Sarah and I wanted to return to Bois de Boulogne, since the last time we went we only got to see Jardin d'Acclimatation.
and didn't get a chance to go into the Bagatelle gardens and chateau, which were fabulous!
What made it even more fabulous is that we borrowed the Hall's bikes so that we didn't have to mess with Velib stations and could take our sweet time. We had a few laughs about my empty kid seat that we symbolically used as our purse carrier, about Sarah's GIANT bike (meant to fit John Hall who's 6'4") that she had to pedal using her tiptoes, and about our one and only bike lock that was so old and rusted we also had to cart around a WD40 can in our bike basket just in case.
BUT here's the deal breaker in why the bikes were hands down more thrilling than Velib. They had seat shocks!!!! AKA cobblestone devibraters. It was like riding in a cadillac down the Parisian lanes. Genius. I didn't even have to stand up when we went off 10 inch curbs.
At night, Julia, Alice, Amy, Garreth, Julia's friends Emily and Cedric, and I met up for a picnic on Pont des Arts - the only wooden bridge in Paris (that I know about) that periodically has art pieces lining the edges. It's also a popular night picnic spot with everyone spreading their blankets and cheese assortments and lighting their candles while guitarists setting the mood. It provides a perfect view of Pont Neuf and the little island tip garden, Jardin de Vert-Galant, of which I'm a fan, especially when the moon's shining brightly above it.
It was sort of a goodbye picnic which was triste but a nice end. I'm trying to get ready for my departure with packing plans and traveling plans. I will have 2 1/2 weeks of tourism, beaches, trains, and flights in which I anticipate lots of book time. Someone recommended to me And There Was Light which is an autobiography by Jacques Lusseyran who was a blind hero of the French Resistance which would be an appropriate book to read as my French send-off. There are several English bookstores in Paris, and all are a little cluttered and overwhelming, but only the Abbey Bookstore had the book I wanted. I'm super glad I called ahead and knew exactly what I was looking for because this is what greeted me.
Wowzers. But now I'm all set. My reading list:
- How to Win Friends and Influence People (which I've started and is sort of life changing)
- Atlas Shrugged (1,000 page doozy)
- And There Was Light
- Jane Eyre (we'll see if I get this far)
No comments:
Post a Comment