Parks & Miyazaki

What do you get when you cross a polar bear with a water buffalo?

I've actually forgotten the name of the animal, but I saw one in the menagerie at the Jardin des Plantes today, and it was cool. All I know is that it comes from the Chinese highlands and there are only about 450 of them left due to habitat loss and overhunting.

Another weekend by myself. It actually wasn't so bad, because I kept myself busy finishing up my sightseeing in the city.

On Friday I went back to the Parc de Bercy for more photos. That area's probably my favorite in Paris, virtually untouched by tourists. The Jardin à l'américain was beautiful that day, with just the perfect intensity of sunshine. I lounged on a hillside for a while and then got up to take pictures. As I walked around I couldn't believe the tranquility and joy of the people around me; kids playing soccer, a group of teens sitting in a circle reading loud from a book with one girl moving dreamily as if she was thinking about practicing ballet, parents with their chubby bouncing toddlers, a gay couple cuddling under the arch of a gazebo, two sinewy black guys in matching outfits practicing capoeira, and a large number of people just walking and enjoying the day. Dogs were out in force too; regal German shepherds, frisky terriers, and great lolloping retrievers. This is what Heaven must be like.

After thoroughly exploring the park, the quay along the Seine, and the adjoining bridges, I went back to the house and had dinner. There was still plenty of time left in the evening, bloody sun don't set til 9:30 here, so I went out to La Defense for some night shots. The self-portraits of me in the tunnel are some of the dorkiest and yet most badass shots I think I've ever taken.

Now that I think about it, "sonic screwdriver" would make a great name for a mixed drink. And there could be another version called "laser screwdriver!" I must work out the ingredients for these.

Next day didn't do as much. Went to the 19th and walked the length of the canal from Stalingrad to Port de la Villette. When I got home I cooked rice and beans and began watching Miyazaki's debut film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind online. Fantastic movie, although the climax was really similar to Princess Mononoke.

This morning I planned to get up early to get to the Musée d'Orsay before the crowds, but I set the alarm wrong so I didn't get out of the house until 10:40. Luckily I got in line just before a big wave of tourists hit, so I was able to see the museum ahead of them. I saw the exhibition "Voir l'Italie et Mourir," which was a collection of paintings and photographs of Italy in the nineteenth century. It was really interesting to see how the photographic technology progressed from the daguerrotype in the 1840s to the calotype in the 1850s to dual-chromatic papers thereafter. I found the rest of the museum so-so. Now that I've seen what an art museum can be in the Musei Capitolini, I'm skeptical of museums that try to hold up their reputations by displaying works that are only artisitically relevant instead of actually well-executed.

Stopped by the Parc des Buttes Chaumont for a doze in the shade, then went to the Jardin des Plantes, France's foremost botanical gardens. The menagerie wasn't that interesting at first, as the only predatory animals they had were a few leopards, but by the end I had warmed to it. I might have to go back and see the Chinese polar buffalo-thing again.

Just finished one of Miyazaki's lesser-known films, Porco Rosso, about a daredevil aviator pig in Depression-era Italy. Actually a lot better than it sounds.