Paris Journal 2008

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We decided just to walk in the neighborhood again yesterday evening. Nothing special – just a stroll through the lovely Champ de Mars by the magnificent Eiffel Tower. On our way back, we decided that we would try the Italian restaurant on our street rather than walk to some other area for dinner. So we turned the corner in front of the École Militaire, started to walk along the end of the Champ opposite the tower, and we could see ahead that the entire sidewalk was being taken up by a video crew with their various bodies, lights, big microphone, and white screen to reflect the light. I was a tiny bit annoyed because they were going to make us go out into the traffic in the street to go around, because we certainly could not go around on the Champ side – we would be in the video then! Tom looked again to see just who was the subject of the video. He said to me, “You see who that IS???” I looked again before stepping off the curb. It was Barbara Walters. Did you know she will be eighty years old next year? She looks great. We stayed to watch and listen for just a minute or two. It was windy, so with the traffic, we could not hear what she was saying. I heard her say the words “former president,” but I don’t know if she was talking about the US or France. We went on our way. Dinner was fine – just good Italian food, priced right. Bless this restaurant’s heart – they were not playing American music on the stereo. Instead, we were treated to something different – really good rock, with vocals being sung in Portuguese. After dinner, I said to our server, in French, “I love the music here. Everywhere in Paris one hears American music. This is different. It’s great.” The server smiled appreciatively and told us that the musical group is from Brazil. The restaurant, called Mario e Lilio, is run by Mario Zalewska. It is at 98 rue du Theatre. Telephone 01-45-77-76-68. This morning, I tried to search the news via Google to see if I could find out who Barbara Walters might be interviewing in Paris, or what she is doing here. I found nothing about that, but I did end up watching the episode of “The View” in which Michele Obama appeared. This is a very frequently viewed video on You Tube. I’d never seen “The View” before. Barbara Walters didn’t say much. Whoopi Goldberg seemed to really be running the show. It was fascinating. Michele is very charming. Then of course I saw that Obama’s entire speech from yesterday is on You Tube so I watched that, too. Impressive. And there were 200,000 people in the crowd, according to German police. Then I saw that there was a You Tube video of a speech Michele just gave in New York City. So I watched that. After this Obama film fest, I read in the news that Sarkozy calls Obama “my buddy.” Hmmmm. Obama has over an 80 percent approval rating in France. Sarkozy’s approval rating in France is less than 40 percent. Obama visits Sarkozy today at about 5PM, and then there is to be a joint press conference afterwards. It does not seem to be carried live on TV, so I’ll have to report on that later.

Friday, July 25, 2008 Barbara Walters being videotaped by the Champ de Mars, with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Cat taking a dirt bath by a motorcycle on the avenue Elisée Reclus. Carving above a doorway on the same avenue, showing a cat taking a bath. Sign my guestbook. View my guestbook.

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