Footloose

H spent the day playing video games with a friend and I had the whole day to myself! So I did what I love best: walking around the old quarter.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I had a little work-related errand to run at the Centre Georges Pompidou bibliotheque (I should say "library," but here it's actually the book shop)  so I got out of Chatelet and walked from Rivoli to the Museum. Unfortunately, I got sidetracked by big, red "Soldes" and "Nouvelle Demarques" signs from a whole other direction. On any other day, this would have been fine, but I've been having foot pains since Normandy. I get a dull, stabbing pain when I'm standing still; and a sharp, stabbing pain when I'm walking. But guess what? Estrogen. Estrogen and adrenalin.

After two hours, I found my way back to my original direction and I found my way back to Sebastopol and, eventually, the Pompidou.

Street musicians at Beaubourg.

A guitarist helping a fellow artist.

A spiral forms around Didgeridoo Girl

Inside the library. Lovely place for reading, though the view can be distractingly beautiful.

An outdoor escalator for paying museum-goers... which excludes me, because I'm in the cheap today.

I wish blogs could also carry the lovely smell of books.

It was after accomplishing my mission that I realized I didn't even have breakfast, and it was five in the afternoon.

A hotdog joint.

I bought a sandwich for lunch and ate it next to the oldest monumental fountain in Paris. The place was kept alive by noisy teens enjoying summer break.

The Fontaine des Innocents.

It was also in this square that I bought a copy of Le Petit Prince. I got the owner to knock off a euro and twenty cents from the price - by speaking in French! Word up!

Le loot! (Plastic cover included)

My feet were aching when I got home, but when it got dark H connived with the building concierge for the keys to the rooftop. It's the 13th of July after all, the eve of Fete Nationale, also known as Bastille day.

There were fireworks all over Paris and we had the 360-degree view. It was 18 degrees and windy, but H held me tight. It felt like the end of Fight Club. Up music, "Where Is My Mind."