Jardin du Luxembourge on a sunny Sunday in early summer
Not much to add to the last posting. On Saturday I had a busy weekend visiting the Pantheon and the Jardin du Luxembourg and then later visiting Edith's friend Frances, who lives outside Paris. Frances and I visited the home of Emile Zola, which is near her home. It was good to get a better idea of who he was through this experience. Thank you Frances! Whilst I have only read two of his books (and only as translations)he made a big impression on me when I was a young. I am thinking particularly of Germinal. Zola's grave(tombe)is at the Pantheon so it was a bit of a Zola day. I have it on my list to read more of his books.
On Sunday I walked through the Bois de Boulogne including the Bagatelle. This is a huge nature reserve which is undergoing natural restoration such there is real bush and I think i saw a wild fowl. I learnt today that at night it is a bit of a hangout for transvestites but what I saw wasnt that type of bird. C'est vrai!
On Monday night I met Denis and Stephane for dinner. I didn't know it before but Denis doesn't have a good sense of direction and is too impetuous. A bad combination in Paris but we eventually found an Indian restaurant. C'est bon. Stephane is very patient with his father. I also discovered that all Frenchman are not as casual as Denis. Perhaps it is just a matter of engineers being engineers. Au contraire, Stephane est tres chic! I am off to Printemp to get a tie to ensure that Sarah lets me into the wedding.
The French language course is, to use the title of the other Zola book I have read, is a bit of a debarcle. Actually it isn't but it is tres tres dur! I think that my brain is saying "this is French, I refuse to listen!". It is a real battle between my will and my body.
I have been commuting to school by Metro and bus. Each has its advantages but after a while both are just like Melbourne, boring! What is different for the locals is the price and area of appartments. Stephane has only been in Paris a short time and he lives with his girlfriend in 2.9 square metres or in our units about three squares. I suspect if Melbourne property continues to go up, it will be like this for us too. Only if you have lived in Paris a long time is it possible to live reasonably. Stephane says that he will move away from Paris after a few years and probably when he begins to think about a family. A pity how a city and an economy can destroy itself such that the only ones who can live reasonably in Paris are the old and the rich. You need the young,the brightest and the energetic to maintain the life of a city. Making property horribly expensive is not the way to do this.
C'est tout. Je dois retourner a chez Jacqueline pour mon diner et plus tard révise la travail du jour.
Au revoir
2 comments:
Tres tres bon oncle bernie. I did 2 weeks apprendreing francais au Paris and also learnt very little mais it was un temp tres fabulous. French is just english with the sentances turned inside out. It's a struggle but fun at the same time. Just remember if you put the same effort into Spanish or Swahili you'd be fluent by now.
Love n hugs.
Jacqui
I agree with Bernie's comments: Stéphane is less casual than his father, in terms of clothing: education in business is very different from engineering education.
But if sons looked like fathers life would become dull!
Denis
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