France 2008 - Arles, May 15

We decide to wander around Old Arles and just look at things. This is a holiday after all and we don't intend to see or do everything that there is to see and do. While it's not quite a "sit on the beach and read paperbacks" type of holiday, we do want to relax and just BE.

(Outside the walls)
Old Arles is distinct from the rest-of-Arles. It was a walled city and remnants of the walls are apparent here and there. It is also surrounded by large, busy, noisy, boulevards which run outside where the walls used to be. We get a map from our hotel that appears to be schematic but which is very accurate and it is impossible to get lost. (They give out these maps at the information centres and everywhere.) It turn out that you can walk across Old Arles in about 15 minutes if you don't stop to look at anything. But we always stopped to look at everything.

We walk to the Place de la Republique where some civil servants (I think they are teachers) are having a demonstration complete with loud speakers, flags, drums and a faux coffin. It makes for an interesting photo shoot for Peter and reminds us of the probability of strikes. I remember Europe in the 70s when any excuse for a strike was used, especially in Italy. Apparently, people are annoyed with Sarkozy's attempts to change the system. We aren't very concerned until we realize that rail travel can be stopped with strikes, but even that worked out for us in the end.

(Along the top of the wall.)
We walk along the bank of the Rhone, on top of huge walls that have very steep and very narrow steps leading down to the water. There are about 40 steps at a 60% angle with no railings and apparently, no traffic, as weeds flourish in the cracks. I am not sure who would use these old steps or why - there are other places with better access to the water, where giant tour boats tie up.

At one point along our walk, we see a second level of walkway, below the main travelled (paved) portion of the wall. It too was paved but there are so many weeds growing through the pavement that it looks grassy now. This reminds us that we have seen no lawns in Old Arles. Looking down at the green walkway, we see more piles of dog poop than you would believe possible. I would not walk there as a person - there was hardly a clear space to put a foot, much less a paw. Some time later, we did see a woman walking a large white dog down there. She took the dog off the leash and let him pick his own way through the mess. I am grateful for the daily street sweepers that pick up all this excrement on the streets where we usually walk, but I wonder if people could be persuaded to pick up after their pets if perhaps they made some advertising showing a famous and otherwise "cool" celebrity picking up dog poop. I wonder.

I saw a bat last night and wondered what they call it in French, so we asked our tres gentile waiter and he said it is called a chauvesouris. Now I just ran that through my translator and it came out "bald person mouse". Hmm. In German it is "fledermaus" or some such spelling. In both languages, the bat is described as a type of mouse, even though we know it is not a rodent.

Then we were looking for the French word for "confused", as we often are on this trip so far. We ask a different waitress at a different restaurant and say in our very Anglo-French, "what is the word for - I don't know what is going on - or, I'm a little bit stupid". She recoiled from the word "stupide" which I'm now thinking must be a real insult. Later we came up with the word "deranger" which is deranged in English and which about sums it up.

France 2008 - Paris, May 13

Afternoon:
After our much-needed nap that wasn't nearly long enough, we change and walk out onto the streets of Paris. I have lived in Europe (but a long time ago) but this was Peter's first trip and our first trip together so it was all new and good. We had a map of the city and just decided to walk in one direction and then another, covering some of the Marais in the 3rd and 4th Arrondissements.

I start developing a theory of Parisiens, working against the stereotype that they are rude. Of course, you get rude people wherever you go but my generalisations lead me to a theory that Parisiens just "Do". They don't ask permission, they don't say "do you mind if...", they only obey the rules if they must (and the rules make sense). However, they do say "excusez moi" If they bump into you and they say "Bonjour" when you enter their shops. What I don't feel is an overweening sense of entitlement that I sometimes get in North America.

Peter opines that because they live in a large, congested city (he has been reading up on Paris and it has the greatest population density of any European city, according to "France for Dummies" which we left there, rather than carry it home so I can't look it up), they have limited resources and just want to make things work. If officious people came along all the time and told them not to park on the sidewalk for just five minutes, the level of frustration would explode. When they do park on the sidewalk to unload something, they don't expect anyone to accommodate them. They just do what they have to and move on. And yet, we don't see people taking advantage of lack of rule enforcement, maybe because they know the few could spoil it for the many.

Unfortunately, my laissez-faire opinion of them to the good does not extend to their resolute refusal to even acknowledge that their dogs poop. I have watched them (and the Brits too, I must say) stand and stare at anything but their dog while their dog poops and then nonchalantly stroll away leaving the evidence behind. Of course some people do this in North America but more people pick up I think than not, judging by the evidence. It is likely one reason that they have street sweepers out every day. The street sweepers really do keep the place clean and that's appreciated. But I wonder if that's why dog owners don't pick up - because they can get away with it.

As for this bit of evidence, not only do I not know how it got up there, but I would guess the motorized street sweepers didn't get it the next morning.