PARIS TRIP: DAY 8: Paris (Fete de la Musique)
Paris, Wednesday, 21 June 06
12:57 pm
I got up around 7:45. The light didn’t disturb me much, but the although the doors were closed, the creakiness of the wooden floors in the flat, and above and below the flat, did. As I waited for the office-goers to get ready, I updated this journal.
Renaud left at 8:30 and Christophe, past nine. Since today is the summer solstice, all France celebrates it as Fete de la Musique, a music festival everywhere, often free. Prashanth had suggested I join him and his friends—I am yet to check with him about their plans. So I suggested to Christophe that since Renaud is coming back late again, Christophe could join us after he gets back. So Christophe gave me his mobile number to call him around 9 pm.
I was feeling rather lethargic and sleepy, so I napped a bit and I kept writing the journal until it is up to date now. I haven’t decided what exactly I should do today (there is a lot anyway), but I’ll have a shower and figure out soon. I have carefully changed the date on my 4-day Museum Pass from 15 June to 18 June, so if they cannot detect that it was over-written, I have today and tomorrow to go into these museums for free.
(written on 22 June)
By the time I finally reached the Picasso Museum, it was already 4 pm. Although some stuff was interesting, I really am not into this kind of art… but one never knows. In Madrid I was almost done with a room full of Dalis (of course they are different), when I stopped at one, something clicked and I had to go around the room again, spending two hours there. But I think I finished the Picasso museum in 20 minutes.
I got two quiches from a shop in the Marais and ate them on the Centre Pompidou courtyard, and went inside. I do like the architecture of this place with exposed pipes and all. Of the two or three floors for the permanent collection, only one was open, the rest was under renovation. This floor was mainly on Movement, i.e., about motion pictures. There were several interesting exhibits, but by and large, nothing of particular interest. 
I am glad I didn’t spend extra money on the Picasso and Pompidou museums. I bought a book of framable prints of Escher from the museum shop, although the museum collection probably doesn’t have any Eschers. I thought the 10 EUR was reasonable enough.
Just outside the Centre Pompidou, there was a Serbian group (they must have been Serbian, because it was outside the Serbian cultural center or something like that) dancing to very lively music. Close by, there was a big crowd around an Asian (looked Chinese) percussion orchestra, who were really very good. I loitered around a bit and then called Prashanth at around 7:30 pm, but got his answering machine. I left a message on his phone. During that evening I unsuccessfully called him several times, and either got the answering machine, or the phone went on ringing.
So I went into the Notre Dame. A children’s choir was singing, and then an organ recital started. I sat there for a while (although I don’t like the sound of the organ) because it was raining outside, and then went outside to the bridge nearby where some guys were rollerblading and jumping with them on large heights.
It was very interesting, and I watched that until it ended.
Afterwards, I strolled around, got a sandwich, lost my way, strolled around more, and went to the Marais. It started raining, and rained almost continuously till midnight. There were different groups of people playing loud music and dancing, and I joined one of them. Prashanth sent me a text message saying that they were also in the Marais; and after some confusion with about the road they were in, I finally joined them at 12:30 am. The group had Prashanth and his partner, Sam, Jean-Philippe and Mark, and two others. There was some tension in the air, probably on account of everybody’s being forced to wait for me. Not only here, but before as well. They were to have a picnic at 7 pm, and I first called them at 7:30 pm. Apparently since the weather was not good, the picnic dispersed quickly, but nevertheless they had waited for me for a while before they all went to Jean-Philippe’s house. For some reason, the mobile connection there is bad, and hence I had been getting Prashanth’s answering machine [later on of course when they were out it would have been difficult to hear the phone ringing… even I didn’t hear the rings when he called]. Jean-Philippe also didn’t agree with spending Fete de la Musique with Marais music, and I think Prashanth wanted to or thought I wanted to. I actually agree with Jean-Philippe… the whole idea, after all, is that there are live performances of very diverse kinds all around the city and why should one dance to recorded music in the Marais on this day. Anyways, Jean-Philippe seemed in a rather grumpy mood, and he and Prashanth had some arguments in French, and then they all decided to leave. I strolled around a bit more, and decided to take the last trains at around 12:55 am. But alas, that was a bit too late to decide that, as the Metro stops at 1 pm, and for this night there would be a skeletal service running all night. However I did not have the pamphlet for the Fete de la Musique and hence didn’t know what was running. I took the train from Hotel de Ville to Chatelet to get the No. 7, but that stopped a couple of minutes before I reached. So I took another one to the closest station I could find, and then walked for about 20 minutes before I reached Renaud and Christophe’s place at around 2 pm.
