Across Europe

London

Paris

Cathédrale Notre Dame
Hôtel de Ville

Centre Georges Pompidou

musée du Louvre

la Tour Eiffel

Catacombes et Carrières

Le Lapin Agile

Sacré-Coeur
Montparnasse

The middle of April, 2002, continued.

After several years away, I return to the Centre Georges Pompidou (George Pompidou Center). This late 1970s building is best known for having its infrastructure placed on the outside of the building. You'll see red people-moving areas (escalators, corridors), blue air-conditioning, green plumbing, yellow electrical systems, and white load-bearing structures. You'll especially note the clash between this building and its surroundings, Paris' oldest arrondissement.

Near to the Metro Opéra station, near one of the most heavily travelled commercial thoughfares, we find a quiet patisserie. This is exactly the kind of place we like to visit. I haven't mentioned it yet, but it's rather cold in Paris in April, and we're rather used up. A warm place with hot chocolate and pastries is exactly what we need.

We came on this trans-Europe trip prepared for the elements in the California outdoors style: layers and layers. We both have North Face Gore-Tex outerwear, comfortable innerwear (like my Sci-Fi Channel tee-shirt), and a variety of warm middle layers and gloves.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Rose: a tired girl waiting for the absolutely delightful petit fours and hot drinks to arrive.

On the way back to our hotel, the Hôtel Europe Saint Severin (predictably on rue Saint-Severin), we pass this worker delivering slaughtered pigs. There's just something about him, and the whole moment, that just froze me in my tracks.

Speaking of our hotel, some of the streets in the neighborhood (the oldest in Paris) have wonderful names. there's the rue de la Huchette (which is just fun to say) and the rue du Chat qui Pêche (Street of the Fishing Cat), the narrowest street in Paris.

Onward, to the musée du Louvre.

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