Saturday, April 10, was Blaise's birthday (but don't tell him you saw it here. For some reason, he thinks it should be treated as a state secret). Unfortunately, he had a major talk to give Monday (that would be today) and has a workshop that he's organizing on Tuesday (tomorrow) and so all of our ambitious plans had to fall by the wayside. So, in the morning I did the grocery shopping and took the kids to the playground and tidied the house and all of that good stuff, and then, after lunch and the subsequent clean up (which does occasionally happen around the same time as the meal), we took the train into Paris.
One of Blaise's favorite places to walk in Paris is around Montmartre, which is very close to where we lived when we were here almost three years ago. So, we got off at Abbesses, and took the elevator up to ground level. In case you were wondering, you know it's a serious elevator when the listed capacity is 100 people or 1500 kg (that's 3300 lbs). Then we headed to Le Grenier au Pain, our favorite bakery from years past, where Blaise got two fougasses (sort of a Provençal olive bread that's somewhere between pizza and soft pretzel) and the kids and I each picked a Viennoiserie. We ate them in the little park by the metro stop, and then Cherry and Ezio decided that they wanted to play on the playground. Unfortunately, even Cherry was a bit on the old side for the equipment, so we left before Ezio could give the toddlers too many ideas.
We wandered up to Sacre Coeur, and then decided that it would be nice to walk around the church and see the bell tower in the back. We found another park, this one without a playground but with a big sand/gravel area for running and playing and with benches for sitting, so Blaise and I sat and talked and watched the kids running and playing until we almost got hit by an errant soccer ball (not our kids') for the third time. Then we corralled our children and decided to complete our circuit of the church.
As we reached the front of the church, we noticed that there was a huge crowd (not surprising) that didn't seem to be moving at all (more surprising). Blaise was the first one to notice the man holding himself out, perpendicular to the lamppost (and 20 feet above the ground), and spinning a soccer ball on a pin in his mouth. We joined the crowd, and as people kept walking in front of us, we moved further and further up (they were adults, and we had munchkins who couldn't see over the top) until we were only about 10 feet from where he was performing. Among other tricks, he removed both a shirt and a t-shirt while the ball was balanced on his back, climbed the lamppost with the ball balanced on his head, and of course did various juggling (soccer style) tricks while balanced on a 2x2 foot piling. Unfortunately, we forgot the camera, and so I won't be able to impress you with photos. After 15-20 minutes, Sapphire dropped some (well earned) money into his hat, and we headed down the hill.
Once we were home, I started dinner. As per Blaise's request, we had confit de canard (confit duck), pommes sarladaises (pototoes fried in duck (or goose) fat), and salad, with pâtisseries (pastries) for dessert.
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