Paris, c'est tout ce que j'aime

If you don't already know, John and I were in Paris for a dear friend's birthday dinner. And we thought a dress rehearsal in the form of a birthday lunch at the Musée d'Orsay wouldn't hurt so we arranged to meet the birthday girl there. Naturally we took the scenic way to the musée and the Jardin des Tuileries didn't let us down with it's sculptures and fountains.

On the Pont de Solferino, while taking yet more photos for the family album, a young gitane sidled up to me bending over to pick something up. It appears to be a gold ring. She turned to ask me sheepishly if the ring belongs to me. I said no. And suggested she keep it, based on the finders-keepers thingie. She said she can't wear it and would like me to have it. I said no, I can't do that although I was quite tempted and did weigh the ring on my palm to make a quick dollar conversion and based on the current high gold prices . . . She kept egging me to take the ring and that if I feel bad, I could give her some money for it. And that was when the sirens went off in my head. A bloody scam. I firmly turned her down and she walked away probably cursing under her breath. And mind you, that bloody young thing was very good at it, but alas not quite good enough on this day I'm afraid.

Over lunch at the Musée d'Orsay Restaurant, I cringed in dismay when I spotted the birthday girl wearing a gold ring which looked exactly like the one the young gitane tried to scam me with on the bloody pont. So, I prodded gently and true enough, birthday girl had been taken in, for three euros. Ouch. I don't think our friendship has been compromised but trust me, the messenger always get shot.

me and my shadow

The L'arbre des Voyelles - tree of vowels is a bronze cast of an oak tree 14 ft long - by Giuseppe Penone

Le Centaure nessus enlevant dejanire

yummy bites at Musée d'Orsay Restaurant