Bonjour, Paris - Friday 5/25/2007

We're being ushered out of Paris with a big tom-tom-tom.

One of the two women who run what we decided was our favorite restaurant in Paris--the Bistro des Augustins--pointed at the sky as we got up to leave our sidewalk tables and said, "Tom-tom-tom." That's boom-boom-boom in French. Wow, was she right. (The reason we've eaten there three times in the past week is not only the amazing food...a gratin to die for and excellent salads...but the warm and friendly service.)

We just had time to find an ATM and were in the little alcove off of Saint Germaine when the wind picked up and people started running. A couple of very large bistro umbrellas took short flights into the tables in front of a cafe right beside us as we crossed the boulevard. We ducked into a little covered passage between the Place St. Michel and the street our hotel is on for this last night...rue de l'Hirondelle, a one-block street near this cybercafe.

We huddled there with a handful of Parisians while the rain thundered down on either side of us. I do have some photos in my camera that show the wet shining streets and cafes. A couple of bicycle police were in there with us. One of them started taking photos on his cell phone and I snapped one of him, too.

This has been our neighborhood for the past week and we loved it. Very central to the heart of the old city and the Latin Quarter. Pretty easy to get to and from on the Metro and buses. You navigate by the direction of the Seine and by church spires.

This afternoon, before the rain, Mom and I took one of the Seine sightseeing cruises we've seen all this time. It's kind of amazing the amount of postive attention these things get. People wave from the bridges above, from the river banks, even from cars on the streets next to the river when they are close enough. Had fun snapping photos and taking note of the houseboat we stayed on a couple of weeks ago.

Lovely to know this city will go on and on. It's been an amazing trip.

My 1 gig and 2 gig media cards are just about full. I think I've taken something like 1400 photos in the past three weeks. Yikes! Don't worry, I'll only post the best of them. Some are just documentary. Some are artsy as all get out.

I'm looking forward to catching up on this blog. I took a lot of notes with my camera and with a little notebook that's just about full that Laweeez gave me on my first day in France. (Perfect.) And I wrote, especially this past week. Had an idea about a short story and worked on it just about every day, usually in the loft bed of the apartment or at the desk, or little bits in a park or church. I want it to be a short story, but it may be trying to be a novel. I am not gonna look the gift horse in the mouth, folks. It's all good (even though I'm supposed to be working on a second draft of my NaNoWriMo novel).

Does anyone know about a program that's good to use as sort of a digital scrapbook? I'm frustrated that most of the photography software I've seen doesn't allow for much, if any, commentary. Any suggestions will be welcome.

Wish me a smooth flight from Paris to London to L.A. won't you, dears?