Paris the second (Paralymics weekend)

I wanted to be a bit more disciplined and put the last trips on the homepage more quickly, and then? Then new trips came in between. Without a bike, in my defense. When I'm out and about on my bike, I can plan what I'm going to put online in the evening. If I'm not on my bike, I don't seem to reach that mental state. There's a lot more going on than on the bike. But, from the beginning. After I got back from my summer vacation and looked through all the photos, I noticed that I was still missing a few shots, especially of the torch at sunset. And an idea was born, there should be another opportunity, the Paralympic Games. As I tend to be frugal with my vacation days, only a weekend was an option, and due to the short time available, I simply wanted to fly. But there was still a bit of time until then and I had a short trip to Stuttgart, I had promised the old man that I would come before September. Then I spent another weekend in Osnabrück. Back in spring, when I was driving from Bremen to Essen, I passed the Varus Battle and a nice little castle that seemed to be surrounded by a moat. 2 reasons for me to spend a weekend there. I camped one night, it was fucking cold (I had the wrong equipment with me, didn't think about it) and then visited the Varus Battle Museum on Saturday. Nicely done, but I wonder why all the museums always focus on Rome and the Romans. Hardly anything about the Germanic tribes and that on the occasion of the Germanic victory. Yes, the explanation is simple, better documentation and traditions. Still a pity. The nice little castle turned out to be a cowshed. Repurposed, too bad. Anyway, I wanted to explore the Teutoburg Forest by bike. To tell you the truth, I really let my diet slip in the spring and had a few (20ig) extra kilos to lug around. I was correspondingly unfit and didn't feel like it, so I drove around a bit and then took the train back to Essen on Saturday. That's the way it is sometimes, but I didn't want to freeze through another night. I'll probably never understand why I only had a pair of shorts with me.

But then came Paris. Valeska kindly drove me to the airport by car after work on Friday. And then I was actually already in Paris. I got around by public transport straight away and 5 hours later after starting at the clinic I was at my hotel. This time in the 2nd arrondissement, right in the center. I threw my bag in my room and went down to the Olympic torch in the Jardin des Tuileries, near the Louvre. The light wasn't that great, just like the weather, and I was really surprised at how many people were also waiting there. It wasn't much less than at the actual games. And the light was really not good, so the pictures I took were not what I wanted, but I still had two evenings left. After sunset, I waited a little longer, but the torch didn't want to rise to the sky and I was getting cold and hungry. So I slowly walked back to the hotel, grabbing something to eat on the way past lots of very busy restaurants and bars. People were sitting or standing around everywhere with a glass of wine, chatting and in a good mood. That's how I had imagined it in the summer, but I had booked an apartment far outside, far too far outside. Back when I bought the tickets for the Olympics, I panicked about not finding cheap accommodation and booked the next best (cheapest) option. Tens of kilometers outside at a price that's what the Paralympic weekend including flight cost me. If I had waited back then, I would have found something in the middle of the games and maybe only twice as expensive, so also affordable, AirBnB makes it possible. Anyway, that's the way it is sometimes, I'll do better next time. The apartment wasn't bad either and the commute, whether by bike or train, was great. I could listen to Olympic radio on the way. Sometimes that was really nice. Back at the hotel, I think it was about 11pm, I fell asleep straight away.

The next morning we went out early, Paris in the morning hours is so wonderfully empty and quiet, almost peaceful. Just a few dog owners and returning night owls out and about. I spent the whole weekend walking along the Seine between Ponte de Sully and Ponte de l'Alma. Only finding an open cafe was a bit of a challenge on this Saturday morning. By about 9 o'clock I had already walked quite far and took a break at the Louvre, sat down at the glass pyramid only to be chased away again by a chick who wanted to immortalize herself with a selfie. I'll never understand this selfie shit. As I stared around in front of the Louvre, I thought I might as well go inside and stare at the pictures, it was drizzling slightly anyway. I booked a ticket slot online, got in the right queue and I was inside. The queue suggested a full museum, but many parts of the exhibition were largely empty or unvisited. Only in front of the Mona Lisa was there a real pile of people. So I strolled through the museum with good music playing in my ears and let the paintings work their magic on me, passing portraits of fruit bowls, horsemen, children and naked ladies before I reached the room with the Mona and the other Italians. And here I couldn't help but observe the people piling up in front of this picture. Fascination and disgust mingled. Because of a painting and nobody understands art. Sometimes scenes take place here. At some point I had enough (photos) of the crowds and moved on, through the special exhibition on Olympia, up to the café on the balcony and through the statues, then it was lunchtime and the weather was slowly improving. So out of the museum and off to the Seine, first towards Notre Dame, and grabbed something tasty to eat in a side alley. I strolled around all afternoon and browsed through the individual stores of the bouquinistes along the river. The weather was reasonably good, at least it wasn't raining until about 5pm, I was somewhere near the Quai de l'Hôtel de ville when I looked towards the Eiffel Tower, the clouds were just breaking and I realized that the light was really good for photography. But I also knew from experience that this window would close again. Of course, I had just found a painting that I really liked. I dropped everything and set off in the direction of the torch, taking a photo of the panorama of Paris on every bridge, of course. I noticed how the window closed and now I ran towards the Jardin des Tuileries and eventually arrived a few moments too late, the light had changed again as the cloud cover was now closed again. So now I had pictures of the Paris Seine panorama in the right light, but still not of the torch. It was now 6pm, the sun was due to set in 2 hours and instead of going back to the painting I decided to look for a good position. At least it wasn't that crowded yet, so I was able to find a nice spot on a wall, in line with the torch, the sun and the Eiffel Tower and I waited. I was lucky with the weather, but it worked out, towards sunset the clouds opened up again and I was able to take the pictures I wanted to take. It was almost perfect. You can see the pictures of both the panorama and the torch on my Insta channel, as if anyone is interested. After sunset, I knew it would be a while before the torch rose into the sky. But I already had it all in the can and so I decided to head back towards the hotel. Once again, the cafés and bars were full of people partying. City life can be so incredibly beautiful. I grabbed a bite to eat on the way and eventually arrived late in my room to fall asleep straight away. After all, it had been a long day.

I slept in on Sundays and took my time in the morning before leaving the hotel. This time it was easier with the café, it was also much later. There was also a Paralympics event on the road, I followed the barriers of this race towards La Madeleine and every participant, whether wheelchair user or visually impaired runner, got massive cheers, not just from me, one last time: “Allez le bleu”! And then it was over, the barrier, the race, the Olympics. I spent the whole Sunday haggling with the bouquinistes. And, of course, looking for the painting that I liked so much yesterday. But that wasn't down to me - the bouquinist in question only opened his store late. I was already a little desperate. Of course I didn't buy it straight away. I haggled, ran away, to the next one, haggled there and ran away again. Patience was required, I saw it on the Seine. At a point opposite the place where I proposed to my ex, memories came up and went away again and on to the bouquinistes. I bought a total of 3 paintings for the price of one. The haggling only really took off after I held the first picture in my hand. Towards evening it started to rain lightly, yes I spent several hours haggling, they are stubborn, and I didn't even go to the torch but went to eat and then to the hotel, I had to get up early the next morning.

Monday morning at 4 o'clock Paris is very empty, I was on my way to the Gare de Nord, hardly anyone on the street, very beautiful, this city in the morning hours. I took the first train to the airport (line A for 11 euros and not the ticket for 6 euros, otherwise you get into trouble at the airport, unless you are strong enough for the barrier) then onto the plane and at 9 o'clock I was back in the office. It can be that quick, hopefully the next post will be too.