I woke up at 6:15am this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. Instead of fighting the jetlag I took my camera and walked down to Le Pont Des Arts where I waited for the sun to rise (click on the photo to see a larger version).
I had my first croissant for breakfast yesterday. I dream of fresh croissants and real baguette with tea and jam all year long.
The only thing that's better than a real french breakfast is a real french breakfast with my grandmother. Grand Maman is 94. I used to see her every summer when I was a kid. She would come with us to her summer house in the little village of St Genies in the Dordogne and drive me and my sister around the countryside to visit castles and caves in a beat up old Renault 4L which she manoeuvered like a Formula 1. If we fought, she would threaten to kick us out and make us run behind the car. Grand Maman is the glue that keeps the family together. I love her very much.
I had just arrived and was sitting with my grandmother in the kitchen, catching my breath after hauling my big backpacker's bag full of gear from the airport through the interminable hallways of the Paris metro, when my cousin dropped in and off we went for dinner with my uncle at my cousin Nathalie and her husband Sadi's apartment. Emmanuel lives in a suite adjacent to my grandmother's apartment. He's lived there for 6 1/2 years, working with organizations researching and promoting new models for sustainable development. He's moving back to Vancouver definitively in a few weeks. Nathalie and Sadi live with their two fantastic kids Leo and Nemo just across the hall from my grandmother's apartment. My uncle lives upstairs. When I was a kid there were relatives living on every floor of the building... aunts, great aunts, uncles, cousins... 72 Rue de Seine has been the family's central nervous system for generations.
My flight itinerary was Vancouver --> Seattle --> Copenhagen --> Paris. I couldn't believe it when my backpack arrived in Paris along with everyone else's luggage.
I saw this man crossing a funky bridge as I was walking home along the banks of the Seine yesterday.
OK, that's it for now. Stay tuned for more!
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