Tag Archives: Palais Royal fountain

Powerwalking in Winter Again

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I couldn’t believe it when I saw this guy. Here we have Brainy Pianist, experiencing his first winter in Paris, which hasn’t even been very cold this year – I even gave him some suitable Canadian headgear for Christmas to keep his ears warm when he takes the bus at 8 o’clock in the morning – and there we have this chap, in 5° and no shirt. But you’ll notice he does have a warm hat! Lots of people don’t like wearing them but they actually help to keep your entire body warm. Unfortunately I would have had to dash round very obviously in front of this guy to take a photo of his tattoos. Maybe they keep him warm too.

Here we have the shadowy Brainy Pianist, who wouldn’t want anyone to recognise him in that gear!

And here are the men in very masculine poses cleaning up my fountain in the Palais Royal Gardens. Now I have to tell you about the word “fountain”. I have this tendency to say “fontaine” in French but every time I say it, Relationnel corrects me. I’m supposed to say “jet d’eau” as in “jet of water”, because a “fontaine” is usually used for water spouting out of something like a fish’s mouth.

The birdman was out today in Tuileries Gardens. We used to have a very ancient bird lady in the Palais Royal but I haven’t seen her for a while. I personally wouldn’t like to have birds jumping on me leaving their souvenirs.

Today I power walked down the centre of the gardens because there weren’t so many people and, as a result, I got an excellent view of Yayoi Kusama’s Flowers that Bloom at Midnight, 2009. You must admit that it brightens up a winter’s day!

And, surprisingly, considering the temperature and the fact that it’s Monday, here’s the man who rents out the boats to the kids. He’s standing on the right because I think he saw me coming. He wasn’t having much success.

 

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Flowers to Brighten a Grey Day

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I’ve been receiving all these emails from Australian family and friends positively flaunting their blue skies and high temperatures while we have boring nothing, not even snow or sleet or something even vaguely interesting. The fountain in the Palais Royal is working, to my surprise – they turned it off most of last winter – but looks very down in the mouth. It’s 8°C and cold outside because the air is thick. My wonderful rabbit-lined gloves somehow disappeared in an underground parking lot in Rouen and I can’t order any more from Madova in Italy until 3rd January so I’m wearing my inferior suede Australian ones. At least they’re better than nothing.

But something wonderful has happened to take the grey away. The doorbell just rang and there was man with a beautiful bunch of white roses, lilies-of-the-valley and Geraldton wax all the way from Leonardo in Australia, with a lovely note to go with them. Not only that but one of the orchids he gave me for my birthday has flowered again!

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