The park was really a haven for me, it was just down the road from where I was staying. The grass was green, the sun warm, the breeze off the river refreshing. The puppies made me smile and the street folk there weren’t so menacing.
I literally went there everyday.
Another excerpt from the diary of a travelling girl:
And so I walked, with the greatest intentions of seeing one of the most grand and famed cathedrals in the world, Notre Dame. But I walked the wrong way. I walked until the road turned to water. Every surface was defaced, cars, shopfronts. The market stalls of art became beggars selling ashtrays fashioned from old beer cans. And the grand monument to the republic itself was assaulted with the words “We are not equal but we are all together”. The pollution in the air above became more opressing, there are no friendly faces here. So I turned back.
Back past the angry words to a place where the street art is just that. Past the street cleaners working around the family asleep on the concrete. A mother, father and child huddled together with all their belongings. Back along the edge of the street gardens full of play grounds not safe for any child. This city is not one friendly to the young and vunerable. Each park is full of rough mean street swellers, keeping their own best interests in mind.
Now this is more like it. Not too far a walk to this stretch of marina along the Siene. With a truly fragrant and beautiful garden behind me and beautiful boats ahead. This is where that guy must have been sitting when he called it the city of love.
I just met the friendliest frenchie yet! A little doggie, I wish I could think faster with French so I could have struck up a conversation with the owner and delayed the pups departure. The puppy cuddles were my most positive interaction in days.
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