24 November 2002
9 pm Aviatic
Today started early with an untethered-by-luggage walk through the neighborhood at 7am. The morning was blue-grey and overcast, the moon was full and visible until 11am. I found an olympic sized underground public pool just a block from my hotel. There are speedos in a vending machine for 5 Euros.
It is Sunday (Dimanche) and there is not much going on in Montparnasse, especially early, so I ventured to the Metro. I recall Pascal had said to try St Michel for an internet cafe. This is by the Sorbonne, along the Seine, and I remember from my visit before there being a handful of restaurants with windows full of ice and not very appetizing seafood on display. I emerged from the Metro St. Michel to a plethora of cafes with heated verandas looking onto the street, and the Seine, with the Cathedral Notre Dame rising proudly the Ile de la Cite. The sun was rising on my first day in Paris, and it felt good. It feels weird. There’s nobody to share this with.
Deciding to forego emails, I had breakfast in one of the sidewalk cafes: Café Depart. I ordered an omelet of ham and cheese that was very buttery and fluffy, and a cafe crème, and the meal came with a few pieces of sliced baguette. I had to ask for the butter, and the waiter sort of joked with me about my semi-Quebecois pronunciation of beurre.
Next to me were two Americans talking real estate. They tell me about their business—an elite group of homes that are available for short to long term rentals. They were already finishing their breakfast when I arrived and shortly after peeled out and I finished my breakfast and strolled into San Michel. I meet an English Lit prof from Boston/London at a produce market and she tells me about pomegranates and dates from Northern Africa and points out a decent restaurant on Rue Monge called la Reminee. I find a traditionaliste (Latin mass) church letting out. There are several vendors outside, and alas an opportunity for me to purchase things, which I did--noel cards (authentic, Parisian and to be mailed from here too!) I find an interesting French book on Rennes-le-Chateau on a table of books for sale. I bought it and then slid over to a table of the Nouveau Beaujoulais which I sampled a glass of for only one euro fifty. Hell, the bottle was only 5 euro and I didn't even have to go to church first! I believe that it benefited the church; but a deal’s a deal. The wine isn’t that great, but it is my first glass in Paris, and on a Sunday, and somewhat a blessing. I buy a bumper sticker of trois fleurs-de-lis on a shield and I get in a conversation with a man who brings up the concept of an "Arthurian voyage," referring to my move to France. We talk more and I find out that he is a Psychoanaliste and that he has a friend in Pittsburgh who teaches at Pitt. He is French of Scottish descent and we talk for nearly an hour, switching in and out of French as my comprehension allows.
No comments:
Post a Comment