6/12/17
Champs-‘Elysees, Pompidou and Roi de Falafel
Started day feeling sick and group was leaving as I
got up around 9:00 AM. Decided to devote the first half of the day to my
personal goal for Paris—see the Champs ‘Elysees. There are for Metro stops on
the #1 Yellow Line, that are in the proximity of Champs-‘Elysees:
1.
Champs ‘Elysees Clemenceau
2.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
3.
George V
4.
Charles De Gaulle—Etoile
Molly said etoile
means “star” and the roads emanating from the Arc ‘d Triomphe form a star
shape.
I got out at the last of the four stops at the Arc de Triomphe and began walking the length of the Champs-‘Elysees. I took a photo
of some Asian tourists taking photos of each other at the Arc. Then I took off
on my stroll. Some of my cold symptoms receded as I walked and the air felt
fairly clean for an urban milieu.
On the way home from Champs-‘Elysees I took a Metro
to Chatelet—a big subway station close to our house. I like the sound of the chatelet. Just looked it up on my
Translate app—and a chatelet is a “gatehouse.” I liked the look of the
neighborhood near Les Halles-Chatelet and knew that it was in the vicinity of
the Pompidou Centre.
Got up on the street level and headed towards
Pompidou, the museum with the building infrastructure visible (electrical, etc)
through clear ductwork alongside the building’s exterior.. McLuhan speaks about
this, I believe, perhaps as an example of enhanced viewer involvement, a
movement towards the digital age, a case of architectural transparency.
On the way to the building I noticed an outdoor
care—Le Roi de Falafel—Falafel King, and that sounded good after all our fancy
dining.
Checked out the Walker Evans exhibit at the
Pompidou and I liked his photographic instincts, a focus on people and the
vernacular, including advertising and city signage, and portraiture. In a
filmed interview at end of the exhibit, Evans rejected artsy photography as
done by Steiglitz and expressed disinterest in nature photography. I loved that
POV.
Roi de Falafel, the sidewalk café where I ordered
the Israeli Falafel plat—which includes vegetables, white and purple cabbage,
humus, chickpea balls (falafel), eggplant and pita. This cost 14 euros and was
well worth the price. I put it down as one of my best meals in Paris, and Reed
and I actually returned three weeks later on our last full day in Europe.
Later on Monday evening we returned to Les
Philosophes, where the waiters all look like philosophers, or at least like Philosophy
grad students, and got a four top table just above the stairway. I got salad
with salmon, Dana’s order from the previous visit.
A few dreams this evening—one with George W. Bush
where I assured him he had thrown a good BBQ party, featuring a “very good
sweet tea.” Can’t figure out the Freudian aspect of that one—but we did have
sweet tea at the Moroccan restaurant. In a second dream, Mona appeared with
blonde hairs, as a teenager in a sexy bathing suit, and warned me not to forget
about her!
Travel date-- 6/12/17
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