20 September, 2007
La Defense, Paris, France

We went to visit some shops and buy some warm weather clothes for our trip to the south of France tomorrow. There were some new sculptures present since our last trip.

It's always a spectacular vision; looking from arch to arch:


After our shopping excursion we stopped at a restaurant in the La Defense area and had a nice lunch and then metroed back to our neighborhood to pay a visit to the nearby museum of Pablo Picasso. Neither of us are big Picasso fans, but come on now, the museum was only a few blocks away and, at the least, we would get to wander through some new French neighborhoods.

The entry to the Picasso museum.

D. was more interested in photographing the other visitors to the Picasso museum than the art works. Alas, even sans flash, no cameras allowed.

This particular sculpture was at a different gallery down the street from the Picasso. We were looking for a bistro to partake of a favorite apres midi past time and I couldn't resist snapping this photo.

Just cross corners from where this photo was shot, there was what appeared to be the ending of a police situation at a restaurant. We assume that an incident of some sort must have occurred while we were at the Picasso museum. There were numerous police persons about and one was talking to an employee/manager and taking notes, all the while other employees were disassembling the outdoor dining area and taking all the tables and chairs inside. There were plenty of gawkers, including us, but we didn't find out any of the juicy details....schucks!

Just a few doors down though we found just the place to wile away an hour.... sipping, watching, and kibitzing.












Stepping back in time as a prelude to the below picture. In September of 2005, D. and I were flying from Montreal, Canada to Paris France. I don't know one plane from another,but we were seated in the center section in a four seat row. I was seated on the aisle then D. then a young women and her beau on the opposite aisle. During the 6+ hour flight D. and the young women carried on a lively discussion. The man and I contributed some to the conversations, as much as the logistics of our seats allowed. We shared stories about how we had visited our son who had spent the previous year living in Paris and our visit with him and so on. We learned that the woman was Spanish, from Spain, and her boyfriend was from Paris. He had spent some time in the US and spoke fluent English. Their names are Anna and Hervé. When we arrived in Paris and while Hervé and I were waiting for the luggage the girls continued to visit and Anna gave D. her phone number and said if we needed help or whatever while we were in Paris (this was our first trip to France by ourselves) to please call her.

Well, we did call, but not for help, but rather to invite them to have diner with us before we returned to the States. They did join us and we had a wonderfuul time. Over the course of the next two years D. and Anna kept in loose e-mail contact and Anna would send photos of their travels. D. e-mailed Anna to tell her about our trip this year and we arranged to again have dinner while we were in Paris. Below, the four of us are enjoying diner the evening before we traveled to the south of France. I'm still in awe of the friendship we've developed with this engaging young couple. It was a treat to be with them once again.

rel, Hervé, D., and Anna.

D.'s roses

Next? TGV to the south of France and a visit with Tongue in Cheek.