I got up around 7:45. The light didn’t disturb me much, but the although the doors were closed, the creakiness of the wooden floors in the flat, and above and below the flat, did. As I waited for the office-goers to get ready, I updated this journal. Renaud left at 8:30 and Christophe, past nine. Since today is the summer solstice, all France celebrates it as Fete de la Musique, a music festival everywhere, often free. Prashanth had suggested I join him and his friends—I am yet to check with him about their plans. So I suggested to Christophe that since Renaud is coming back late again, Christophe could join us after he gets back. So Christophe gave me his mobile number to call him around 9 pm.
I was feeling rather lethargic and sleepy, so I napped a bit and I kept writing the journal until it is up to date now. I haven’t decided what exactly I should do today (there is a lot anyway), but I’ll have a shower and figure out soon. I have carefully changed the date on my 4-day Museum Pass from 15 June to 18 June, so if they cannot detect that it was over-written, I have today and tomorrow to go into these museums for free.
(written on 22 June)
By the time I finally reached the Picasso Museum, it was already 4 pm. Although some stuff was interesting, I really am not into this kind of art… but one never knows. In Madrid I was almost done with a room full of Dalis (of course they are different), when I stopped at one, something clicked and I had to go around the room again, spending two hours there. But I think I finished the Picasso museum in 20 minutes.
I got two quiches from a shop in the Marais and ate them on the Centre Pompidou courtyard, and went inside. I do like the architecture of this place with exposed pipes and all. Of the two or three floors for the permanent collection, only one was open, the rest was under renovation. This floor was mainly on Movement, i.e., about motion pictures. There were several interesting exhibits, but by and large, nothing of particular interest. 
I am glad I didn’t spend extra money on the Picasso and Pompidou museums. I bought a book of framable prints of Escher from the museum shop, although the museum collection probably doesn’t have any Eschers. I thought the 10 EUR was reasonable enough.Just outside the Centre Pompidou, there was a Serbian group (they must have been Serbian, because it was outside the Serbian cultural center or something like that) dancing to very lively music. Close by, there was a big crowd around an Asian (looked Chinese) percussion orchestra, who were really very good. I loitered around a bit and then called Prashanth at around 7:30 pm, but got his answering machine. I left a message on his phone. During that evening I unsuccessfully called him several times, and either got the answering machine, or the phone went on ringing.
So I went into the Notre Dame. A children’s choir was singing, and then an organ recital started. I sat there for a while (although I don’t like the sound of the organ) because it was raining outside, and then went outside to the bridge nearby where some guys were rollerblading and jumping with them on large heights.
It was very interesting, and I watched that until it ended.
Afterwards, I strolled around, got a sandwich, lost my way, strolled around more, and went to the Marais. It started raining, and rained almost continuously till midnight. There were different groups of people playing loud music and dancing, and I joined one of them. Prashanth sent me a text message saying that they were also in the Marais; and after some confusion with about the road they were in, I finally joined them at 12:30 am. The group had Prashanth and his partner, Sam, Jean-Philippe and Mark, and two others. There was some tension in the air, probably on account of everybody’s being forced to wait for me. Not only here, but before as well. They were to have a picnic at 7 pm, and I first called them at 7:30 pm. Apparently since the weather was not good, the picnic dispersed quickly, but nevertheless they had waited for me for a while before they all went to Jean-Philippe’s house. For some reason, the mobile connection there is bad, and hence I had been getting Prashanth’s answering machine [later on of course when they were out it would have been difficult to hear the phone ringing… even I didn’t hear the rings when he called]. Jean-Philippe also didn’t agree with spending Fete de la Musique with Marais music, and I think Prashanth wanted to or thought I wanted to. I actually agree with Jean-Philippe… the whole idea, after all, is that there are live performances of very diverse kinds all around the city and why should one dance to recorded music in the Marais on this day. Anyways, Jean-Philippe seemed in a rather grumpy mood, and he and Prashanth had some arguments in French, and then they all decided to leave. I strolled around a bit more, and decided to take the last trains at around 12:55 am. But alas, that was a bit too late to decide that, as the Metro stops at 1 pm, and for this night there would be a skeletal service running all night. However I did not have the pamphlet for the Fete de la Musique and hence didn’t know what was running. I took the train from Hotel de Ville to Chatelet to get the No. 7, but that stopped a couple of minutes before I reached. So I took another one to the closest station I could find, and then walked for about 20 minutes before I reached Renaud and Christophe’s place at around 2 pm.
posted by A.S. at 4:02 PM
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