CATCHING UP, PICASSO, AND ARRONDISSEMENT HOPPING

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16

The morning was spent catching up.  Laundry on the corner, my hair just down the street.  The hairdresser, who reminded me of my friend Nicolle in Vancouver, made me promise to use oil in my hair like French women. She also lightened areas around my face.  A bit weird.

PICASSO MUSEUM

Chores done, we headed to the Picasso Museum.  I had memories of visiting the most amazing, white stone, windy-halled Picasso Museum the last time I was in Paris.  My memory was exaggerated, or we went to the wrong Picasso Museum.  This museum, in the 3^rd arrondissement, was located in Hotel Sale, a grand home built in the 1650s by a tax man who became wealthy collecting salt tax.  Thus ,the name.  The museum contained documents and photographs from Picasso’s life, drawings, a few, typically playful paper sculptures and paintings.  The experience was as much about the house as Picasso.

AIR FRANCE

Rushing again, we hustled by foot and train to the 14^th arrondissement, where we waited in line at the Air France office, soon closing, to deal with our friend, Hazel’s ticket. She would be joining us in Madrid. The man who helped us was abrupt and cold.  No matter…coming to the Air France office brought us to another neighborhood, near the Sorbonne and near another vegan pastry shop. 

The narrow cobbled streets dipped and curved on the way to the pastry shop, a neighborhood clearly influenced by the University presence with funky cafes, and less expensive boutiques and restaurants. To say nothing for the students walking the lanes.

MORE PASTRIES, NOT SO GREAT THIS TIME

The vegan pastry shop was a sad little store, only a few pastries behind a glass case, the air inside was thick, no one else was there, and the pastries were stale. We bought one anyway.

It was getting dark when we came upon the Pantheon, majestically lit from the ground.  We found a busy corner restaurant nearby, now in the 5^th arrondissement, and I had some soup and a glass of wine.  Chloe’s stomach was upset, probably from all the modelling stress the day before. She watched me eat.