Thoughts

I was last in Paris in 1994, and I have spent today wandering around the city. I am struck by how little the city seems to have changed in nine years. It feels much the same, whereas London in that time has changed immensely. At this point in history, London is by far the more vibrant of the two cities. (Admittedly, some of the things that have changed about London - for instance good coffee and good beer are much more widely available - were never an issue in Paris in the first place). Paris feels beautiful, but a little stuck. After walking my legs off today, I have to figure out what I am doing from tomorrow to Monday. I rather feel like looking at great art, and I am certainly in the right place to do that. Plus I am going to spend one day doing something tourists in Paris never do, and getting the Transilien out of the city and into the banlieu. Some claim that the ruin of civilization is in the rings of suburbs around the cities of France. I need to see for myself.