Rick's Leap Year: No Title - but lots of photos!

"How can I possibly bore people with a new blog posting when I didn't do anything last week?" What did I do? Nothing out of the ordinary. What did I see? More of the same! Yet somehow, someone slumped over their desk at work may find it a fun distraction.

Remember, you can click on the photos to enlarge.

I took a walk with the "two Philippes." Yes, both Philippe Piquets met in San Diego, both are French and both have partners named Michael. Contrary to early suspicions, neither Philippe was out to steal the other's identity. I met Philippe1 in San Diego in 1991 when we were starting a triathlon club. Last weekend we took a walk, despite the sign that says no walking, and stopped for churros which are more popular in Paris than in San Diego. Okay, just kidding.

Last Monday I took a walk through the Marais. As usual I passed the pigeons stalking the tourists in front of the Pompidou Center, and the mormons stalking the passer-bys along Rue Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie. I'm not sure, but I think the message here is that pigeons and mormons are universal.

Tuesday, time for another walk, so I decided to head over to the 11th arrondisement for Algerian pastries.

I wandered past one of the Art Nouveau style Metro stations at Temple, saw more naked mannequins in a store window - a very common sight, and reflected upon a newstand displaying a magazine promoting the "Pornolympics," which no doubt had a tribute to Pekin 2008. Fortunately, for the purchaser of said magazine, a vending machine with condoms is in the Metro station just a few feet away.

With the success of Velib, communal bicycles are available throughout the city. However, there are surely some orphaned two-wheelers. among the rows of bikes, scooters and motorcycles.

A casual five-hour stroll on Wednesday with Antonio. We wandered the streets of Isle de la Cite, visited the Institut du Monde Arabe (see earlier posting,) visited Arenes de Lutece - the remains of a second century Roman arena, wandered past the shops and open air market on Rue Mouffetard which was a major road between Paris and Rome and obviously one of the oldest in the city, stopped by the Mosquee de Paris, and the strolled through Les Jardin Des Plantes with it's botanical gardens founded in 1626 (that's over 400 years ago) and the second oldest zoo in the world. But of course, the highlight for me was the floating open-air pool along the Seine.

Thursday morning, I woke up early and joined the early morning dog walkers. The constant sound of buzzing scooters and restaurant chatter was replaced with the whirring sound of street cleaners and water spraying on the pavement. Morning is quieter and calmer. That evening, I returned to Le Musee des Art et Metier, which has become one of my favorite museums. It's also free on Thursday nights. The vast collection really makes me consider how so many inventions have influenced our lives: clocks and measuring sticks, glass and steel, the harnessing of steam (engines) and electricity, printing presss and cameras, radios and television, trains and planes. Most visually stunning is the old Abbey of Saint Martin. Planes, cars and even a replica of the statue of liberty are surrounded by stained glass windows in an amazing use of the cavernous abbey.

It's Thursday night, time to meet Ariel at L'Open Cafe for a drink. Joined by Carlos (from Mexico) we bumped into a young lady also from Mexico. She and her boyfriend went with us to Le Feeling for another drink, but took off before we headed over to Le Raidd for the steamy shower show which was performed by one of the bartenders on this particular night.

Fabrizio was back in town on Friday. As a flight attendant for United Airlines, he is in Paris once per week, and is one of the few people I've ever met who rates his job as a 10. Knowing that I like to explore new areas, we headed to the 16th arrondisement. It was nice to see the Eiffel Tower from another angle, and to see the "other" statue of liberty, the one floating along the Seine.

The 16th arrondisement has a lot of very colorful shops and some stand-alone private residences that are stunning. However, I'm a traditionalist and have decided to buy the apartment on the top floor of the building below, the one with the big windows and the balcony. Hey, I can dream if I want to.

On Saturday, I went swimming (and that could be another blog post on it's own) and prepared a Mexican Fiesta with Antonio (Mexico.) Ariel (Argentina), Renaud (France,) Andre (Germany,) Philippe2 (France) and moi (U.S.) had a wonderful time as we ate tostadas, guacamole and home-made oven-baked tortilla chips. Five bottles of wine disappeared and at about 1:30 in the morning we said good night.