english

Because Paris needed the land to build houses on, so in the19th century they removed some cemeteries and stored the dug up bones in the old quarries beneath the city. The remains of six million people are stored here and although we only saw a third of that it still is an awful lot.

Impressive.

…

Alison thought this Eiffel Tower thingy was much nicer that she thought it was. Too bad there were so many tourists. And paying 10 Euro to take the elevator on a grey, hazy day was also a bit too much. So we sat in the grass (or what was left of it) beneath it.

The Ballad of Lucy Jordan (Marianne Faithfull)

The morning sun touched lightly on
the eyes of Lucy Jordan
In a white suburban bedroom
in a white suburban town

And she lay there neath the covers
dreaming of a thousand lovers
til the world turned to orange
and the room went spinning round

At the age of 37
she realized she’d never ride
through Paris in a sports car
with the warm wind in her hair
So she let the phone keep ringing
as she sat there softly singing
pretty nursery rhymes she’d memorized
in her Daddy’s easy chair

Her husband he’s off to work
and the kids are off to school
and there were oh so many ways
for her to spend her days

She could clean the house for hours
or rearrange the flowers
or run naked through the shady street
screaming all the way

At the age of 37
she realized she’d never ride
through Paris in a sports car
with the warm wind in her hair
So she let the phone keep ringing
as she sat there softly singing
pretty nursery rhymes she’d memorized
in her Daddy’s easy chair

The evening sun touched gently on
the eyes of Lucy Jordan
on the rooftop where she climbed
when all the laughter grew too loud

And she bowed and curtsied to the man
who reached and offered her his hand
and he led her down to the long white car
that waited past the crowd

At the age of 37
she knew she’d found forever
as she rode along through Paris
with the warm wind in her hair

We went to Paris. To the Institut du Monde Arabe, to view an exhibit of Egyptian artifacts. Unfortunately there were more people thinking that and the lines in front of it were more than an hour long. I can’t stand waiting that long (literally) so we just went into the building and admired the architecture and the windows that can be closed like camera shutters.

After working my butt off on the closet (no, it isn’t finished :-( ) we left for the netherlands to celebrate my mother’s 80th birtday. And then we went for a week to Paris. I know Paris quite well, but it was Alison’s first visit to France. It’s strange to speak the language more or less fluently and not knowing the country. Paris reminded her of Montréal, but a lot bigger. I myself enjoyed 6 days without Internet. I guess that’s a record.

We visit my brother Ronald and his wife Riet who also emigrated. But instead of going all the way to Canada they stayed closer to home and emigrated to Germany, to a country house 300 meters from the Dutch-German border. It’s also very close to Nijmegen so their son Jeroen can still go to his old school.

Alison holds Jens, my mother’s second great-grand-child. People are warning me that she likes children too much, but I’m not very alarmed. Yes, Alison likes children, but she also likes to give them back to their mothers and fathers after a while. Which you can’t do if they are your own.

Margrit turns 80 and she gives a big party in the activity hall in the home were she currently resides. Lots of people, lots of presents. I don’t know how she does it, I myself am absolutely worn out after the day, but she keeps going on.

The first week of my three week visit to Europe I spent having a serious jetlag. During my better periods I visited various friends and handed out Banana Guards in all colours.