Grace A Dieu

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I got lost again. Anyone surprised? Didn't think so. I'll try to keep it brief, the story's getting boring. Before I even showed up in the City of Lights, I found a site online that said there would be a performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream", my FAVORITE Shakespeare play of all time, and the dates fell right when I was in Paris. There's an open-air Shakespeare theater, on the west edge of Paris, in the Bois de Boulogne. If Paris were New York City, the Bois de Boulogne would be like Poughkeepsie. City dwellers go out there to camp sometimes...and I'm pretty sure there's an amusment park tucked away in there somewhere. As promised, all I'm going to say about it is that, were I wearing one of those footstep-counter gadgets, I probably would have logged in 10 miles today. Man, was I lost!! By some miracle, I actually made it to the theater about two minutes before the play started!! I honestly thought I'd end up lost in the woods overnight, prey to the big bad wolves. There was a point where I felt like like little red riding hood, if only I'd had a little red riding hood.
Along the way, I had plenty of time for reflection, and I observed some funny, Frenchy things I'd like to impart. As I meandered about the roundabout (my directions to the theater were for automobiles, not pedestrians...that might have been problem number one), I noticed a lot of funny street signs. One pointed in the direction of Peripherique Interieur, which is quite the oxymoron, I must say. Even if you don't know French you can guess what those two words mean, and I found it a funny contradiction.
Walking by the wayside, (already a little spooked) there was a traffic sign that was a white, upside down triangle with a red outline, and read in black letters, "Bands Rugueuse!" I didn't quite know what that meant, and imagined bands of rugged thieves hiding in the bushes nearby, and the sign was warning me against them. "Watch out! Bands of Rugged Thieves!" In a couple minutes I figured out that it meant, "rough stripes" on the road, sort of like speed bumps. Not nearly as fun.
I also saw my first fat frenchman today. He was sitting off alone, in the corner of the park, eating. It was sad. He really is an anomaly, though. Everyone here is so slender.
Also, I see a lot of French fathers pushing their children around.....in strollers. I've seen vastly more men out with their children than women. I wonder why that is...
I gave myself shinsplints today, and an ingrown toenail. I did have a lovely souffle for dinner. It was cheese, and came with a volaille sauce. And a bottle of wine.

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