A Four Hour Tour

PICTURES POSTED 24 OCTOBER 2005

Day three without internet, and the withdrawal symptoms are killing me!! I’m sure I have something wonderful in my e-mail inbox, but there’s no way to check. Figures that we had to lose our connection on a Friday, when I couldn’t go to an Internet café again for several days without canceling my plans with other people!

Colin, Didge and I took a four-hour walk today. (Yes, we’re all tired!) We first walked up to Le Jardin de Luxembourg so that Colin could see the display of photos on the fence. I can’t remember if I mentioned that in my previous post about my trip there or not, but there is a display of remarkable photos from throughout the last century posted all along the east fence of the garden.

Then, we set off for the Jardin des Plantes, with a stop at the Roman arena. I somehow expected it to be a LOT bigger than it actually was, since I associate the word “arena” with sports complexes. Nonetheless, it was a nice little place to visit. Again, I struggled to grasp just how old this structure was. The Romans controlled this city in the 2nd century! I looked at the walls, and honestly, they just didn’t look like what I would expect something that old to look like. I’m not sure what I expected, though. It just looked so neat and tidy, so precise, so … modern? I guess that’s the word I want to use. Maybe I just think that people were supposed to be really “backward” in the 2nd century. Oh, those Romans!

Oh yeah, we also happened to walk past the Sorbonne, the Pantheon, and within site of Notre Dame cathedral. No big deal. Just another day in Paris. J

On to the Jardin des Plantes. Unfortunately, it turned out to be yet another park that dogs are not allowed to enter. So, since Colin had already been there, I went in by myself and took a bunch of pictures. Even at such a late date in the year, there were lots of things in bloom. I love taking close-up pictures of flowers with my digital camera, so I had a good time by myself. I’ll enjoy looking at the bright colors when we’re in the gray doldrums of winter, that’s for sure!

There is a zoo in the Jardin des Plantes also, but we obviously couldn’t visit that with Didge in tow. (If Didge freaks out at the site of a Canadian goose, you can only imagine what he would do if he saw an ostrich.)

On the way back, we indulged our collective sweet tooth at a crepe stand. Colin had Nutella and bananas, and I had chocolate (of course!) Very yummy and filling as well. The crepe stand is another one of those things that I find bizarre in a good way. It seems odd to me that, of all things, they sell crepes on the side of the road. Again, I’m not complaining! It sure beats the hot dog carts on Michigan’s campus!