Reawakening
Reawakening
I am always amazed at the power of seeing the world through the eyes of a child. We toured Notre Dame, the Pompidou Center, and the Latin Quarter with our American friends Dave and Linda. Being with them made our world reawaken to the wonder of Paris as it was for us a mere 3 weeks ago. “Wow look at those flying buttresses!”, “Do you see that building, the architecture, the iron work, how old do you suppose it is?”, “Man those stain glass windows take your breath away!”, “It’s crowded here, not like Sequim!”. It’s not of course that D/L are children, it’s just that their fresh enthusiasm, new prospective, wrapped in the fun of escorting them with loving care, makes this a special time.
Later that evening, Gayle and I snuck away to our special blogger update park. It was a bit weird as we sat there under a tree laptop on lap, with dozens of French children running about, while we sipped chardonnay, and researched what’s happening on Survivor, Apprentice, and the Amazing Race. As you can tell, we are starved for “hard news” regarding our homeland.
We then walked back to the Pompidou center where there are street performers putting on shows. We found a smart looking black performer, standing behind a tiny table, working within a fabric enshrouded box. A group of 40 or so families stood watching. Every so often he would hold up his hands and gesture for patience. He fiddled with his music, and continued to adjust unknown objects in the box. This went on for 10 minutes, the crowd increased to 60+, everyone patiently waiting, children now sat on the cobblestones forming an inner ring. I wanted to leave, this was boring! But not a single Frenchman left nor did they show any sign of impatience. In this crowd, if they ran out of the proverbial bread they would wait for cake!
When the show started, it was stunning! He played with fire, made Pepsi disappear (any teen could do this), tore up and reassembled articles from magazines held by watchers, and on and on! When the show was over the spectators quickly queued up to give donations. Only in France!
Picture Set 1
Picture Set 2
posted by Bob and Gayle @ 9:14 AM
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