Monday, le trieze aout 2012

AN UNPLANNED HIKE AND A NICE DAY

I decided I would finally go to a service at the American Church in Paris and had learned about it from a friend in Boulder.  I saw that there was a contemporary service at 1:30 so I slept in and made myself a nice brunch before starting off at 11:30 a.m.  It was a beautiful day.

My bus to go to the train station here never came, so  ....  after waiting 20 minutes I walked there - my trusty (old) running shoes would have quite a day. At the station I learned that the train I usually take only would go as far as Gare Nord, which is a huge station and as far as I am concerned, mass confusion.  Some problem with that train line. No worries .. plenty of time. I only needed to continue on the same line one more stop and then take the metro to where I wanted to go. It seems at this station I need to ask a number of people before I finally get to where I want to go and this day there were many, many people going and coming with their suitcases. After avoiding being crushed on the escalator by one of the suitcases, I was successful and continued to the station where I needed to find the metro that I wanted to take to get somewhat near the church, Concord.  More questions and looking, and finally the metro only took a couple of minutes and there I was, in the Place de la Concord, with the Eiffel Tower in the distance. I crossed the Seine and walked along on the left bank for quite awhile; it was such a nice day and the walk was very nice.

Two and a half hours later, I arrived at the Church, just in time for 20 minutes of the last service. There were about 150 persons in attendance. A screen up front had a picture of a marathon, and the pastor likened life  getting tough to completing the last few miles when you think that you can't. He had himself run a marathon in California. I liked this analogy. After the talk, I was a bit surprised that the service ended with a Christian rock group and then remembered that this was a contemporary service

. I went downstairs to the reception room where coffee was being served, and it was nice to hear English spoken all around me, after more than a month of hearing mostly all French. I met two young women, one an au pere from CA taking care of three boys, and the other from London who was living and working in Paris. They were visiting this church as their French church was on vacation that day, and invited me to attend a picnic with them next Sunday that their church hosts every week, in one of the Paris parks.  It should be fun if I can find it with all of the trains, buses and metros I need to navigate. I will  be glad when the August holidays are over and things are on a more regular schedule.

Walking back the way from which I came, after eating my protein bar, I just enjoyed watching the people, the boats on the river, and the cloudless blue sky. A few minutes later, I was surprised to that the street had been blocked off and a parade (or group) of about 500 or more people were all rollerblading down the street, complete with police escort in front and behind; there may have even been a thousand people; most were just skating along, with a couple of guys who of course were racing ahead of the others. They were having a lot of fun.

I continued my walk a bit further until I reached the Pont Alexandre III, Paris's most celebrated and photographed bridge, featuring winged horses, cherubs, nymphs, gold-leafed swords, and other art-nouveau details. The bridge celebrates the friendship between France and Russia; the first stone was laid by Tsar Alexander III in 1896 and completed two years later.







Totally enchanted, I crossed the bridge to the right bank and walked along the Rue de Rivoli, accompanied by many many other tourists. Some were riding on scooters; it looked like a very cool thing to do except for all the people.

Many boats were going up and down the river all the time; a good way for tourists to see a lot in a short time. Some of the boats shuttle tourists to various sites where they can get on and off ata various monuments and museums when they like; this is especially nice for visitors who don't have a lot of time to spend in Paris.

From this point on, the walk along the river is turned into a beach; people are sunbathing, picnicking, and I joined the happy crowd. Several people were giving neck and back massages and it looked great.  I only had a one euro coin in my pocket and did not want to change any money, but one of the women agreed to do my back for one euro for a few minutes; it was great.

By this time, I was very hot--not hot like at home but more humid and very sunny.  I gave up eating dairy about a year ago (or thought I did until I saw the guy with about 20 different kinds of cones and 6 different sorbets).  I decided that sorbet wasn't really ice cream and could not decide on a flavor but finally opted for the citron vert (lemon lime). I could have eaten four of them. There were tiny pieces of real lime in the wonderful sorbet - I guess what I mean is I will get back to giving up dairy again when I get home.

I was getting very very tired by this time as it was getting warmer, so I hopped on a bus for about a mile and got off at Pont Neuf, which is the one I usually use as my reference point for returning to one of my usual RER stops at St. Michele-Notre Dame. Not a large station, and usually it is very easy and fast.  Hmm ...
I stopped at a small restaurant on my way to the RER and ordered a great tuna salad--somehow tuna tastes better in a restaurant than out of a can at home. The salad had cucumber, olives and tomatoes and came with a little bucket of bread; a nice meal for a very warm day.

A few minutes walk to the RER and stopped at a used bookstore for an amazing book of 5 minute stories, The Buddha Next Door, with short tales of how Nichirin Buddhism has transformed the lives of many ordinary people. I am impressed by today's story and the quote from Gandhi, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

On to the station and looking forward to getting home, where I learned that my train would only go as far as Gare Nord, where I would again have to get another train on the same line back home. The two young men who are info helpers there said, as I looked dismayed, "Welcome to Paris."   So I persevered and went back to Gare Nord, where I got lost again and had to ask about seven people where to find the train to go back to my station (Vert Galant). There were no signs above the quais directing anyone to anything, and I was relieved to find that # 32 was finally there in front of me.  It was hot and crowded in the train and no seats, but a young woman in a habit (nun?) jumped up and offered me her seat, whereby a young man near us gave up his seat for her.

I was happy to finally get to our station and looked forward to the short bus ride home. Imagine how I felt when a man at the stop showed me a sign which explained that the bus had a problem and would not be coming.  By this time it was a little after 7 and I knew I would have to do the 20 minute walk back the other way.  As I dragged myself up the steps, I thought of the minister's words that day about completing the extra mile. I did some stretching and took a great shower, had a snack and some tea and slept very well.