Aw Reservoir, Moan Chair - Thursday 5/10/2007

I'm pretty sure this is how my pronunciation sounded to the French. But it was with sincere regret that we bid Hydra adieu on Thursday morning. He headed back to the States first thing in the morning.

Mom and I walked the neighborhood around Notre Dame. I took shots of the wonderful carvings around the front doors. Like this fellow, who seems to share my sentiments about being Hydra-less for the next two weeks.



The backside of Notre Dame, which I think is actually more interesting from a distance than the front is.




These shots are from the Memorial to the Martyrs of the Deportation, a tribute to the 200,000 French citizens who died in Nazi camps from 1941-1945. It's a very moving place.

There are quotes carved into the walls inside. Someone--you have the feeling it might just be a fellow traveler because they seem to be cut from a printed-out page--taped English translations next to them.

I copied this one down: "And the choice that each one made about his life and about himself was authentic because it was made in the presence of death." - Jean Paul Sartre.




I think this is from the door into the home that Abelard and Heloise shared in Paris way back in the 12th Century. Or more likely, it's the spot their home occupied. And of course they didn't have themselves immortalized like this during their lifetimes. There's a bust of Abelard on the other half of the door.