Paris in the Spring. It seems improbable that these four words will not quickly evoke visions of apple blossoms in the Jardins des Tuileries, the Bateaux Mouches cruising the Seine, lovers stealing kisses on the Pont Neuf and of course, gaggles of tourists returning to the City of Lights after Winter's respite.
I ran along the Seine this morning. Most people walk along this timeless river--a river that has witnessed Joan of Arc, the Great Plague and Louis XIV--at street level, looking down at it or across to sights on the other side. Did you know that there is a cobblestone walking path at the river's level, which passes under each of the many bridges that cross the Seine? This was my route after first circling the Jardins du Luxembourg, across from my hotel. The walking path is at times narrow and elsewhere wide, but always unobstructed by traffic making it ideal for running and for admiring the river's current and the many houseboats, unseen from above. Running in the morning jumpstarts your body, erases jet lag, and, allows you to see a lot of the city's secrets in a short time. Sorry, but I can't reveal any of those secrets now... maybe later.
You may have read that there was a country-wide strike yesterday in France. Somebody representing the French working class made a speech and said, "we didn't cause the gloal recession, why should we be the ones that suffer?" Good point. If AIG were a French company, the French people would probably burn down the head office. Although my walking tour of Paris covered half the city yesterday, I never saw any of the 2,000,000 strikers who called in sick to march here or there in the city, demanding that President Sarkozy pay more money to those who lost their jobs. I think he was out of town.
I believe the French are the only people on Earth who smoke more than Quebecers. Since smoking is forbidden almost everywhere but outside, I find the city smells like an ashtray at times. Smokers profit from being outside by smoking even more and it seems that the non-smokers are always downwind of them. I am thinking of starting a petition to force smokers to wear a bubble like a helmet with built-in air filters. I doubt it will fly right away, but most great ideas take time to germinate. We could even let them smoke indoors again, but only in their bubbles of course.
Paris is not the best place to improve your French language skills; I overheard more Russian, German and English than French spoken as most everyone you run into is from somewhere else. I found myself silently correcting their grammar errors. I am not boasting, but coming from Montreal confers a great linguistic advantage on me over the girl next to me in the park who comes from Montenegro. Nevertheless, I think my French must have improved as at least I am catching the errors.
Tomorrow I leave for a week of skiing in Villars-sur-Ollons, south of Lausanne. So I wish you farewell from Paris and hope that Spring arrives soon to everywhere else!
Barry xxx
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