Goodbye / Hello

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Don't cry because it's over.  Smile because it happened.

                                                                                                             ~  Dr. Seuss



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Last Full Day

Today was our last full open day here.  Tomorrow will be consumed with logistics; getting the bike to the airport, checking into the airport hotel, packing, cleaning the apartment, running final errands, checking out of the apartment, getting the rest of the baggage to the airport and checking in to the flights.  I hope we have a bit of leisure time to enjoy in Paris tomorrow, but it will be a bonus.

Tomorrow evening, if there is internet access at the airport hotel, I will post one more time; otherwise this is my last blog entry.  I don’t have much more to add at this late hour anyway; my thoughts about these 7 weeks are already contained in these webpages. 

As this closes, our minds are now on the next chapter of our story.  We are thinking about family, friends, the office, the house, Holidays, the mailbox, bills, TV shows, pizza, Frommer’s 24 Great Walks in San Francisco, restoring a vintage bicycle, shopping, laundry, reroofing the house, 401Ks, etc.  Back to the routines of life.

The “other” side of my brain is kicking-in strongly.  (It’s too bad the two sides don’t talk to each other.)  I look forward to withdrawing into the garage workshop to begin the analytical process of restoring my bicycle: things to refurbish; things to buy; things to repair; things to replace.  Quiet engineering.  Greg B. hit it on the nail head: the bicycle project is exactly like my project last December restoring my 1961 Dynaco Stereo 70 audiophile vacuum tube amplifier.  My bike is cool; what I will do with it I do not know, but I look forward to the time in the garage.   (The tube amp has become my main stereo amplifier.)

Diane and I spent the day saying goodbye to familiar places rather than exploring things new.  We first walked the 3 or 4 miles walk along Rue du Rivoli and Rue Saint Honoré to the Grand Palais.  There, we saw a historical art exhibition there titled “Paris 1500”, which was about art innovation in the 1500’s.  The main theme was showing how that era was not “dark ages” but a time of innovation and craftsmanship.  They made a compelling case.  It was interesting to learn more about that time in history.

We split up early.  Diane walked and shopped along the Champs-Elysées while I took a wide 10 mile circle walk toward the Eiffel Tower, along rue Cler (Nutella crepe), to Au Bon Marché, past University Sorbonne, into the Pantheon, along rue Muffetard (Nutella et Banane crepe) then back home to pick up the computer. 

At the Pantheon, I visited the tombs of Victor Hugo, Marie Curie, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, Braille, etc.

I am currently writing from Bibliothèque Fornay; the first time I’ve ever written for the blog here.  I can imagine this place tomorrow or next week after I am gone; the old architect still flipping through old books for inspiration; the school girls still whispering to each other when they should be studying.  It will all go on without me but I now have claim to a sliver of the history of this place.  I am one of its ghosts.

I have to be home in 3 hours because Diane and I have a reservation on the top floor of Bofinger Brasserie.  That is the quieter, more intimate area of the restaurant than when we went with Lauri and Greg.  We both want the foie gras appetizer.

Then it’s off to bed.

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Still Walking

Diane and I headed out early today to do Frommer’s Walk #7.  It was  a tour of the Bastille area, so started not too far from our apartment.  We walked there and back. 

This may be the last of our Frommer's walks as we only have a couple of days left.  It's not an obsession or anything to get them all done, but it has been a fun kooky goal to do as many as we can.  In total, we've done 18 of the 24.

The Bastille area was a surprise to me with lots of interesting restaurants, dance halls and shops.  It’s a surprise just because it is not on the usual tourist path. 

Diane noted along the way that she wished we had done the walk before our friends arrived here because we encountered Ballanjo, which is a big dance hall and the gang (except me) wanted to go dancing.  Likewise, we visited Barrio Latino which is an amazing 4 storey restaurant which was converted from an old furniture show room.  It would have been great fun to go as a big group (me too).  Oh well. 

We also walked along the canal which runs up to Bastille Square and also saw the paving stones which outline the location of the Bastille.  The Bastille was a fortress converted to a prison and became the very symbol of oppression during the French Revolution.  It was disassembled stone-by-stone during the Revolution.

There is a restaurant chain called “Hippopotamus” whose name intrigues me.  One of the biggest is on the Bastille Square.  I have always envisioned it as a sort of a French TGIFriday’s, but we were in the mood for something different so went there for lunch.  Not bad.  I had a burger; Diane had some foofie goat cheese on toast thingie.

This afternoon we both went for walks; Diane along Rue de Rivoli, me toward Place Vendome.  Diane says her walk was great.  Mine was good too: saw lots of very fancy stuff.  I walked the length of Rue Saint Honoré before coming home.

For dinner, Diane ran out to buy a carton of asparagus soup and a baguette.  We also had a half bottle of Rosé  wine.  This evening, we're just kinda sitting around.

Reconnaissance Mission

This morning I ran a reconnaissance mission out to the airport to figure out the logistics of transporting a box too big for a taxi from downtown to the airport.  All is well, except maybe for the 1 mile walk from the apartment to the regional train (RER) terminal, the lack of a storage room at the hotel, the need to transport all luggage without a cart from the hotel to the airport terminal, and a few other minor details.  All is well.

Upon my return, Diane and I stopped at our favorite crepe stand for breakfast (me) / lunch (Diane) then went to Geppetto Bicycles.  I bought the new kickstand.  Besides being cool, it will greatly aid in the stability of the bicycle in our storage shed.  This evening I packed the bicycle into the giant bicycle box.  A few more pieces of styrofoam and it will be ready to seal up.  I've probably already given the bike more TLC than it has received in all the preceding years.

Diane went shopping again.  It’s time to start thinking about gifts and souvenirs etc.  I went for a walk then to the library.  I passed through the Louvre mall to warm up and then scooted across the street to the Louvre Antiquities mall.  The mall used to be a massive assortment of small shops selling the most remarkable of antiques.  There are just a few stores left: most are now vacant.  I presume because of a changing taste for antiques and the current poor economy. It is a place I would never expect to buy from, but it was cool looking around.  In one of the few remaining shops, there was a beautiful piano for sale.

This evening we went to the Maison Européenne de la Photographie which is the major photography museum.  The show was split between intentionally shocking images (with warnings to parents about children viewing) and a panorama of classic images.  The latter was great; the former was, well, shocking (mutilations, lacerations, death etc).  The Joel-Peter Witkin stuff was the mild stuff.

It is getting colder and colder.  The ponds have frozen over and, should we get precipitation, it will stay on the ground as snow.  It is not THAT cold here; it’s just tougher to do a 2 or 3 hour walk.  The cold eventually just soaks through.  Diane is having a tough time with her feet.