Winding down

Polar bear at the d'Orsay

Voltaire, looking smug.

Les Jardins du Luxembourg:

From Kat:

I've had a leisurely past few days (with exhaustion-followed evenings) exploring Paris on foot. My friend Ben happens to be here visiting a friend/teacher for the next two weeks, so we've been able to spend time together for the few days we overlap, which is great. As for the past couple days, since I haven't blogged, here are some things I've seen and loved:

- A man walking next to the Seine with a pretty substantial-sized orange and white cat half-draped over/half-clinging to his shoulders.

- A guy jogging along a busy street (people don't really jog outside of parks here), with a small drum wrapped with tape (cloth maybe?) around his waist. He was definitely jogging for exercise, because he was in work-out clothes, and held a steady rhythm. The best part: every 15-20 seconds, he'd rapidly drum a few beats. ...Um, what??

- Pierre Bonnard's paintings of cats in the Musée d'Orsay. Patchy?? (Le Chat Blanc , La Femme au Chat)

- Sophie Calle's photo series, L'Hotel, that is currently at the Pompidou. (Nutshell: she worked as a housekeeper in a hotel in order to photograph people's rooms and everything they left in them while they were out.)

- Les Jardins du Luxembourg, which are these huge, beautiful gardens outside of Le Palais du Luxembourg. Mom and I walked through them this evening, and both seemed to agree that we could spend a whole day there just lounging and enjoying.

- The sky here. It always looks incredible.

- The Batobus, a tourist-y boat that goes up and down the Seine. But the part I love is that it casually says on the side, "Hop on, hop off!" ...Really? Just, anytime?