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France/Spain 2011
Day 6 - 22nd March - Paris (Part 3)
I was going to fly off later that day, and had been toying with the possibility of going to the town of Beauvais, near the airport, to have a look at the incomplete cathedral (part of it collapsed and they never got down to completing it), but I decided not to do so, remembering how walking around Rheims with a large backpack had been like. Then again right now I was walking around Paris with a large backpack - with 3kg of salted eggs flown from Singapore inside. But Pascal and jubé were more fun than an incomplete cathedral, and I'd already seen an example of the latter in Utrecht.
Plaque commemorating the College of Montaigu, where Erasmus was a lodger.
Queue to register at the Library of St Genevieve. Very good.
Plaque on the history of the Library of St Genevieve. The College of Montaigu, which was on its site, was known for its anal rules and Erasmus, Calvin and Ignatius of Loyola studied the humanities there. Documents from the Middle Ages to the 18th century are stored there.
Near this area (near the Panthéon) and opposite the Sorbonne, there was:
Run down event centre
"Unemployment, precariousness, poverty, loss of social gains, the downfall of the minimum wage... IMMIGRATION KILLS - Movement of Social Action"
The Mouvement d'action sociale sounds really radical
Sorbonne
The joy of being young. And of smoke breaks.
A side road
Entrance to the Sorbonne (the church). Notice the guard on the bottom right.
Remnants of a smoke break
"Best propaganda
Best colonial hope
Best technological pillage
Best economic offensive
Hu Jintao; Wen Jiabao
The Chinese Speech
www.chineconquerante.com"
This is a reference to the poster for the King's Speech, of course.
Sorbonne facade from the side. Again, note the guard.
Rue Victor Cousin
Copyright is Capitalism
This restaurant was noteworthy because it advertised itself as a Chinese restaurant - with no mention of Vietnamese or Thai specialities
"French Breakfast: Coffee/Tea/Cream/Chocolate + Orange Juice + 1 croissant + 1 slice of toast, butter and jam
English Breakfast: French Breakfast + an egg sunny side up or an omelette"
This is a very strange English breakfast. Actually it's a very strange French breakfast too - that should be a coffee and a cigarette.
I then walked into the Jardin du Luxembourg with my stupid 26 duck eggs. I'd rather have carried toilet paper - at least that was lighter.
Dancing Faun (if I read the unclear text correctly)
It was 10:23am and yet people were not sitting in droves. Maybe the day wasn't that nice. Or maybe the unemployment rate wasn't yet that high.
Statue of St Genevieve
Chairs with no butts on them
Sian women. Maybe the one on the left was unemployed and the one on the right was contemplating her future unemployment on graduation.
Pond and House
Pillar and Grass
Chillin'
Pond and House
Having traversed the gardens I sat down at a bus stop to rest, tired out by my great load, and to eat the other pastry I'd bought.
"Les Français sont des amants exceptionnels. Selon 95% des français..."
("The French are exceptional lovers. According to 95% of French people...")
Feuilleté Framboise. The flan had been a bit mushy and weird. This was flaky and bursting with flavour.
I walked by the Hungary Institute and this was an amusing sight:
Statue of woman, and woman
She asked if I wanted to take a photo of the statue, then if I wanted to pose with it. I said it was better with her in it as it'd be more funny (especially since I was not a woman) and she humoured me
Another memorial to those killed in the Libération
Interior of some building
