Of An Afternoon's Stroll In Paris . . .

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A series of twists of fate took me in to Paris yesterday, and as I'm never one to look a gift horse in the mouth and ask what it had for breakfast, I decided to make the most of it and take a short stroll before catching a late afternoon train back home, sweet home again. I had not gotten very far however before I realized that I was up to my eyeballs in alligators, and worse, they were even crawling down the walls to ambush passers by from above ! I shot a photo and ran for my life.
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I hadn't gotten very far though before I ran into this menacing looking purple bear in a party hat. Decidedly, the day was going to take some strange turns, I lost no time putting some distance between the bear and my butt, those teeth looked rather sharp.
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... and ran smack into a "Resistance" protestor firing off projectiles for unclear reasons; decidedly, a lot of tension and energy in the air.
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This gentleman seemed to want to hand me a glass of something, but he looked a bit shady in his trenchcoat, so I made tracks away from there.
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Someone had tried to set the street on fire . . .
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Things were definitely heating up, a troupe of headless belly dancers were shaking and strutting their stuff.
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Even the graffiti took on fluorescent tones, Paris was burning hot...
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Everywhere, people were dancing in the streets !
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Strange scenes from the gold mines of Paris street art...
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I couldn't help but think that if James had been here, he would have wanted to see it all reflected; a scooter was conveniently parked in front to allow the Quadrophenia cover art version for James Weekend Reflections.
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A bit further up the same street, a facade of windows was reflected in the plate glass of a shop where all these colors of powder were waiting in glass jars to unleash their colorful energy.
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Some nearly swooned at the thought of all those colors getting swirled on the breeze.
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I didn't hang around to find out what others were thinking, I feared the worst...
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Alligators, bears, dancers, colors, swooning blondes, why should a fox wearing glasses surprise me ?
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Or a monkey bearing books about death with a giraffe for company ? Isn't Paris the place where surrealism was invented ?
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So why not stop into a bar called the Pink Flamingo to try to catch one's breath and gather one's wits ?
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Before heading up a Montmartre street where pink houses can be found on the way to Sacré Coeur ?
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Abbaye de Vauclair . . .

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One day this past November we set out for an afternoon in an area known as the Chemin des Dames, to the northeast of the city of Soissons, which was heavily fought over during World War One. The road in question was named "le Chemin des Dames" because it was built in the 1780's at the request of the daughters of Louis XV, who were called "Mesdames", who wanted a better road to get to the Chateau de la Bove at Bouconville than the muddy tracks that existed previously.
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Along the Chemin des Dames there are fourteen French military cemeteries, and ten German cemeteries. These first two photos show one of the German cemeteries near the western end of that historic road.
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Monuments of various sorts abound in the area...
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On a stone wall around the farm at Hurtebise two plaques can be seen, the first commemorating events there in WWI, the second for a battle in May 1940. Many ghosts reside there...
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Just north of the Chemin des Dames lie the ruins of the Abbey of Vauclair, which was destroyed by artillery fire during WWI. The ruins now lie quietly, off the beaten track, another testimonial, as if any were needed, to the idiocy of war.
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Lichen on Abbey stone here seemed to be forming a heart...
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A New World War One Museum . . . Musée de la Grande Guerre

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I've been meaning to do this post for some weeks now, but time just keeps slipping away. Some of you have expressed interest in previous pieces in these pages related to World War One history, in which case this short report may be of particular interest to you. On this past November 11th, a new museum dedicated to World War One opened in France, le Musée de la Grande Guerre, just north of the small city of Meaux, which is a short distance east of Paris, about 40 kms. Nicolas Sarkozy was present for the inaugurational opening. A large part of the museum's holdings came from one large private collection assembled over a 40 year period by a passionate collector, Jean-Pierre Verney. All I can say is that if you are interested in the history of that terrible war, this new museum is an absolute must to visit. I'm ready to go back, because on our first trip there I barely scratched the surface of everything there is to see. If not travelling by car, you can get there by taking a train to Meaux from the Gare de l'Est in Paris, then taking a bus from the Meaux station to the museum. Well worth the short trip to get there !
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