I was lucky enough to take advantage of this over the weekend, with lovely, meandering outings on both days, with Aja and Jen (a fantastic new Expat friend of ours). On Saturday we headed over to St. Joseph's Church in the 8th for a book sale fundraiser. St. Joseph's is an Anglophone ministry, so all the books on sale were of the English variety, and for the scant price of €5 per bag of books.
For those of you who know me, you will already have determined that I was not there for the books, as I am not an avid reader (to say the least). It was however a great excuse for me to explore the city with camera in hand. Of course, it never hurts to have company/victims to take photos of on such explorations either.
While shooting the ladies as they explored the stacks of paperbacks, I was approached first by a crazy lady insistant that I do not stake her picture. I explained I wouldn't and she wandered back to the books. Shortly after I was then approached by one of the fundraiser's organizers. I figured I knew what was coming, the typical "please don't take pictures here" line (assuming the crazy lady went and 'told on me'), but was rather surprised to find that she was in fact looking for my services.
After a short exchange, I agreed to take a few shots of the fundraiser for them, free of charge, and provided them with my card. I then set about quickly trying to grab a few telling shorts of the event, which was by then in the dying minutes and the crowds, along with the books, had disappeared in droves.
I managed to grab a few representative shots, and with a little luck they were of value to the church. I passed along my regards along with the photos and suggested that in future, if they need a photographer, or know of someone who does, to let me know! Here's to hoping I can parley a little goodwill into some work.
After the book sale we headed to an urban art exhibit, which was taking place throughout a neighborhood not far from my home. The first piece we came across, run by a small man dressed in a set of red overalls and equally red rimmed shades, was interactive in nature.
The goal of his installation, he explained in enthusiastic and well meaning English, was to discover secret messages hidden within and under a jumble of text. To do so however required special equipment, Red Glasses:
Aja was the first to search for the messages with the specially crafted spectacles, with help from the artist. Upon uncovering the messages though, she told him "But they are all in French"... to which he showed an astounding mixture of embarrassment and excitement. Realizing that the secrets of the exhibit would be lost on us, he instructed us to the next stage, to take a red marker and add our contribution to the exhibit, in whatever form we wanted.
We ended up being distracted by a monumental cemetery and not seeing many more of the events. We walked for a few hours among the ancient crypts and graves, and tired ourselves out for the day. Returning home to a feast of bread, wine and cheeses.
On sunday we took the opportunity to wander the Seine river and hang out in Luxembourg Gardens, dangling our feet in the iconic reflecting pool, as children played with toy boats and . The weather was gorgeous, and the city turned inside out, both local and tourist alike, to soak up the long awaited sunshine. All in all, I have to say that this city is absolutely magnificent, and despite the troubles I may have had with it as of late, it has redeemed itself in a single, sun-drenched weekend.
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