Wednesday, August 23
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Tom has been seeing these Barbara billboards all over town, but yesterday
was the first time I noticed one. There was some kind of travelling cow exhibition in Lida riding the swan? Atop the
Swiss Life building across from the Square Louis XVI. |
Yesterday was a
dull day because we had to work, but at the end of the day we had to take the
work to the Federal Express office in the 8th arrondissement. Wasting no time, we took the number 8 métro
to the impressive Place de la Madeleine.
Skirting around the church at Madeleine, we turned the corner at the
very busy boulevard Haussmann (where a couple of the grand magasins are
located, Le Printemps and Galeries Lafayette) and found our FedEx place. I expected the
place to be busy and we would just complete the forms and present our package
at the counter as we have done before.
But the place was not busy when we entered, and one of the two clerks
there said it would be much better if we worked with her to have the form
completed on the computer, rather than by hand. Although I am sure that Federal Express
office workers in The package
went off, with its neatly computer-typed paperwork, and landed safely at its
destination in a mail room in After the
Federal Express experience, we decided to walk the long walk home. Going on down the boulevard Haussmann, we
reached the Square Louis XVI, where one Louis had a predecessor Louis and
Marie Antoinette re-buried twenty years after their beheadings. It is a lovely if somber square, and we needed
to rest there because Tom’s foot was hurting.
We went on down
the boulevard Haussmann until we reached the Place Saint Augustin, where of
course we visited the Saint Augustin church.
Then onward down the rue la Boetie, to the Saint Phillippe de Roule
church. All along this way, at the métro
stops along the rue la Boetie, there were a number of police stationed, with
paddy wagons nearby. They were
obviously expecting some kind of disturbance, but as far as I can tell,
nothing happened. Crossing the
Champs Élysées, we headed for the avenue George V, but paused to remark how
we had once had a very fancy lunch at the Fermette Marbeuf on the rue
Marbeuf. We were surprised to find
that when we examined the menu, it was not as expensive as we
remembered. We may go back there
soon. The interior of the restaurant
is an amazing example of art nouveau décor. After ambling
down the avenue George V and crossing the We finally made
it home, and our heads were buzzing with all the frenetic noise and activity
that we’d encountered in the 8th arrondissement on our walk, so we
just decided to spend a quiet evening at home. |