This weekend

Yeah, yeah, I ain't posted in a while. That's cos there wasn't nothin' to post about until two days ago, and then I got hit with a paper that's due Tuesday. Luckily I spent last night getting on top of that, so it'll be easy to finish tonight.

This past week was pretty boring. For some reason I just felt generally lethargic. On Wednesday for our Explorations walking tour we did go to the Bibliotheque François Mitterand and the Parc de Bercy, two magnificent places that are just crying out for me to do some fashion-type shoots there.

Friday was French Labor Day, so we got the day off from classes. Laureline had to cancel her birthday party. I decided to go back to Bercy to get more pictures of the library and the park. While I was there I also discovered the stadium right next to the park that has really interesting architecture blending metal and grass that reminded me of the Olympiapark in Munich. This is a third locale where I want to shoot. Bloody one-track mind I have.

As the light was fading I took the metro to the Marais to look for a combination bar and bookstore that I'd heard about. I got off at Hôtel de Ville, Paris' City Hall. To my initial amusement, the remnants of a May Day manifestation against the new government regulations on university conduct were gathered outside. I shot some of their signs and even considered asking if I could take one as a souvenir, but I hadn't been part of this protest like I had the one in Rome.

Everything changed when a guy about my own age with long hair and a dense black beard poked his head out of the first floor window. He opened an aerosol can that sprayed a plume of blue powder that I guess was meant to mark the outside of the Hôtel, but was dispersed by the strong breeze. A few minutes later, something glass crashed to the ground, thrown from the second story. A group of about twenty students had somehow gotten into the Hôtel and looked like they were occupying it.

Then les fliques showed up, in full riot gear. Visors, armor, nightsticks, shields, everything. I had a distinct flashback to the urban warfare level of Half-Life 2.

I followed the police to the other side of the building and watched as they cordoned off an area from the public. They must have been gaining entry to the Hôtel to arrest the students. I made a point to keep myself apart from the other protesters, and when members of the press showed up I attempted to blend in with them.

The students must have barricaded the doors somewhere inside, because they continued to shout slogans from the windows for another half hour. One girl even walked on the narrow window ledges to try to tape a banner on the Hôtel's facade. I noticed one of the police had what looked like a camera, but then I realized was a tear-gas launcher, and was discussing whether to fire into the open window, but never did. After a while the students must have been caught or negotiated a surrender, because they disappeared from the windows and things settled down.

The next day I planned to go to Versailles, but after the protest I wasn't in the mood to view symbols of capitalist excess. So I went to Chartres. The cathedral was probably the most beautiful I've ever seen.