Today I got from Versailles to Paris for a photo shoot down at at the Sacré-Cœur, met my host Jeanne for tonight and experienced Paris by night.
Thanks to this sponsor deal I have with a Dutch radiostation, I got awaken by their wake-up call at 9.15 am. And of course little Tirian was jumping around fully alive as there had been no yesterday. After the two minutes of radio talk I tried to fell asleep again, until Tirian threw a ball on my head to see what would happen.
I gave up.
With the computer in the next room I got onto the internet again and noticed the recorded interview from the Belgian Radio2 had been broadcast this morning, and I had a lot of emails to answer and some new banner advertisers to process on this site.
A little hour later Erin appeared, of course also awakened by Tirian playing Tarzan in the living room and we both had some coffee.
In the back garden my laundry was drying in the already hot morning sun and around noon we decided to have some breakfast.
Last Monday the German magazine Focus had an interview with me by phone, while I was crossing the French border to Lille by train. I couldn’t provide them a good photo of me so they set up a date with a Parisian photographer who would do a photo shoot of me somewhere in Paris.
The magazine decided to have these pictures taken at the Sacré-Cœur and set up the appointment with well known photographer Gérard Sioen of the press agency Rapho (now known as Gettys) at 4 pm.
At 3 o’clock I packed my backpack as usual and we (Erin, Tirian and me) left Versailles for Paris. The traffic was jamming a lot and of course we arrived a little late. Below at the hill of the Sacré-Cœur I hugged Erin goodbye and waved Au Revoir to Tirian to meet Gérard at the touristy café L’Ete En Pente Douce.
He amazed by all he had heard about me. Already at the terrace he started to take pictures with me posing at the table, you should have seen the other people looking at this scene!
Then he decided we should walk up to the Sacré-Cœur (for those who don’t know it, this cathedral is built upon a hill you can only reach easy by climbing up a lot of steps. With the fluids already running down my back we climbed up the hill and when we got on top we had a great panoramic view over Paris.
This is where I had to: sit down on the stairs, walk by with and without my backpack, look up, smile and sit down again on Gérards’ commands and I noticed the public not only taking pictures of the Sacré-Cœur but also of this weird guy being photographed all the time. Especially the Japanese tourists enjoyed it all…
One hour later Gérard took his last shot. I was standing knee deep in one of the fountains. We thanked each other and he left for the development lab.
I took a walk around on the square where all the Parisian painters expose their arts and persuaded tourists to have their portrait drawn.
There I sat down on some stairs and looked around over this world city. I still can’t fully realize that I am really in Paris right now. Not that I look up to this city so much, but I am not here everyday in my life.
I walked all the way from the Sacré-Cœur down to Rue de Saint Antoine, where I looked for the right street number of the apartment of my next host Jeanne. When I couldn’t find it at all, some waiters at a restaurant explained me I was at the wrong rue Saint Antoine, I had to walk to the Bastille and there it was where the Rue de Faubourg Saint Antoine started. Of course.
It took quit a while before I got to the entrance of the right building, where I typed in the safety code (which Jeanne had called through yesterday) and got inside to the third floor.
Sweating and out of breath I met Jeanne and some of her friends in her apartment. I was suprised they spoke pretty good English, I did not really expect that from them as original French persons.
I handed Jeanne The Gifts over from Erin, paintings of Australian sceneries and a 2001 Calendar of Australia. Jeanne was nicely surprised, but she just couldn’t find anything yet for my following host…
Jeanne studies history and arts in Paris and wants to work in museums later, and her living room is full with books as the L’Histoire de l’art, L’Architecture and Le Epoque Contemporaine.
As I checked for the latest messages on the internet, Jeanne prepared dinner (a great salad -it’s summer here!- with delicious French cheeses, bread and yoghurt with fresh strawberries) and Jeannes’ good friend Christopher stayed to join us. Vanessa Paradis‘ latest album was playing on the stereo.
It already was 9.30pm and Jeanne and Christopher started to look on the internet for some movies playing in the cinemas tonight and at that time my eyes blinked. I never knew that Paris is the city with the most movie theaters in the whole world! No wonder most French people go to see a movie at least once a week, Jeanne sometimes even goes two times a week!
But nothing interesting was playing and then we decided to go and wander through Paris, the city of lights, by night. We walked along The Bastille Saint-Antoine to the Notre Dame of Paris and sauntered along the banks of the Seine river, flowing through the heart of this city. From the completely lit-up Eiffel Tower a big light was waving over the city and we stood still on a popular hangout bridge and enjoyed people playing drums in the depths of the dark.
Around twelve thirty we got on the latest subway metro and headed back to Jeannes’ apartment. Christopher said goodbye on the metro, he had to go a bit further. With her eyes half open of the sleep, Jeanne gave me something to drink and left me alone with her computer. I had updates to do, she was falling asleep fast, ha.
At this moment it is again pretty late at night, and I am sitting here in the Jeannes’ living room with all the windows wide open. The computer is playing Dreamer by Supertramp on a low volume, but I hear more sounds from the traffic passing by and people in the café below are laughing.
For me it’s time to stretch the couch into a bed and get to bed. Tomorrow I will have my second official stay-for-a-day in Paris and I already know I’ll have to put on a lot of sunburn lotion…
Goodnight dear Paris…
