An American in Paris

A beautiful sunny day in Paris in the mid-70s...great for walking in Paris. walk we did. This is design week in Paris, so we walked around the St. Germain area where many furniture design shops are located, ending up in a Pylones shop. This is the store with colorful and inventive designs of everything you'll ever need for your household. Need a staple remover? Pylome is happy to sell you one in the shape of alligator jaws. How about a pen in the shape of a fish or a cucumber. Actually, maybe these are things you don't need for your household.
Next on the agenda was meeting my former World Bank Director, Jean Baneth, for lunch. He's just as informed, entertaining, and loquacious as ever. We met for lunch at La Coupole, a former hangout for the likes of Sartre, Hemingway, and Picasso. Since there has been a curry dish on the menu since the 1930s, there is an Indian maitre d' in a raj outfit who also serves the curry dishes. jean regaled us with stories of McNamara and other Bank tales, and we updated him on our colleagues with whom we've worked until recently....Shaida, Eric, Elizabeth, and Reza. And he graciously insisted on treating us; but when he visits Washington, D.C., we're obligated to supply him with home grown tomatoes.
No visit has been complete without seeing Monet's paintings of water lilies at the Orangerie in the Jardin des Tuleries. As you may know, in 2006 a renovation of the Orangerie was completed, so now you see the Monet water lilies with light from a filtered skylight instead of being hidden away on a lower floor illuminated with artificial light. Now the colors really come to life, and as passing clouds obscure the natural light, the paintings  changes, just as it would in the gardens at Giverny.
On our way back to Montparnasse, we walked across the Seine on the Pont de la Concorde and walked along the left bank until we got to the Pont Soferino (one of the bridges with the "love" locks), which is where the Legion of Honor museum and the Musee d'Orsay are located. And to my surprise, there was a statue of Thomas Jefferson; an American in Paris. I had been around this area on previous visits to Paris, and didn't recall seeing this before. For a good reason; the statue was only erected in 2006. Up until then, there had not been any commerative statue of Jefferson who had contributed to Franco American friendship during our revolutionary times.
Au revoir for now,
David