Cars and Museums

23 April 2007

We were up and getting ready for another day. The temperature was warmer than it had been for the last couple of days and we had just had our breakfast. Suddenly, there was a lot of vehicle noise on the street. From our window we saw a large truck with a small crane on it. Ah, perhaps they were going to do some work on the building. No, as we watched the driver went to a car, removed the sticker from its window, slipped a couple of straps under it and... But no, here came one of our neighbours; a very pretty little Parisian. Out she rushed imploring the driver to stop, not to take her car. She folded her hands reverentially, looked up at him and like all good men everywhere, he melted. He removed the straps, handed her back her parking sticker and moved on to the next car.

This area was clearly being targeted. As we looked out the window we could see a uniformed woman sticking tickets on cars and our friend - for we thought of him as a friend after his kindness to Mademoiselle - had started on another car. This time he was not interrupted. He swung the car onto the flatbed of the truck, hooked another car behind and drove off to wherever illegally parked Parisian cars are impounded.

And speaking of cars, we told you how closely they parked in an earlier blog. As we were watching the drama unfold, we also saw one of those little cars that had been boxed in trying to get out. Back it went six inches until it hit the car behind it. Forward it went eight inches until, bang, it tapped the car in front. Back and forth it went, gaining a few inches of "turn" each time until, finally, after a good five minutes and seven or eight back-and-forth shifts it pulled out; right in front of a fast moving truck. Fortunately the driver of the truck saw what was happening and stopped in time. We agreed that while the thought of driving in Paris is scary, the thought of parking is even more frightening!

And that was only the first half-hour of the day. Virginia went off to school a bit later because they were testing a new group. Although understanding the difficulties of running such an establishment, she feels she could certainly do better in terms of both the organization and the classroom methodololgy. Virginia has brought to the school the tale of the man who dines Chez Yang. The class is fascinated and has all gotten involved the development of the story. When they heard that we had dined there ourselves, she was plied with questions about Monsieur qui dine chez Yang.

While Virginia was at school, Bruce headed off for the Louvre. It is far too big to see in one or even a dozen visits, so he decided to limit himself to two elements; nineteenth century French painting and the apartments of Napoleon III. Both were overwhelming. In passing the area in which Mona Lisa is housed, it was obvious that this is the one item which seems to have the greatest appeal. People were lined up for more than 100 meters to get into the room and get a glimpse of the famous painting.

It is still very warm here. The skies are clear and blue and Virginia who likes her weather cold and cloudy is not a happy little Vegemite. And speaking of Vegemite, as soon as we set foot on Australian soil we will both be having intravenous injections to make up for Vegemite deprivation suffered while travelling.