Reporter Sans Frontieres

Out with my iPHONE for my morning exercise in the Luxembourg Gardens, I came across this scene. I feel like a reporter myself sometimes. When I see something newsworthy, I try to capture it. It seems like every day something is going on here on the blvd. St Michel side of the "jardin".

Today, a group of reporters were out to bring awareness to the issue of reporters who have been captured and held hostage for political purposes. Some have been held for a long time.

I think this will be on the news tonight, as there were several camera crews capturing this.



I feel like a reporter sans frontieres myself, equipped with my iPHONE and ready for whatever is happening.

Gay Pride In Paris

This is a big deal in Paris every year, but I've never seen it before. Today, just by chance, we heard music and walked toward it and, Voila!, Gay Pride. They had floats of a sort with balloons and music. Everyone was dancing, singing, parading.




Le Parisien says that between 500,000 to 700,000 people participated but we only saw a small part of the crowd that passed by us. Quite a show.

Fete de la Musique

I think, after all these years, I've finally found my personal "rhythm" for the Fete de la Musique.

While I would want to think that I would enjoy going out at night and mixing with the young people in the street, this is just not fun for me. The last time we went out on the night of the Fete and stopped to listen to a street band, a group of drunk young men started to drop their pants while dancing. This is just not what I had in mind.

I prefer to sit and listen to some nice music in a pretty setting.

So, once again I chose the Luxembourg Gardens. There were two different venues for music and we spent a lot of time at both of them. On one side of the garden, groups performed traditional songs and dances of different regions. There were five or six regions represented and it was charming.

The other side of the garden hosted groups from Latin America, including Peru (maybe the guys in the Metro?), Bolivia, Paraguay, etc. Amazing music, the young and the old were dancing and enjoying the event.

The Mouse in the Grocery Store

I'm sure that in the US, if someone spotted a mouse running around the aisles, the entire store would be closed by the health department. I'm sure they have their share of rodents, but we never see them.

Yesterday we were in Franprix at lunchtime. A mistake in itself. There were lots of people in line, all with their lunch items. Suddenly there was a commotion. Everyone was assembled in a circle, laughing, pointing, talking.

The object of their interest was a tiny tiny grey mouse who was obviously scared to death by all of us. It was confused, running around, trying to find a place to hide.

The cashier asked me what was all the excitement about, so I told her it was a small mouse.

What would I expect to happen? Of course, I would expect her to pick up her phone, call the manager and fix (ick) the problem. But, she did nothing of the kind. She rolled her eyes a bit, yawned and remarked, "C'est normal".

And, I think she's right. What better place for a mouse to live than the grocery store?