Sunday, March 29, 2009

I swear I don't do it on purpose!

Today Lyle requested that we "get lost" in the city. Since i had
somehow broken Christine's knee the day before, she and Richard were
going to take in some sights in a less active manner.

Now technically we can't really get lost because we have our iPhones
with the built in google maps and gps. But the idea was to go off on a
wander, see something interesting "over there", follow that hunch
until something "that a-way", and wander, wander, wander...

So we did. We started at Republique around 11 and launched up the hill
into the 19th arrondisment. We walked through a weekend food mart
along the street and continued up to where Edith Piaf was born.

We turned somewhere at the top of Belleville after I paused and played
Lyle the song from the animated movie Triplettes Du Belleville. We
wound up in a park that was full of the locals out for their weekend
jog, stroll, dog walk or children's play outing. Hither and dither we
went until I announced, "I did not fly all the way to Paris to wear my
Gucci scarf on a nature hike!".

We left the park and found a bakery that was on Lyle's list. C'est
formidable!

It was about 1:30 and we decided that we should take a look on the
google map and see how far we were from home and which direction to
wander next. But first, oh look a big farmers market!

After that we did check the map. How the hell did we get so far
away?! And so we turned around and started back... Then we saw a
monumental arch in the middle of the boulevard down the road to the
right. At the arch it was Lyle's turn to make an announcement, "I need
to sit down right now and have a Perrier!". So we did.

After a refreshing beverage we started for home again. I offered to
take the Metro, but Lyle said he was fine and besides, it wasn't much
further.

By 3:30 we were home. Lyle has a blister on his right foot and one if
his left toes is bleeding. It's not my fault. He asked to go out on a
wander. I wanted to go shopping. I offered to take the Metro. He
wanted to carry on. Now, I am ready to go again and he wants to place
his feet in the minibar.

Don't vacation with me. Apparently I'm a bad person.

2 comments:

Chandra Rooney said...

Liz and I "got lost" in downtown Los Angeles today. We found our Quince dresses!

Rachel V. Olivier said...

I'm going to send you and my mother out on a vacation wander next time. Or maybe Heather.