Paris Journal 2005

Thursday, July 7, 2005

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Digitally altered image that is NOT mine: woman selling Paris 2012 t-shirts at a flea market. Once again, our home is in the “cone of uncertainty.” As of this morning, we are in the yellow, 10-19 percent-chance-of-a-strike area. Dennis the Menace, go away!

At left is a photo that is NOT mine. This digitally altered image is being sent around all over Britain as the British gloat over the selection of London for the 2012 Olympic Games. Although the woman selling the Paris 2012 t-shirts is real (and more evidence that Mireille is wrong when she writes that French Women Don’t Get Fat*), the image of the sign has been altered to say “half price” in English. The real sign had a price in Euros that has been digitally smudged out. My English friends sent this to me today, along with a couple other images that please those who are pleased with the choice of London. Knowing something about both cities, I must say that I think Paris would have been a better choice for many practical reasons. It has plenty of affordable hotel space; its transportation system is better, more accessible, and more extensive than London’s; it already has the Stade de France where many international competitions already take place; and it has lots of other athletic facilities all around the Peripherique. My guess is that the real, unspoken reason for choosing London is that it is English-speaking. That’s too bad. London is a great city, and I like it. But London is very expensive, and the lifestyle, food, and scenery are just better in Paris. J’aime Paris. So much for my opinion. At any rate, Tom and I are going to try to buy some of these Paris 2012 t-shirts. By the way, Lance Armstrong said some things to the news media that imply that he supported Paris, not London, for the Olympics. He’s a smart guy. We were going to go to Café Metropole this afternoon, but the Tour de France today goes through the area where my uncle was shot and killed by a German sniper at the end of WWII. So we will watch the Tour instead of socializing at the Café. We’re both hooked on the Tour de France. We have never been hooked on any sport before. But this one is so captivating. And the scenery is superb. We spend more time watching it than I care to admit. * Mireille might say that this woman isn’t really French. Never mind that she is probably a French citizen. Several French people have indicated to me that if a person is of “ethnic” origin, they “aren’t really French,” they are Slavic, Chinese, Japanese, African, Arabic, or whatever. This attitude does irritate me.

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