few Parisians here this time of year. They're on the coast,
escaping the heat and tourists and going swimming instead.
-Paris is HOT. When it rained one evening, I ran out and danced in it.
The next day, it was marginally cooler, but everything had dried
already.
-Young men dance on the street with hats and canes in groups of four
or so. I think it's for fun, not for money.
-There are many excellent street performers, especially be Notre Dame
and Pompidou.

Bonjour, aur revoir, off to Copenhagen, where most people speak English!