It's A Dog's City + Other Things Going On

First off, I wanted to point out that, as I predicted, I've cut back a lot on dog-in-Paris stories as Maxine & I have begun to do things here.

However, Paris really is a dog's city! Some places we've seen many dogs in France:
1. At the grocery store... in line... waiting to pay
2. Eating the same vegetable soup as everyone else at the table (the bowl was put on the floor!)
3. Under the table at a one star restaurant.
4. On the metro (subway)
5. At the Farmer's market checking out the produce for sale.
6. At a cafe
7. Shopping -- various stores.

As I've briefly noted before, we have had many more conversations with people here as a result of our dog being with us. Most recently we were out at the end of the evening with Cassie and ran into another couple taking their dog out for a last walk as well. The two dogs stopped to check each other out. We owners joked about it, then went on our way. This sort of exchange hadn't happened in any other trip we've had to France -- Cassie is an excuse to talk to people.

As to other things going on, the pictures on this blog entry are from the Musee des Art et Metiers (these specific pictures are from the portion of the museum that is in a decommissioned church). It is a museum of 'things' related to engineering, electronics, flying, robotics, printing presses, photography -- sort of a progression of man's mastery of the world. As a museum it isn't one of the central ones, not the Louvre, not one with Monet's or Picasso's or Rodin sculptures, if you find it interesting to see how many has progressed, this museum had some very classic pieces of that history.

A few examples: a Cray computer, an early printing press, a maritime compass & navigation tools, a movie projector from the Lumiere brothers (Edison era movie makers!), a voltaic pile (an early battery), a calculator invented by Pascal (who was a philosopher, but clearly a practical person too), early measuring equipment... OK, I'll stop now. Here's the link. If you like this sort of stuff, the museum is great! http://www.arts-et-metiers.net/

Some oddly derivative things I've seen while here. First, they are advertising "Cabaret, the Broadway Musical". That just seems like a circuitous routing. A musical about Germany popularized in New York now being shown in Paris. My second derivative item is this. There's a big Disney animation exhibit at a museum here. (Supposedly Sleeping Beauty's castle is based on a French castle.) So, a French castle popularized by a company in California being exhibited now here in Paris.

This past week I've also been enjoying the slightly cooler weather (meaning it is cool enough to wear a long sleeve shirt -- it has been warm here). This has also given me a chance to hang out in some parks. There are many, but the past 2 days I've spent some time in one about 10 minutes from here. In all it is about 2 acres in size, very groomed, benches, some late roses, etc. It has been both a good quiet place as well as a popular place for people to eat a sandwich for lunch. One of the things I'm starting to enjoy more and more about Paris is the scale. Yes, it's a big city with more noise than I'd like. But, there are all sorts of little outposts of quiet, of green, of beautiful buildings, of stores with interesting things in the windows. In terms of interesting things in windows, the chocolate shops have started to put out displays of fall chocolates. I haven't tried any yet but will tomorrow! I'm not sure what makes fall chocolate different other than that they make chocolate leaves and chocolate nuts (nuts fabricated out of chocolate), but we'll see.