A visit with Niki Saint Phalle & skeletons...

...yesterday started as a dreary Sunday, but it was our first day waking up in our own apartment - merveilleuse! We're on the 3eme étage sans ascenseur (that's the 4th floor american without an elevator) - it makes me so happy because I love to climb steps. You enter the apartment and immediately go down a beautiful flight of those curved old wooden steps with one of those gorgeous old Parisian railings. I can play on those steps whenever I want to and Mama doesn't have to worry about me because I have perfect balance. At the bottom of the steps is a small entry/office - Creed likes to work on his projects there. I then walk into a long kitchen with a small bathroom with a shower on the right and a nice sunny window that looks out on the street at the end of the room. (I hope you are all closing your eyes as you read this and try to imagine discovering our apartment from my perspective.) At the window/wall, turn left into the salon...there's a table, 2 comfy couches (Gillian sleeps on one) and a desk with a computer. Sometimes we watch TV, but usually we just hear French radio. Then, there's a bedroom with a queen size bed - that's where I sleep with Creed & Mama. Each room has windows that can open onto the street and give us all of the fresh air, noise of the morning and sunny days that we need. So lovely...

But one of the best parts of our home is the location, we are 2 blocks from the Centre Pompidou and the fun fountain of Niki Saint Phalle. Yesterday while Creed & Giilian took the métro to Denfert and waited in a horrendous line to see the skeletons of the Catacombes (Mama had already done that years before),



I decided we should ride every escalateur (escalator) at the Pompidou and climb every flight of steps. It's fun to do 'cuz if you don't go into see any expos, it's free. And then the best part was when Mama surprised me with the huge Stravinsky fountain. It whirred, it splashed, it groaned and I could feel the water. It's located in a big retangular pool with rounded edges and surrounded by a continuous stainless steel bench. I sat and let my hand dip into the water and I listened. Then I did the perimeter of the fountain on my own - oh, so many times. I was so confident at the end and of course, wouldn't let Mama help me. What a day...


I was so tired but Mama made me walk home and I did really well on the street with my cane. Manu came over and we all went to Chartier for dinner. Mama used to eat there a lot when she was a poor student and it's my Dad's favorite restau before it's unpretentious and old but it's crazy & noisy and sometimes the food isn't great. Mama, Gillian and Manu had to drink a bottle of Bordeaux very quickly because Creed and I were impatient. Giant crêpes for dessert and home on the métro because we (Creed & I) were too tired to walk...