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samedi 8 mars 2003 |
margueritte standing on the steps of the palais du chaillot with the tour eiffel across the seine.
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over margueritte's shoulder to her right is the dome des invalides, which is six blocks from our apartment. over her left shoulder, stretching out beyond the base of the tower, is the large park called the champs du mars, ending at the ecole militaire, which is three blocks from our apartment. we planned to walk home by going under the tour eiffel.
we crossed the seine on pont d'iena among dense throngs of tourists sprinkled with vendors from many cultures hawking cheap trinkets. there was a large bus parking lot along the river bank. at the base of the monument long lines waited for elevator rides up to the first platform on the tower. it was an impressive structure, reminding me in its mental familiarity, though i had never been there before, of the golden gate bridge or the statue of liberty. like any familiar monument, the tour eiffel is an icon endlessly present on napkins and brochures, in logos and on postcards.
we stolled beneath the tour eiffel and onward into the gardens of the champs du mars, among the joggers, dog walkers and the many people lounging on benches in the chilly late afternoon sunshine. we angled towards the edge of the park and searched along avenue bosquet for a cafe with some protection from the chill winds without being smoked out by cigarettes. we ate outdoors at a cafe at the corner of avenue de la motte piquet.
after dinner we walked three blocks to our apartment and began to get organised for the next day. we made to-do lists and went back out to run errands. i went to an atm to withdraw cash. margueritte and i squeezed into a phone booth and phoned our kids but no one answered so we left messages from paris, 10:00 am on saturday morning in california, 7:00 pm in paris on saturday evening.
back at the apartment we struggled to figure out the european washer drier, a compact front loading dual purpose machine under the kitchen counter. we washed one load but were less successful getting them dried. meanwhile i wrote a long letter to my friend john on the pad i purchased earlier at la defense.